Karen Read is not going to jail for the murder of her Boston cop boyfriend John O’Keefe, but she’s far from out of the woods or out of the courtroom when it comes to the controversial case.
Civil Case
Read’s acquittal is far from the end of the grueling legal process and she is now facing another round in court.
Read and her legal team are gearing up for a civil trial – a $50,000 wrongful death lawsuit filed by O’Keefe’s family against her and two local bars.
‘After a not-guilty verdict against Read, a civil case is all the family has left if they want to seek justice,’ New Mexico-based lawyer, John W. Day, told DailyMail.com.
‘The O’Keefe family will want this civil trial to move forward quickly while people are still talking about the verdict.’
No date has been set for the trial yet, as it was put on pause while Read dealt with her criminal case.
The case was filed against Read and two local bars – CF McCarthy’s and Waterfall Bar and Grille – in August 2024 in the Plymouth Superior Court in Brockton and the family is seeking at least $50,000 in damages for O’Keefe’s death.
They argue Read engaged in reckless conduct that resulted in O’Keefe’s death and that the bars, ‘negligently served alcohol to an intoxicated person.’
Many experts told Daily Mail that it would be beneficial for Read to push through the civil case as early as possible as her stronger-than-ever fanbase is ready to defend her.
Tom Flaws, a Boston-based lawyer with the firm Altman Nussbaum Shunnarah, told Daily Mail that the O’Keefe family has a ‘much lower bar to prove’ that Read killed their son compared to the state in the criminal case.
But that doesn’t mean it will be an easy win for the heartbroken family, especially as Read’s fanbase stays strong and criminal jurors continue to come out and cast doubt that the 45-year-old did it.
