very single show. [ laughter ] >> david: karen read, hearse is the hot crime name of the summer, millions of people following her story. >> david: did she kill her boyfriend, a boston police officer, or was she framed?

you'll see her full interview right here. an all-new "20/20" starts right now. >> karen, are you ready for today? >> karen, how are you feeling today? >> do you feel you'll get a fair trial? >> karen read indicted for second-degree murder in the death of officer john o'keefe. >> free karen read! >> protests for karen right there. >> but it started with a real storm. >> i was worried he might have gotten hit by a plow. that was my first thought. it's the only explanation i could think of for why john just disappeared into thin air. >> now the woman at the center of it speaking out fully for the first time. >> and i said, he's right [ bleep ] there! his eyes were shut, and he had spots of blood in different areas on his face. >> i remember pounding on my dresser. just, lick literally

"not john" over and over. >> is it possible you hit him with the back of your car and just didn't realize it? >> i said, this guy didn't die by a bar. he was murdered, no question. >> there are people that know exactly what happened to john o'keefe, and they aren't talking. >> the whole story hinges on how he died here. did you kill john o'keefe? >> a snow emergency has been declared, and boston residents need to be prepared for this one. >> this is likely to be an intense, dangerous storm, with heavy snow, high winds, and whiteout conditions. >> temperatures will be dropping down into the single digits and below zero with the wind chills. we're talking about treacherous

conditions, dangerous, sometimes life- threatening conditions here in boston. the best thing you can do is stay inside. >> you ask any bostonian, and they have a story they can tell you about a blizzard. but the blizzard of 2022 was a pretty epic one. by the time it was over, it would make the recordbooks. but the story of what unfolded in the nearby suburb of canton, massachusetts, that january night would also be one for the ages -- a murder that continues to tear apart an entire town. >> his body was found in a snowbank in canton -- >> his body discovered in a pile of snow -- >> injuries including skull fractures and signs of hypothermia -- >> the question is, how did this happen, who is responsible? [ phone ringing ] >> it begins in the middle of the night with the blizzard raging, and karen read says she wakes up to find her boyfriend,

john o'keefe, not at home. now, despite that storm they'd been out together with friends at bars. and she says she went home first, he stayed out. so she starts anxiously calling the friends they'd been out with just a few hours earlier. >> i called a few of his buddies, their wives. i knew something was wrong. >> one of her first calls is to jennifer mccabe, part of that group. when the bar closed, jennifer and others had gone to have drinks at a nearby house on fairview road. but karen says she didn't feel like staying out, so she says she dropped off john outside the house and continued back to his place. >> i said, "jen, john didn't come home." >> now, karen read appears to be in a full panic. >> so i said, "well, then i don't know where he is." and i said, "i'm gonna go back to the bars." like maybe they let people back in after hours. >> her next call is to john's friend kerry roberts, who lives nearby. now, she wasn't at the afterparty or with anybody who was, but maybe she's heard from him.

she hasn't. >> kerry roberts makes a call to the local hospital, to the police department, trying to see if anything happened to john that night. >> hi, my name is kerry, i'm calling because my friend's boyfriend did not come home last night. they were at waterfall. she doesn't know where he is. you didn't pick anybody up by the name of john o'keefe, did you? >> he has not been admitted to a hospital, and he has not been involved in any accidents. >> not a single person says they've seen john since he left the bar. >> you were going to canvass the rest of the neighborhood? >> yeah. just gonna drive around in the two square miles that we spent the preceding night. now i -- i have an immense sense of dread, a fright in me that i have not experienced before. >> so you're driving around. do you expect to see him lying on the street drunk? >> yeah. yeah, or -- >> or passed out, or what? >> i was worried he might've

gotten hit by a plow. that was my first thought. it's the only explanation i could think of for why john just disappeared into thin air. he's not where i thought he was. and nobody has seen him. the only other vehicles on the road are plows. >> this is 90.0 wbur. it is 24 degrees in boston, and there will be near-whiteout conditions at times. >> i go back by the bars. i drive around. after about 20 minutes of driving around, i go to get jen. >> she gets to jennifer mccabe's, kerry roberts shows up, and they decide together, let's go back to john's. >> you can see this moment captured on one of john's home security cameras. >> the three women head inside to see if john has come home. >> so now it's 5:30, 6:00. still pitch black outside. and we spent about ten minutes at john's. >> the three women are now taking this harrowing ride around town in the blizzard conditions. they're searching for john, screaming his name. karen is in the back seat. now she's frantically texting more people, but again, no one says they've heard from john. now the women decide to go back

to fairview road where karen says she last saw john, dropping him off for the afterparty. >> as you come down fairview, there's -- there's a bit of a decline and it -- and it curves to the left. and my eyes are peeled. and i said, "he's right [ bleep ] there." i jumped out the passenger side, and i fell into the street. his eyes were shut, and he had spots of blood in different areas on his face. and he was still, not stiff, but -- but still. it was cold. i felt cold. but i didn't feel dangerously cold. and it was just an odd feeling to know that i'm okay, i'm not dying, but he's here with me, and he's dying. and i can't warm him up. >> where are the blankets? i don't see blankets, kerry. >> 911, what's your emergency? >> there's a man is passed out in the snow. >> hello?

>> officers arrive to three females on the scene and john is laying on his back. he's got injuries to his face. he had two black eyes. he's cold to the touch. he's not dressed in appropriate clothing for the temperature. he's wearing a long-sleeved t-shirt, and he's actually missing one of his shoes. by all accounts, karen is inconsolable. she's yelling, she's screaming, she's crying. >> i had called my father. he didn't answer. and i -- i texted him, "john is dead." and i didn't know for sure that john was dead, but i'm -- i'm trying to elicit a response. and i thought john could be dead. and he called me back. and i was distraught. and i said, "i don't want to live." i wasn't -- i didn't have any ideation of harming myself, i just -- i've never dealt with grief of this magnitude. and i just felt out of -- out of my skin. so my father called the police. they put me in a psychiatric

hold. they took my phone, they took my clothes, they wouldn't let me speak to anyone. and then sometime later, about mid-morning, i saw john's parents and brother pass in the e.r. and all go into the door two doors down. >> but despite medical personnel working on john, his injuries and his exposure to the cold are just too much. he's pronounced dead. >> i remember pounding on my dresser and just literally screaming "not john" over and over. >> john o'keefe's tragic death stuns not only his family and friends, but an entire community. because john was one of boston's finest, boston pd. and the lawn of the house where he was found is the home of another boston police officer. this investigation is about to explode. my family isn't perfect. we're messy. we're loud.

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what was supposed to be a night of fun and drinks and hunkering down with friends before a blizzard turns into a tragedy. officer john o'keefe is mysteriously dead after being found outside during the blizzard. >> john o'keefe, a 16-year vet ramp the department, was killed this past weekend during the powerful nor'easter. >> it's not clear how he died. >> his body was discovered

outside the canton home of a fellow officer. >> it was always johnny's dream to become a boston police officer. >> while other people were trying to figure out where they belonged in the world, he knew he wanted to be a cop. >> his grandfather's a cop. it was kind of in his dna. >> there was never an ounce of fear with that job from him. we grew up in braintree, which is middle-class, a boston suburb. heavy irish. heavy italian. johnny was both. >> john is the middle child of three. his sister kristen is just twenty-two months older and his brother paul several years younger. >> they were kind of your prototypical middle-class braintree family. always a lot of stuff going on at the house. his mother is an unbelievable cook. mainly italian. his dad is a very solid, consistent, funny guy. the o'keefe is one branch of this very large, family tree. what were they like?

>> incredible family. any given sunday they'd call my parents up and say, "we're bringing over a bucket of chicken, and we're coming over to use your pool." and it was great. they were great. >> johnny, and i grew up on the same street. we were in little league together, elementary school all the way through high school and went to proms and homecoming together. and he was in my wedding party. >> i met johnny in college. the very first day of scoot we met, and fast friends ever since. >> they both shared a love for their boston sports teams -- the new england patriots and, of course, the red sox. >> opening day was a religious day for him. he went every year. every year. that was just -- it's one of his favorite days. >> i dated johnny early 2000s, and then stayed friends for over 20 years. we were just important in each other's lives always. he was just a natural, caring protector kind of person. >> and when john becomes an

uncle, he becomes this protector to his nieces and nephew as well. >> he slid right into that cool uncle role. uncle johnny was always there whether it was sporting events, or first communions or just family gatherings. they were a large part of who he was. >> but in 2013, the o'keefe family gets devastating news when john's older sister kristen is diagnosed with cancer. >> kristen was diagnosed with a very aggressive brain tumor. >> johnny was there day one. he took her to all of her treatments. he was unbelievable, making sure that the kids were taken care of. >> just a little over five months from the time that it was diagnosed until kristen passed. >> that was a huge loss. >> when she passed he lost a part of himself. >> johnny immediately decided that he was going to move in with kristen's husband, steve, to help him and kind of do a "my two dads" thing, he called it. and then, unfortunately, and

almost unbelievably, steve passed away almost exactly two months after kristen did. >> johnny's niece was 6, and johnny's 7 ewe was 3. it wasn't even a question. johnny was going to step in and raise those kids. >> he was about to become a single parent overnight. >> in a very short amount of time, john loses his sister, his brother-in- law. he takes in their kids. how was he able to handle all of this? >> he had a big support system between family and a lot of people in canton helped him out. >> and emotionally, how'd he do it? >> i feel like, i guess he just knew he had to. >> his life didn't stop and he was always doing something. but the kids came first. >> by 2020, john is a single dad, a cop, raising two kids in the middle of a global pandemic. and that's when he reconnects with someone from his past, karen read, who he briefly dated many years earlier. how did you meet john o'keefe? >> i meet john in 2004,

february, at his sister's 30th birthday party. >> so what drew you to him? what did you like about him? >> i thought he was handsome and he was sweet. and -- i mean, i was 24, so that's -- that was about the criteria at the time. it just came and went. and -- didn't speak to him again. not intentionally, just wasn't serious. >> but now more than 15 years later, karen is living in the boston area with a career as a financial analyst and an adjunct professor teaching finance. and she sees a message from john on facebook. >> when i saw his picture, it was with several young children. and then it triggered my memory that his sister and his sister's husband had passed away. and he told me, "yeah, i have the kids now." i thought that was amazing. and he said, "they're 9 and 12." three days later, he came over and i cooked. and -- it was like -- very natural. >> how serious did things get that second round? >> pretty serious very fast.

the second week he said, "do you want to come, you know, meet the crew?" meet his niece and nephew. i was happy to go. >> was there talk of marriage? >> no. no. >> did you want that? >> i would've considered it strongly for john, but it's not ever been something that i've aspired to. >> we are expecting as much as 18 to 24 inches of snow and 40 to 50-mile-per-hour winds. >> i think everyone knows, whatever you're going to do that weekend is going to get canceled. >> a snow emergency has been declared. >> a lot of people take that opportunity and be like, "hey, i'll go out tonight because tomorrow everybody's going to be shut down." >> city officials say this will be a blockbuster event. >> john makes plans to meet a friend on the main drag in canton, just about a mile from

his house. his nephew is at a sleepover that night, and his teenage niece is at home. >> early in the evening, john o'keefe goes out with a buddy down to c.f. mccarthy's. and karen decides to meet him there. now john didn't drive there. john got a ride from his friend, so he was telling karen that he was going to need a ride. >> i ended up leaving my house to join john in canton at 8:30. >> so you met him for drinks? >> yep. >> how did the night go? >> it was fine. i walked in. he was with three other fellows. i got there a little after 9:00. and he gave me a hug. they stay at c.f. mccarthy's for a while and then decide to go meet some more friends over at the waterfall bar and grill, which is just across the street and down. it's a two-minute walk. >> so who was there when you got there? >> it was a table of people right away. >> at the table are members of a couple of families who have deep ties to the town. the alberts and mccabes. we've got chris albert who used to live down the street from john. also at the table, brian albert,

chris' brother, who, like john, is a boston police officer. he's actually the leader of an elite squad tasked with catching dangerous criminals. he even helped solve the infamous boston strangler case. >> we said hi to a bunch of people. we stayed there for about 90 minutes. >> there's video so you can kind of see what's happening. it looks like a typical night. people are snuggling up around a bar, they're drinking, they're goofing around a little bit. >> karen said she had only met brian albert once before. but she said she felt like john really wanted to make good impressions on the alberts. >> brian albert, whose home is about five minutes away, invites everyone over for an after party. now, there's already a party with some young adults taking place at his house because it's brian jr.'s birthday, so there's a bunch of folks who were already there. they all gather up and head out. >> also heading out with the group is brian albert's wife nicole and her sister jennifer

mccabe, who john had known for years. and there was brian higgins an atf agent, who was also friends with the alberts. >> shortly after midnight, security cameras show john walk out of the waterfall bar and into the snowy night. john has a cocktail glass in his hand. seconds later, the two get into karen's black suv and they drive away. a mere eight hours later, john o'keefe will be dead. a chewy order is on the way for (interrupted by dog)... (dog howls) roo. who can speak for himself. but can't shop for himself. so when he gave his roo of approval of the food dad bought on chewy, dad put it on autoship. so it always gets delivered, right on roo's schedule. the flavor roo loves. the savings they love. (dog howls) for automatic delivery and 5% savings. for life with pets, there's chewy. mom, with these sandwiches, for automatic delivery and 5% savings. i'm gonna be the coolest guy in the lunchroom. i need to practice my cool guy greetings. 'sup.

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friend that we grew up with. they said, "johnny's dead." >> brendan called me. of course, he told me the news. and uh, can't even explain it, can't even explain the feeling, right? >> i remember pounding on my dresser and just literally screaming like, "not john." not after what that family's been through and how much those kids need him. >> what was it like getting that news? >> it was awful. it's like a bad dream. >> i was released from the hospital at noon. my father and my brother and sister-in-law came to pick me up. and i said, "dad, i have to go see the kids. i just can't imagine what they're going through. i just want to hug them." >> they all head to john's house, where his family has now gathered. her car still in the driveway. and that's when karen says she stops to show her dad her cracked taillight. something she said she had

noticed earlier that morning when searching for john with jennifer and kerry. >> i showed my dad my light. it was cracked. and he said, "i just want to make sure the light is operational. i'm not going to put your car back on the road if i know it's impaired in any way." so we go into the house. john's nephew was not home from his sleepover yet, but john's parents, paul, his brother, and his niece were there. >> karen says john's mother seemed to keep her distance. >> they had pulled into the driveway before me, so i was presuming she saw my cracked taillight and was thinking, "did you hit my son?" i could sense from her that she was looking at me very warily. and then when john's nephew came home, i just wanted to see him and squeeze him and hug him. it was quite uncomfortable. i said, "dad, come upstairs to the master bedroom." i said, "i think i need to leave." i said, "i think john's mother thinks i did something to john."

>> at what point on saturday, the 29th, did you have the wherewithal to think, maybe i need an attorney? >> as soon as i interacted with john's mother at john's house. when we were driving home, i said to my father, "i gotta get an attorney." >> it's a smart move to get legal advice under those circumstances. >> she had hired an attorney. that was it. no more contact, which i find odd. >> what did the family do then? >> well, it was a blizzard. we couldn't do anything. couldn't do anything. >> we couldn't be together. >> we couldn't go anywhere. >> until the day after. >> we went to peggy's or johnny's house. and just to be with her, and uncle john, and a few of his friends, and -- just to be with her. we just sat around, and talked, and laughed, and cried. >> and you're now with a mother who'd lost two children. >> two children. >> in the space of a couple of years. >> yes. and she's strong as steel. >> meanwhile, an investigation

is under way. now, the massachusetts state police come in. in this case, the state police completely take over the case because the canton police department doesn't want the appearance of a conflict of interest. >> there's literally a blizzard hitting canton, massachusetts, on top of this crime scene. this becomes a huge challenge for investigators. >> unfortunately in this situation, the crime scene that you arrive on is not the same crime scene that's going to exist 30 minutes later because it's snowing, and it's windy, and it's cold. so the evidence is changing. and you're trying to do this as quickly as you can, but you also don't want to miss steps because you're rushing. so it's definitely a race against the clock. >> there are plows that are going by. >> and in situations like that, you kind of have to just go with what you think is going to work best for the situation. >> they bring out a leaf blower, and they're trying to blow the snow to uncover whatever

evidence might be beneath the snowfall. >> according to police reports, what investigators initially preserve at the scene are six samples of what appears to be blood, and a broken cocktail glass. >> remember, according to the security footage, when john o'keefe walks out of the waterfall bar, he's got a cocktail glass in his hand. >> that afternoon, the lead detective on the case, trooper michael proctor, and his colleague from the massachusetts state police pay a visit to karen at her parents' house. they see her car parked there and describe that broken taillight in their official police report as shattered. >> when the troopers came to my house, now, i know i haven't done anything, but they said "we're just trying to help find out what happened to john. if you care about john, you need to help us piece together his final moments." and i answered their questions. >> karen appears very forthcoming. >> she says they had an argument earlier in the morning about what she fed his niece for breakfast.

>> she admits that she was drinking that night and was operating a motor vehicle. >> she tells officers they go out drinking. she says that she and john drove to the alberts' house, but she tells officers that she had what she referred to as stomach issues. so, she said she decided to call it a night and go home. >> after the detectives interview karen, they seize her car and they tow it. they then process the vehicle for evidence. they notice that the rear right side taillight is broken and there's missing pieces of the red and clear plastic that should have been on top of it. there were shards of glass that were in the bumper of the vehicle. >> the medical examiner is searching john's body for clues. >> the medical examiner ruled that john's cause of death was from an injury he sustained from blunt-force trauma and then hypothermia. >> this was a combined effect of multiple skull fractures, swelling and bleeding inside his

brain, and also the cold. >> later in the day that john died, investigators at the scene report finding pieces of red plastic taillight and a clear piece of plastic at the scene. pieces that appear to match the missing pieces from karen read's suv. and days later, once the snow begins to melt, authorities say they find additional pieces on the scene. so, just how was that taillight broken? >> i said, "i think i'm gonna get arrested." ♪ (man) yes! ♪ (vo) you've got your sunday obsession and we got you. now with verizon, get nfl sunday ticket from youtube tv on us and get every out-of-market sunday game. plus $800 off samsung galaxy z fold6. only on verizon. (jalen hurt) see you sunday. my moderate to severe

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the wake was large, very large. everybody wanted to be there in that moment. long day. a pretty unbelievable day. ♪ >> it was one of those days that just chills you to the bone. the wind was making the flag blow, but it wasn't making a sound. there was just something so surreal, so eerie about it all. ♪

everything stopped for the police procession. somebody referred to it as a blue column. countless police officers, i mean hundreds, in a line of two came down the aisle. we all just paused. you could hear a pin drop. >> then the funeral the next day, that was rough too. >> a number of us were asked to be pallbearers. and what stands out the most is we were standing inside the church -- ♪ -- and you could hear "amazing grace" on the bagpipe. and they said they were going to give us a notification when the hearse arrived. and the moment that will never leave my brain is when we opened up the doors to that church.

there were 50 bagpipers. there were rows and rows and rows of police officers. ♪ it was like nothing i've ever seen before. >> the priest who said johnny's funeral mass grew up with johnny. >> sadly, the priest at john's funeral had presided over his sister kristen's funeral mass as well. >> he acknowledged that a lot of us in the crowd were familiar, that he spoke about the pain in the room, that this family had been through too much and lost too much already. and then paul got up. he was brave. he gave a beautiful eulogy.

he made everybody laugh, talking about johnny's personality. he spoke about how johnny never left kristi's side during her battle with cancer, and -- praised him for taking care of the kids the way he did. and then, the last line of his eulogy was, "we'll take it from here." and that was john's last line of his eulogy nine years prior on the same altar when kristi died. it's unfathomable, you know. >> while john's family and friends were making plans to honor his memory, police had been busy as well, putting together their theory on what happened that snowy night, and how john o'keefe sustained those fatal injuries. and they've determined that the

evidence points directly to karen read. >> it was about 7:00 p.m. i was talking to my best friend on the phone. and i said, "there's a lot of cops circling." and i said, "i think i'm gonna get arrested." when they come, it's -- they look like regular people, but they're here to take you away. it's scary. >> did they knock on the door? >> i can't remember if they knocked or if they rang the bell. but they circled the whole property. there were cops everywhere. they were shining lights in my back window, my front. >> what was that moment like when you felt the metal handcuffs go on you, and they put you into a squad car? >> it's scary. you're -- you're short of breath. and we're careening up the highway. your ankles are shackled and your arms are behind you. and you -- you just trying to concentrate on your breathing.

it's f-f -- it's frightening. it's frightening. when i got to the barracks, there were local news stations there. >> karen read's charges and what she was arraigned on were manslaughter, negligent homicide, and leaving the scene of an accident involving injury. the theory was that she hit john o'keefe with her car and left the scene. >> prosecutors lay out the charges. they say that those pieces of plastic uncovered at the crime scene are consistent with pieces missing from karen's taillight. and according to police statements, kerry roberts, who was with karen in the blizzard searching for john, told police that karen seemed intoxicated. jennifer mccabe told police karen asked her, "could i have hit him? did i hit him?" during the search for john's body. in court, assistant district attorney adam lally details the charges. >> officers interviewed a firefighter paramedic from the town of canton.

the defendants then made several statements to her indicating, "i hit him, i hit him, i hit him, i hit him." >> i -- i said, "i hit him?" it was preceded by a "did," and proceeded by a question mark. did i hit him? >> according to prosecutors, karen's blood alcohol content was between .07 and .08 when she was tested at the hospital at 9:08 a.m. after being transported from the scene. that's about nine hours after they left the bar. >> in all 50 states in america, if you are a .08 or above, you are under the influence for the purpose of driving a motor vehicle. >> her attorney responded that day. >> i don't see any criminal intent that would justify manslaughter. and there's a reason for that, because there was no criminal intent. this was not some random stranger. this was my client's boyfriend, somebody with whom she was in love.

she had no idea that he was deceased or that anything had happened. >> what did you plead? >> not guilty. >> court is setting bail in the amount of $50,000 cash. >> karen read posted $50,000 bail and left. >> but the stakes are about to get much higher. within months, karen's manslaughter charge is upgraded to second-degree murder. the line between a gross vehicular manslaughter and second-degree murder is very, very thin. in massachusetts, you must prove that a defendant acted with conscious disregard for human life. >> is it possible that you might have hit him, unwittingly, in your admittedly very large suv? >> no. not possible. and now karen read's defense takes a dramatic turn, bringing in a top legal gun. and the defense is about to

introduce a very different theory than what the prosecution says happened that night. >> john o'keefe was murdered, no question. he died at the hands of another person. it just wasn't karen read. >> if you think this is going to be an open-and-shut case, it isn't. (vo) if you have graves' disease, your eye symptoms could mean something more. that gritty feeling can't be brushed away. even a little blurry vision can distort things. and something serious may be behind those itchy eyes. up to 50% of people with graves' could develop a different condition called thyroid eye disease, which should be treated by a different doctor. see an expert. find a t-e-d eye specialist at isitted.com t-mobile “savings”, take one. ...missed me the last couple... try just standing and say... “at t-mobile, you get tons of benefits and you can still save versus the other guys.” forget it. check out the t-mobile

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♪ i went to all the hearings. and i thought that was going to be it. karen would do her time, and we'd have to face grieving john. but nobody could have imagined like what was about to happen next. >> crowd: karen! karen! karen! >> one of the first big twists in this case begins when karen adds a heavy hitter to her defense team. >> alan jackson, we got to know at court tv. for years we talked about alan jackson as being one of the sharpest prosecutors we'd ever seen. >> for almost two decades, he

handled some of los angeles county's most notorious cases, including the conviction of famed music producer phil spector for murdering actress lana clarkson. >> i think his motive could be summed up in one word. he has a problem with rage. >> how did you first become involved in this case? >> in the summer of 2022, i received an email from karen read. i get a lot of emails, but this one stood out. the subject line was something along the lines of "murder of a boston police officer." karen had supplemented the email with some autopsy photos. i was in the process of perusing those and i said, "this guy didn't get hit by a car." once i got the photos i realized something is very, very wrong with this investigation. >> at a pretrial hearing, the defense puts those photos front and center. in massachusetts, autopsy photos are normally sealed until trial. >> when john o'keefe was found,

he had this set of wounds on his right arm. this is, according to the commonwealth, a set of injuries that john o'keefe suffered at the hands of being struck by a moving vehicle. >> that is a disgusting move to put those in public like that. it's opening up wounds every single time you see those pictures. >> i would ask the commonsense question. does this look a road rash, or does this look like claw marks and bite marks from an animal? >> karen's defense team is laying out a stunning new theory of what they say happened. they're alleging that after karen dropped off john at fellow police officer brian albert's home, he entered the home and somehow became involved in a fight. >> we know that he was beaten. we've got evidence that john o'keefe was beaten, that he lay there unconscious. >> and during that fight, they claim the alberts' dog, a german shepherd, may also have attacked john, contributing to those injuries. then, the defense says, john was eventually dumped outside in the snow, left to die. >> there are people in that

house that are actually responsible for his death and who murdered him. and there are others in the house who are covering up that murder. >> but the homeowners, brian and nicole albert, and eight other people in the house the night of the after party -- including jennifer mccabe and brian higgins -- say that john o'keefe never stepped foot inside that house. every single person in that house denies playing any part in john's death or being part of any coverup that the defense is alleging. >> there was no evidence that mr. o'keefe was beaten and left for dead. there was no evidence of any defensive wounds. >> the prosecution is steadfast in what they believe the evidence shows happened that night. john exited karen's vehicle, she struck him with her suv and left him to die in the snow. they also argue karen had been drinking heavily. >> why would they want to be involved in this conspiracy? >> because he's dead.

i think things went too far. it was late. there was alcohol involved. >> it was so ridiculous i dismissed it immediately from the beginning. there've been multiple theories floated by the defense team, each of which more ridiculous, frankly. >> in the months leading up to trial, the defense makes several claims they say point to their client's innocence. >> i've never been more confident in anything i've ever said in a legal proceeding in my life. karen read did not do this. >> the defense also accuses the lead investigator in the case of having a conflict of interest. they claim in court filings and at hearings that the lead detective, trooper michael proctor of the massachusetts state police, as longtime friend of the albert and mccabe families and is also in on the alleged cover-up. prosecutor adam lally definitively denies any conflict of interest. >> not to belabor the point, the commonwealth does not concede anything as it relates to any

sort of relationship. >> the district attorney flat-out denies that trooper michael proctor was involved in any way in any type of coverup as the defense is alleging, saying "proctor would have no motive to do so." >> also, one of the defense's central claims appears in a motion they file about the timing of a google search that karen's defense team claims will unequivocally exonerate karen read. it's a google search made on jennifer mccabe's phone. jennifer attended the afterparty in the alberts' home on fairview road and then was with karen when they found john's body in the snow. >> the defense and karen read and her family believe at 2:27 a.m., jennifer mccabe is searching, "how long to die in the cold?" she misspells how. it's h-o-s, but how long to die in the cold. >> so according to the defense, if jennifer's searching at 2:27 a.m. "how long to die in cold," that means karen read must be innocent.

>> why would she google search that if she didn't know that something was going on with john laying in that snow in that front yard? that means that this was a cover-up. john was murdered inside that house, his body was placed outside, and jennifer mccabe knows that. >> neither the prosecution nor jennifer mccabe deny she searched for "how long to die in cold." but they both say the defense has it all wrong. they say she didn't make that search at 2:27 a.m. >> the prosecution brought in their own experts, and they said, no, the search wasn't at 2:27. >> jennifer mccabe said she made that search after 6:00 a.m. at the request of karen read after they discovered john's body. both sides say they have the expert data to back up their claims. >> jennifer mccabe says that john was not murdered by anyone inside the house. she says she and the others in the house had no idea he was outside in the snow, and she says that there was no coverup.

>> this google search is what really brought a lot of people into this case to support karen read. >> crowd: free karen read! free karen read! free karen read! >> this is the first time i think i've ever seen this. there's this public outcry of support for someone accused of murdering a boston police officer. >> me and my family and my attorneys and my team have marshaled every resource to get to the truth. >> you are making allegations that there is cover-up. >> this is an innocent woman. >> conspiracy. >> i do think she's been framed. and i'm not backing down until she gets free. >> corruption. >> if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it's a duck. >> did you kill john o'keefe? lactaid is 100% real milk, just without the lactose. delicious too. just ask my old friend, kevin. nothing like enjoying a cold one

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this has all the elements of a made for tv movie, except this is real life. >> karen, are you ready for today? >> the trial of karen read is now under way.

she's accused of killing her boyfriend, a boston police officer. >> when you say the name karen read, you're going to get a visceral response from people. >> crowd: free karen read! free karen read! >> they are protesting in favor of karen read. >> who cheers for someone accused of murdering a police officer? >> there's enough evidence to point that she's been framed. >> you are making allegations that there is conspiracy, cover-up, corruption in this part of massachusetts. >> there is no conspiracy. there is no cover-up. there is no evidence of any of that. >> firefighters said that you want she heard you say, "i hit him, i hit him, i hit him." >> i said it with a question mark. >> john, i [ bleep ] hate you! >> supposedly a murderer, having just killed her boyfriend, why would she call him 49 times after that to find him? >> maybe she's being very

clever. i've never met someone that clever. >> the video you'll only see here. >> i could be convicted, and this is the end of everything. so you just -- it just feels like a kind of purgatory. >> john o'keefe was murdered, no question. he died at the hands of another person. this wasn't karen read. >> all rise for the court, please. it's been more than a year since officer john o'keefe's tragic death in the middle of a blizzard. every pretrial hearing seems to result in new claims for followers to analyze and argue over. the prosecutors are clear. they argue karen read killed john o'keefe while driving under the influence. all the while, karen read's defense seems to be gaining traction, at least in the court of public opinion. >> there was this groundswell of support through every single

court appearance. >> there are dozens and dozens of people here. you can notice all the placards around, they are protesting in favor of karen read, saying she is innocent. all of those placards reading "justice for karen." >> who shows up to a courthouse with signs at a pre-trial motion and who goes there to support a woman accused of murdering her boyfriend? this case was different. >> karen! karen! >> free karen read! >> i was shocked at what i pulled up to. they were cheering for karen. they gave her like a hero's welcome. karen, who was arrested not just for manslaughter, now second-degree murder, and they're cheering for her. >> free karen read! free karen read! >> these crowds are here in large part because of a local

livestreamer and blogger named aidan kearney, who goes by the moniker "turtleboy" online. >> what we know, for [ bleep ] sure, 100%, was she did not run him over. >> now, kearney is known for sometimes confrontational and profanity-filled takes on local stories. and he takes up the case of karen read posting articles and livestreams claiming karen is the real victim in this case. >> you aren't bleeding out of your mouth and your nose if you get bumped going slowly during a three-point turn. >> all his followers were watching all of his streams, and from there sprung all of their theories about what happened here and who was really responsible. >> and almost overnight, this goes viral locally. it's at this point that i first

sat down with karen read to talk about what she claims happened that night. she absolutely refutes the prosecution's claims that receipts and security videos show she had up to nine drinks that evening. when you walked out of the bar, how many drinks had you had? >> i had had probably about four. and not four that i completed, either. i didn't drink maybe more than a few sips at the waterfall. >> and four drinks, you felt fine to drive? >> yup. >> remember the prosecution says her blood alcohol the next morning, nine hours later, was between .07 and .08. in massachusetts, driving with a blood alcohol content higher than .08 is considered legally drunk. >> i missed the turn that would've been the most direct route. >> did you pull into the driveway? >> no. i pulled up at the foot of the driveway. >> and do you and john have a conversation about what's going to happen next? >> i said, "go check and let me know. and i'll follow you behind."

so i pull at the foot of the driveway. it's snowing. john has no coat on. it's windy. so i drop him off. he goes up the driveway and approaches the side door. and as i see him approach the door, i look down at my phone. i hadn't been on my phone the entire night. i cue up a song to play on my -- my bluetooth. and i just start browsing through, you know, missed -- missed text messages and a couple emails. and i probably waited about a full minute. and i look back at the door. i would have expected him to be either walking back to me or calling me that, "yeah, we're here." >> karen says after about 10 minutes of waiting in her car, she became irritated that john o'keefe still hadn't gotten in touch with her, and so she decided to leave and drive back to his house. the prosecution says that john never made it into the alberts' home.

instead, they say, this is when karen hit john with her suv. did you kill john o'keefe? >> i did not kill john o'keefe. i have never harmed a hair on john o'keefe's head. >> the commonwealth says that you had nine drinks that night. you claim it's four and change. is it possible that you hit him with the back -- back of your car and just didn't realize it? >> no. >> you had four drinks. they say nine drinks. so, how drunk were you? >> i had felt like i had alcohol. i felt that i had a buzz. but i did not feel it was unsafe for me to be operating my vehicle. >> would you say that you were angry with john that night? >> yes. >> could you have been angry enough and slightly drunk, because he had annoyed you, that in a fit of rage you just backed up and -- >> never. >> -- tried to tap him -- >> i would never --

>> -- not to try to kill him, but try to -- >> to tap him with my 6,000-pound, full-size suv, to -- to hit john's body with my car? no. >> but the prosecution is building a case that claims she was angry and she did have a motive. according to court filings, john's niece and nephew, who lived with him, told law enforcement that their relationship was strained. the niece said she had overheard john recently tell karen that their relationship had run its course. is it possible that that anger sent you into a fit of rage, coupled with the fact that he apparently had wanted to break up or insinuated that? >> he never insinuated that he wanted to -- to break up. i have been angry with john. i was angry with him that night. but being angry with someone and being angry with them and wanting to physically hurt them with a 6,000-pound piece of

machinery is -- is another hemisphere of intention. >> early in the a.m. when she first leaves john, karen reading texting and sending message after message. i think she called him like 50 times, no response. >> john, i [ bleep ] hate you. i'm here with your [ bleep ] kids. you are [ bleep ] using me right now. you're a [ bleep ] loser. [ bleep ] pervert. >> what's the prosecution's theory on this? that supposedly, a murderer, having just killed her boyfriend, calls him up and says, "i hate you"? why would she then call him 49 times after that trying to find him? >> maybe she's actually being very clever. >> i -- i've never met someone that clever. this is occam's razor. the simplest answer is usually the right one. >> the prosecution says occam's razor is she backed up. she hit this guy. he died in the snow. end of story.

>> no. >> there has been nothing as divisive as this case. >> the district attorney of this county had to come out and say, "you have to stop harassing witnesses." >> it was getting crazy, chasing us, calling us names. >> booing at us. >> booing at us, calling us cop killers. >> we had state police protection to get us to the car. we were surrounded. ♪ (man) yes! ♪ (vo) you've got your sunday obsession and we got you. now with verizon, get nfl sunday ticket from youtube tv on us and get every out-of-market sunday game. plus $800 off samsung galaxy z fold6. only on verizon. (jalen hurt) see you sunday. [crowd noises]

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♪ the karen read case put canton on the map for all the wrong reasons. >> there has been nothing as divisive as this case. >> any idiot knows karen read is innocent. >> the o'keefe family is appalled and outraged by the public accusations, protests, and harassment of people closest to john and his family. >> i think where you see it is at the town meetings, when they

get those open mic moments. you'll hear it and you'll hear it from both sides here. but there's a faction of that community that no longer trusts their police and their government. >> there are people that i know that have ceased relationships with others because they disagree. >> all the while, local blogger aidan kearney -- known as turtle boy -- continues to stir up debate over the case. on his website, he's posting video of himself confronting prosecution witnesses in public. he organizes what he calls a "rolling rally" going from one witness' home to the next. aidan kearney is eventually charged himself with multiple counts of witness intimidation, picketing a witness, and conspiracy to intimidate witnesses -- charges he denies and has pleaded not guilty to. he claims his behavior should be protected by the first amendment as a journalist. those charges are still pending. later, he's also barred from the courtroom during read's trial

when certain witnesses named in the case against him testify. >> one of the most unusual things about this case is there was such a fervor among this online movement that the district attorney of this county had to come out and say, "the witnesses in this case have done nothing wrong, the hearsayment of them has to stop." >> what is happening to the witnesses, some with no actual involvement in the case, is wrong. it's contrary to the american values of fairness and the constitutional value of fair trial. it needs to stop now. >> alan jackson takes the opportunity to rally more support for karen and her case. michael morrissey decides he wants to issue this statement and give you a threat, and give us a threat. he wants us to just shut up and quit. he wants you to shut up and quit. just go home and quit. well, i have something to say directly to mr. morrissey right

here, right now. so listen up, sir, and i'll speak slowly so you understand. michael morrissey, we ain't got no quit. this team will not quit. >> but beyond prosecution witnesses who authorities say are being harassed, john o'keefe's own family and friends say they're stunned when defense-supporting crowds begin directing anger towards them as well. >> we've been yelled at on the way into court that we're disgusting, that we're defending the real murderers. i think at times that they said that we've been brainwashed. brainwashed by who? i didn't know any of the people that were being blindly accused of committing this crime. >> we're leaving the courthouse, and they follow us.

we had state police protection to get us to the car. we all got into the car safely, but we were surrounded. and i remember this woman putting her face up to the window of where i was sitting, and she was screaming "cop killer" at me. i've never heard of such a thing in my life. we thought, okay, they're going to call us names, they boo us, okay. but they're not going to boo john's family, right? then they did. >> it was getting crazy, chasing us, calling us names. >> booing at us. >> booing at us, calling us cop killers. >> it must have created a lot of anger. >> yep. not so much anger, but when you walked in, the anxiety. >> shaking every time we went in, yeah. >> then after like, maybe the fourth time, we were just like, all right, let's just hold our head up high and walk through

this with johnny. hold your head up high and do what we have to do as a family. >> i think everyone should be in agreement that the o'keefes don't deserve this treatment. >> with the trial just days away, karen is prepping with her lawyers. >> this is no life. like, this -- i'm not in prison, but this is no life. i'm stressed every day. i'm waiting for the next shoe to drop. shingles doesn't care. but shingrix protects. only shingrix is proven over 90% effective. shingrix is a vaccine used to prevent shingles in adults 50 years and older. shingrix does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients or to a previous dose. an increased risk of guillain-barré syndrome was observed after getting shingrix. fainting can also happen. the most common side effects are pain, redness, and swelling at the injection site, muscle pain, tiredness, headache, shivering, fever, and upset stomach. ask your doctor or pharmacist about shingrix today. dad. with this fox tee, i could be class president. and upset stomach. and with target circle, we save automatically! i'm stressed every day.

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♪ with the trial just days away, karen is in her hotel making final preparations with her lawyers. >> i'm at a hotel. i need to be here to be near the attorneys so we can prep for trial. i don't have a car, i don't have a license, so trying to meet them from the suburbs every day just wouldn't be efficient. the change of scenery is actually welcome. my home has become like the alamo. just constantly looking out the window. i mean, three times in two years. i've had the state police come in. and two of those three times they've arrested me. three of the three they've taken my cell phone. once your sanctuary's been

breached, you can't relax there. this is no life. i'm not in prison, but this is no life. i'm stressed every day. i'm waiting for the next shoe to drop. i can't live like this. i mean, i will. i just really don't want to, is what i should say. but hiding out like this, you just watch the world pass you by and you're going through the motions, pun intended, and you know it could all end. i could be convicted, and this is the end of everything. so you just -- it just feels like a kind of purgatory. >> i've prepared for every scenario. that's just how i have to live. so, i've thought through everything. i've thought, where will i celebrate when this is all over? where do i want to live? who do i want to surround myself with? but i've also thought, all right, if i'm convicted, what are the next steps? i've got all my court clothes.

nothing fun, nothing for a trip, just lots of suits. i just want to communicate that i'm still confident. i don't like the position i'm in, but i'm confident i'm doing everything i can. and that includes looking professional for court, dressing like my attorneys. i think that's a sign of respect for what's happening when you're in court. i just got the suit from the tailor because the sleeves are too long. and it's a pet peeve of my mother's to see people with sleeves that are too long. >> do you think about your mother when you get dressed? >> yes, all the time. that's funny you just asked me that. um -- she, uh -- yep, she -- probably taught me how to dress and tells me how to dress. and not in a way that mothers may nag their daughters, but i've never seen my mother ever in my whole life that she

doesn't compliment me and tell me i look nice. i don't know if she knows that i'm aware of that. that even when i've been in the thick of this, even getting out of jail, you know, she's always saying something positive to me as soon as i see her. it's funny you asked me that. i didn't even realize that i think about her whenever i get dressed. i do 'cause i'm thinking she's going to see me. i don't usually cry, i guess if you ask about my parents, i will. i can't even talk about them. >> was there a concern, renay, that amidst all of the noise of this, that john was being lost? >> he was lost in this whole circus. i think that's the saddest part of this whole situation. that he is not remembered as who he is and who he was during this whole thing. i think that might be one of my

favorite pictures, because he was always the light in this family. he was always the sun. >> oh, the photobombing. so that picture there, he would photobomb every picture. there's a lot of pictures of angie's birthday party there. >> my surprise 40th, he's literally in every background of every photo, photobombing. >> and there were small treasured moments at home with the kids, like dancing with his niece to "california girls" by katy perry. ♪ nothing comes close to the golden coast ♪ >> and his badge number is 2490. so i have his badge number on my necklace. we have stickers that we put on our phones. we have stickers on the car. >> renay and i both got tattoos with his badge number. >> 2490 was johnny's badge number, and that's become the numerical symbol of finding justice for him. >> justice for j.j.! justice for j.j.! >> you know, we all have one goal.

>> all eyes will be on this courthouse in dedham. >> there are a lot of people who believe fervently in the innocence of karen read and believe she is the victim of a mass conspiracy. >> but will the jury believe the prosecutors who claim that karen read killed john? >> we love you, karen! wait—we don't have behr. do we need that? well is yours a paint and primer? uh, it..it just says ain't he bought ain't well with behr you could paint a whole room for under $100. how much did you spend? like a lot, more. i thought you said you researched this? aren't all paints the same? no. they're not... ...don't overpay for your next project. get behr quality at an everyday low price, only at the home depot.

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♪ this is a case that is all over the news. >> the trial of karen read is now unway. she's accused of killing her boyfriend, a boston police officer. >> a story unlike one i've ever seen that has many layers to it. billboards, trucks, people with signs, people chanting, bullhorns on the courthouse steps. this just doesn't happen in normal cases. and this case was anything but normal.

>> opening statements are set to begin today. >> this has all the elements of a made for tv-movie, except this is real life. >> karen, are you ready for today? >> after 15 months of waiting, it's time for trial. >> we love you, karen! >> karen read arrives looking polished and conservative, flanked by her defense team. >> there are a lot of people who believe fervently in the innocence of karen read and believe that she's a victim of a mass conspiracy. >> it took two weeks to find and seat a jury. now all eyes will be on this courthouse in dedham. >> but others buy into the prosecution's much simpler narrative that karen read had been drinking and later struck and killed john o'keefe with an suv. >> 12 jurors and five alternates have been selected to decide read's fate. the courtroom is, in a word, cramped. >> when you get into the courtroom and you're physically

situated, it was shocking how close you were to the defense table. i think it could be described as borderline claustrophobic. >> it's time for opening statements. >> big difference between the prosecution and defense in this case. i mean, alan jackson, a seasoned former prosecutor, but what he really is is a great storyteller, much different than adam lally. >> the defendant, karen read, is guilty of murder in the second degree. striking of the victim, mr. o'keefe, with a car. >> in opening statements, prosecutors attempt to use read's own words against her. >> they had asked about the origination of some of those injuries. defendant stated repeatedly, "i hit him, i hit him, i hit him." >> the defense counters by claiming read wasn't making a statement, she was asking a question. >> "did i hit him? could i have hit him?" that is was what she was saying, both to herself and to other people. >> co-counsel david yannetti lays out the defense's controversial theory that someone else killed john o'keefe. >> karen read was framed.

her car never struck john o'keefe, she did not cause his death, and that means that somebody else did. >> the prosecution presents multiple witnesses to speak about the night o'keefe was killed. >> you know about what time it was that mr. o'keefe and the defendant came into the waterfall? >> it would have been, i think, between 11:00 and closing. >> and the invitation to go back to brian albert's house, was that something that was extended to the entirety of the table? >> i took it as an open invitation to the people that were together at the table, yes. >> john never came into my house that night. he would've been welcomed, and the defendant would've been welcomed with open arms had they come in, and i wish they had, i really do. >> your next witness, mr. lally. >> yes, your honor. the commonwealth calls ms. nicole albert to the stand. did either of those people come into your house? >> no, they never came into my home. >> the commonwealth calls

jennifer mccabe to the stand. >> i woke up to my phone ringing. >> and do you know what time it was? >> 4:53. >> does the defendant get on the phone with you? >> she does. she proceeds to scream my name multiple times, and she tells me that john didn't come home, they got into a fight. after that, the three of us got in the car, and we drove to fairview. >> it was really bad driving. karen was frantic. she wouldn't put her seatbelt on, and i was getting nervous because we're driving in a blizzard. >> and all of a sudden, karen starts screaming. "there he is. there he is." and she's banging to get out. >> karen was laying on top of him, and i told her to get off him. i was going to do cpr and i said, "jen, you need to call 911." >> your honor, the commonwealth will call mr. anthony flematti to the stand. >> so the only response that i was personally given was just, "i hit him, i hit him. oh my god, i hit him."

>> firefighter flematti put a -- a 10% chance of survival for mr. o'keefe. >> ms. read was visibly upset. she kept saying, "this is all my fault. this is my fault. i did this." >> the defense questions saraf about his memory. >> yesterday you said my client said, "it's all my fault. i did this." >> yes. ed. >> remember that? >> uh-huh. >> is that yes? >> yes, sir. >> but you didn't say that at the grand jury? >> no. >> and you didn't say that to trooper proctor? >> no, sir. >> and you didn't put it in your report? >> that's correct. >> so you would wonder, what was her motive, if she did kill him, for murdering her boyfriend? >> the prosecution has an answer to karen read's motive. they paint a picture of that rocky relationship between john o'keefe and karen read. they say there were fits of jealousy, there were arguments,

allegations of cheating. and they say that set the stage for murder. did he tell you, or did you begin to notice it that it was maybe nearing an end? >> after aruba. >> after aruba? >> she thought he kissed somebody, and he did not, he hugged somebody, and she had a scene. >> just a month before his death, o'keefe, read, and many of his friends and family went on a tropical vacation. but according to marietta sullivan, the quiet paradise soon got real loud. >> she was just very loud. she very energetically screamed for me to go [ bleep ] myself. johnny was trying to calm her down. >> sullivan says she incurred the wrath of read for an innocent hug with o'keefe in the hotel lobby. >> this was my first interaction with her. i had never been fully introduced to her at all. >> the aruba incident by itself could be chalked up to having a bad day, but the prosecution

will attempt to show a pattern of read's behavior by playing those volatile voicemails to the jury. >> john, i [ bleep ] hate you. i'm here with your [ bleep ] kids. you are [ bleep ] using me right now. you're a [ bleep ] loser. [ bleep ] pervert. >> the prosecution painting a picture about the level of rage ms. read could have been capable of on the night in question. >> but outside the courthouse, support is growing for read. >> we love you, karen! >> an actually innocent woman walking! >> i've covered a lot of cases at court tv, sometimes involving celebrities, sometimes involving public enemies. but in this case, it was different. this was a college professor who shows up at the courthouse, and there is an absolute sea of pink there to support her. >> the pink in the crowd is a show of solidarity with read and her favorite color. >> there's enough evidence to point that she's been framed.

>> back inside, lead counsel for the defense, alan jackson, is arguing a much different story than the prosecutors. you are making allegations that there is conspiracy, coverup, corruption in this part of massachusetts. are you willing to stake your career and your legacy on this case? >> a hundred percent. because i know the truth is on our side. she didn't do this. >> describe what you observed from this particular item. >> that's a piece of red and clear apparent plastic. >> while both sides agree those taillight pieces found by investigators are from read's suv, they disagree on how the pieces wound up at the scene. >> the defense argued that karen read's taillight was broken someplace else, and the pieces of the taillight were returned to the scene and planted by investigating officers. the fundamental problem with this argument from the defense is that the prosecution had pretty much every single piece, and they reassembled it in the trial for the jury to see that

every piece of the taillight was actually at the scene. >> as far as the items and where they were when they were located by members of your team, they were photographed as they lay, is that correct? >> correct, sir. as they were discovered, they were photographed. >> here's the most shocking thing about this entire case, is that there's no eyewitness. and that night, remember, you've got people inside the house, you've got people showing up. you've got people coming to pick people up. and no one sees what happens to john o'keefe. >> but with gavel-to-gavel coverage, everyone sees what happens to karen read. including her scolding from the judge. >> excuse me. this is funny, miss read? all right, we're done. >> all rise for the court, please. is symptoms. with my psoriatic arthritis symptoms. but just ok isn't ok. and i was done settling. if you still have symptoms

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where there was only one pediatrician to serve more than 10,000 children.

daniel lurie said, i'm going to help. we opened a clinic for our most vulnerable children. i have worked shoulder to shoulder with him as we have brought solutions where people thought the problem was unsolvable. daniel doesn't take excuses. he holds himself accountable. and i know that he can do it for the city of san francisco.

hi, karen! >> i would love to play poker with karen read. >> we love you, karen! >> she wears it on her face. her response to everything, she showed you. judge wasn't happy with it. >> excuse me, this is funny, ms. read? all right, we're done. >> all rise for the court, please. >> her attitude is smug. she's the happiest murder defendant in america. >> read is seen, but will she be heard? >> if i had to guess it, i'd say

she's not going anywhere near the witness stand. >> for now, alan jackson is doing all the talking. >> she will be vindicated. she'll never be convicted. >> and the defense believes karen read will be found not guilty after this man starts talking. >> trooper michael proctor. pro, ctor. >> trooper proctor is the lead investigator on the karen read case. but in a dramatic twist, there's a separate investigation going on that may impact this trial. >> it turns out there's talk of a federal investigation into the read case. the u.s. attorney's office won't comment, but lawyers on both sides of the read trial have mentioned it in court. what has surfaced is that michael proctor was found to be sending derogatory text messages about read from his personal cell phone to his friends and superiors during his investigation. >> once trooper proctor took the stand, that's when everything changed here. >> if you could, just read the

responses from yourself, sir. >> okay, these came from me. "she's a whack job. [ bleep ]." >> objection. >> these are your words, trooper proctor? >> yes, your honor. >> go ahead and say them. >> [ bleep ], yes, she's a babe with a fall river accent, though, no ass." >> why would i believe this guy? he's completely eviscerated on the stand. >> the prosecutor, adam lally, does the best he can to deal with proctor's damning texts, insisting the prosecution's case is still solid while also trying to rehab proctor's reputation on the stand. >> what, if any, impact does that have as far as your investigation is concerned regarding this? >> none. >> these juvenile, unprofessional comments have zero impact on the facts, and the evidence, and the integrity of this investigation. >> the defense disagrees,

basically alleging bias against read by proctor was clear. >> you weren't so much as objectively investigating her as objectifying her in those moments, correct? >> again, mr. jackson, it was a poor choice of words and a joke that i should not have texted out. >> proctor was officially suspended without pay by the massachusetts state police, telling abc news their internal investigation is ongoing. >> and inside that courtroom, jackson reminds jurors of the way that the canton police department collected blood evidence at the scene. >> we utilized cups, plastic cups. >> those were red solo cups? >> that's correct. >> the same kind of red solo cup you drink beer out of at a barbecue? >> yeah, sure, you could. >> the defense also notes the unusual manner in which the evidence was transported. >> you see a bag in the middle of the photograph? >> yes. >> can you read what's on that bag? >> stop and shop. >> okay, that does not look like an evidence bag, does it, sir? >> no. >> matter of fact, it looks like a grocery bag.

>> correct. >> is that right? >> yes. >> they may have done the best they could, but visually, this is not a good look for the police department. >> the defense pointed out that that does not conform to protocol, and the prosecution's response to that was basically, "who cares? it doesn't impact the forensic integrity of the evidence." >> the defense also disputes the prosecution's theory that the jagged wounds on o'keefe's arm were a result of being hit by read's car. >> how did those injuries occur? is this something from the undercarriage of the vehicle? is this because he rolled over glass? what exactly occurred? and the problem is they've never addressed it. >> commonwealth will call jennifer mccabe to the stand. >> then there's that google search by jennifer mccabe who was with read when o'keefe's body was discovered. >> karen was screaming, my hands were shaking, and she was saying, "google hypothermia, how long does it take to die in the cold?"

>> the prosecution claims the search took place at 6:23 a.m. the defense says it was made at 2:27 a.m., long before o'keefe's body was discovered. according to alan jackson, that means the witness knows more than she's letting on. something prosecutors and jennifer mccabe vehemently deny. >> and you never made any search like that at 2:27 in the morning, correct? >> i did not, no. >> did you delete that search because you knew that you would be implicated in john o'keefe's death if that search was found on your phone? >> objection. >> could you answer that, please? >> i did not delete that search. i never made that search. i never would've left john o'keefe out in the cold to die,because he was my friend that i loved.

>> so, two competing versions of what happened. after eight weeks of testimony, this case is about to go to the jury. and it's up to the jury to figure you know, you only get one body.

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court's now open. you may be seated. >> 22117, the commonwealth versus karen read -- >> it's closing arguments, and each side has one final hour to persuade the jury.

>> look the other way. look the other way. four words that sum up the commonwealth's entire case. four words that sum up the hopes of those who have tried to deceive you. >> the prosecution says there's no evidence of any of this. >> prosecutor lally's closing statement myrrh errors his opening statement. simply put, karen read did it, and she told people she did it. >> "i hit him. i hit him. i hit him. i hit him," was the words of the defendant. four times you read testimony from four different witnesses who overheard and observed those statements from the defendant on january 29th, 2022. >> to me, that's an enormous moment for the prosecution, because you have someone who's not connected to the investigation saying that she confessed. the problems that the prosecution had is that there were some problems with some of their witnesses. most notably, their lead

investigator had big problems. >> the defense makes sure the to remind the jury of the name michael proctor. alan jackson will reference him 33 times. >> and lo betide anyone who might find ourselves in the crosshairs of a michael proctor. >> lally says proctor's name only three times. >> there is no conspiracy. there is no cover-up. there is no evidence of any of that. two things can be true at the same time. the texts from trooper proctor are distasteful, there's no defense to them. and the defendant killed john o'keefe. >> when you start talking about a conspiracy and try to tell a jury that it's impossible for this to happen, and your lead investigator has serious, serious issues, it makes you stop and say, "well, wait a minute." >> even folks that love a good conspiracy story know if there's more than one person involved, somebody winds up talking. >> all right, jurors.

>> judge cannone gives her instructions to the jury. >> you'll soon deliberate for the purposes of reaching a verdict in this case. >> it's hard to explain the feeling as the jury was deliberating. it wavered between dread and hopefulness. >> i could see a juror getting caught up on it saying, "listen, i think she confessed, but i also think he could have framed her." all the doubt hasn't been erased that that's a possibility. so if it's just a possibility, that's reasonable doubt. >> after five days of deliberations, the jury informs >> the jury telling the judge for the third and final time, they are unable to reach a consensus. >> your service is complete. i'm declaring a mistrial in this case. >> so i think we were all waiting for it to be finally over, so we can finally grieve. >> i mean, that could be another 18 months. >> it could be another five years. >> and we're going to be there. >> yeah. >> absolutely.

>> read's legal troubles are now stacking up. she faces a second criminal trial. >> in addition to a retrial, the o'keefe family has filed a wrongful death civil suit against read and the waterfall and c.f. mccarthy bars. the suit alleges they overserved read on that snowy january night. read's legal team and the two bars had no comment. for now, both sides are preparing for the next criminal court date. but read, she's got no intention of staying quiet. this week, she met with supporters in massachusetts who held rallies across the state. organizers say those rallies extend as far south as florida. read says she would like to meet all of her supporters. >> so at this point, as we sit now after the mistrial, we are sitting at halftime. and we have got a second half to let play out, and we hope that that will end up with a conviction. >> deborah: karen read's retrial

is scheduled for early next year. >> david: and by the way, john o'keefe's family and friends tell us they'll be back in court again every single day. that's our program for tonight. thanks so much for watching. i'm david muir. >> deborah: and i'm deborah roberts. from all of us here at "20/20" and abc news, good night. to rein in intoxicating hemp products, particularly those that contain thc. a loophole allows just about anybody to buy them. good evening. i'm ama daetz. and i'm dan ashley. >> thanks for joining us. it's a combination of what's in them and their availability. the governor tonight saying thc products are showing up in grocery stores and corner