Karen Read Case: Her Defense’s Shocking Secret Weapon for Retrial

All eyes are on Boston, where the second trial of Karen Read got underway on Tuesday.

Supporters flocked to the courthouse, where she told the press, “I feel great. Today went well. We prepped hard. I'm just proud of my team and we've got the truth, so we just forge ahead.”

Karen is accused of hitting her police officer boyfriend John O’Keefe with her car in 2022 during a blizzard and heavy night of drinking and then leaving him to die. She was charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol, and leaving the scene of an accident, but pleaded not guilty.

Karen herself has become an unlikely media sensation. After a hung jury in the first trial, Read’s legal team has something up its sleeve for take two.

The prosecution team is now run by Hank Brennan, most famous for defending notorious mob boss James “Whitey” Bulger. Brennan is pushing the narrative that Karen admitted to hitting O’Keefe.

Her defense has a shocking secret weapon… they hired a new attorney — Victoria George — who was an alternate juror during Read’s first trial. This is a first in judicial history.

The defense is focusing on lead investigator Michael Procter, who was fired after the first trial for his inappropriate conduct. 

“Extra” host Billy Bush also spoke with The Boston Herald's police and court reporter Flint McColgan, who lived through the first Karen Read trial and is now covering the second.

McColgan gave his take on day one of the current trial, sharing, “I think both [sides] were strong, especially on the prosecution side… Brendan outlined a disintegrating relationship and a reactive, spur-of the-moment killing, and the defense talked about how she didn't do anything.”

He said the defense kept reiterating, “There was no collision.”

Flint also pointed out, “What's different here, though, is that Karen Read has done lots of interviews since the last trial. Prosecutor Brennan actually played a clip in which she did speculate, ‘Maybe I clipped him.’”

As for whether the trial is headed for another hung jury, McColgan said he couldn’t speculate, but added, “I do believe that there is ample reason that jurors can find that there is reasonable doubt.”

The first trial turned Karen into a true crime megastar, and she was the subject of the documentary “A Body in the Snow: The Trial of Karen Read,” now streaming on Investigation Discovery and Max.

Director Terry Dunn-Meurer got unprecedented access to Karen and her defense team in real time as the trial unfolded.