Nearly a year after she was acquitted of murder charges in the death of her police officer boyfriend following two highly publicized trials, Karen Read said Friday that she still receives overwhelming support from legions of loyalists who believe she was framed.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.“No matter where I go — the grocery store, a restaurant, Newbury Street in Boston, any hotel or restaurant I eat at — I don’t pay for meals.I get discounts everywhere,” Read said Friday on “TODAY.” “My parents get help taking groceries in.”Read said she is not currently working and is focusing her time on the “all hands on deck” case.
On Thursday, she filed a lawsuit against Massachusetts State Police and the town of Canton, alleging that misconduct and negligence led to her prosecution in the death of 46-year-old John O’Keefe, who was found dead outside the suburban home of another Boston police officer on the morning of Jan.29, 2022.
The lawsuit comes after she was acquitted last June of several charges, following her first trial that ended in a hung jury.She was convicted of a single charge of operating under the influence of liquor.“I’m working on the case every day, and I don’t know that I really ever took time off, and I don’t know that I felt like I wanted to take time off,” Read told “TODAY” co-anchor Craig Melvin when asked about her life after two trials.
Melvin then asked Read how she copes with some people still believing she was responsible for O’Keefe’s death.Read pushed back on that characterization, noting that while she has lived “more low key in the last year,” she has felt that overwhelming support from her community that has reached beyond the courtroom and Massachusetts.She did, however, acknowledge criticism online in her controversial case, but she has “not interacted with anyone.”“There was maybe for every 50 pink shirts, there w...