Gov. Healey asked about verdict in Karen Read retrial, DA Morrissey’s silence

BOSTON — Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey spoke Friday for the first time about the acquittal of Karen Read in the death of John O’Keefe.

After delivering remarks at the Living Histories of Color Recognition Program at Embrace Boston’s Embrace Ideas Festival, Healey was asked by reporters to share her thoughts on Wednesday’s verdict in Read’s murder retrial.

“The trial ran its course. So, you know, I always reflect on the family of John O’Keefe and feel very sorry for them,” Healey said. “The criminal justice system has run its course, and there is finality in that. My best to members of the O’Keefe family.”

Read walked out of court Wednesday a free woman after more than three years and two trials over the death of her boyfriend. Her first trial ended with a hung jury in July 2024. This year’s jury found her not guilty of the more serious charges she faced.

After repeated attempts for a comment on the verdict, Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey, the man who served as the lead prosecutor in the case against Read, shared just a four-word statement with local news outlets: “The jury has spoken.”

Healey was asked if she feels Morrissey should have made himself publicly available for comment on the verdict.

“There is some frustration that people haven’t heard from DA Morrissey. Do you believe that a district attorney should be speaking after something like this?” a reporter asked.

Healey responded, “I’m not going to comment on that. The jury has done its work. The criminal justice process has been resolved. Again, I extend my condolences to the O’Keefe family and hope that they can find an inner resolution and move on. The jury has spoken, the trial is over, and we move on here in the state.”

Healey was then asked by another reporter, “Is there still an unsolved murder to investigate?” She walked off before answering.

Prosecutors argued that Read hit O’Keefe with her SUV, leaving him to die in a blizzard in 2022, and charged her with second-degree murder, manslaughter, and leaving the scene of a deadly collision.

Read’s lawyers successfully defended her, painting a sinister picture of police misconduct and theorizing that O’Keefe was, in fact, killed by colleagues, followed by a vast cover-up.

She was convicted of drunken driving, however, for which she will face a year’s probation.

A juror in the retrial also told Boston 25 on Friday that the jury believed Read was innocent, and that investigators looking into O’Keefe’s death were “sloppy” and “lazy” with their police work.

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