Things to know about jury's verdict of not guilty of murder in Karen Read's second trial

DEDHAM, Mass. (AP) — A jury returned a not guilty verdict Wednesday on the top charge of murder in the second trial of Karen Read, who was charged with killing her Boston police officer boyfriend.

Jurors convicted Read on a charge of operating under the influence and cleared her on other lesser counts.

Jury deliberations began late last week, more than a month after the trial started. The third full day of deliberations began Wednesday morning.

Read, 45, was accused of striking John O’Keefe with her car outside a suburban Boston house party and leaving him to die in the snow in January 2022. She was charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter and leaving the scene.

Read’s lawyers say O’Keefe, 46, was beaten, bitten by a dog, then left outside a home in Canton in a conspiracy orchestrated by the police that included planting evidence against Read.

Read’s second trial followed similar contours to the first, which ended in a mistrial last year.

Read has never been jailed for O’Keefe’s killing. She did not testify at her first murder trial or this one.

Cheers from the crowd outside could be heard in the courtroom as the verdict was read. With gleeful supporters, Read departed with her attorneys and family. Some fans threw pink confetti.

“No one has fought harder for justice for John O’Keefe than I have,” Read said.

Read’s father, Bill Read, told reporters he felt relief and gave “tremendous thanks” to God when the verdict was read.

“We need to get our life back together, and we will,” he said.

Asked why he thought the second trial’s outcome was different, he said, “Another year of information circulating in the public, and people are aware of what’s happened.”

Prosecutors did not speak to reporters outside court.

Defense attorney Alan Jackson began his closing argument Friday by repeating three times: “There was no collision.” He told the jury that Read is an innocent woman victimized by a police cover-up in which law enforcement officers sought to protect their own and obscure the real killer.

He repeatedly attacked the lead investigator in the case, former Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Proctor, who was fired after sharing offensive and sexist texts about Read with friends, family and co-workers. He said Proctor’s “blatant bias” tainted every aspect of the corrupt and flawed investigation and noted how prosecutors refused to put him on the stand, as they did during the first trial.

Prosecutor Hank Brennan opened his closing argument Friday by saying Read callously decided to leave O’Keefe dying in the snow, fully aware that he was gravely injured. He argued that she made the “choice to let” O’Keefe die, going further than prosecutors in the first trial in spelling out a motive.

Brennan said Read’s blood-alcohol level was two to three times the legal limit, after the couple downed multiple drinks at two Canton bars. The couple, whose “toxic” relationship was “crumbling,” had an argument on the way to the house party that increased tensions and ultimately led to O’Keefe’s death, the prosecutor said.

“She was drunk, she hit him, and she left him to die,” Brennan said.

Dozens of Read supporters, dressed mostly in pink, had been camped out waiting for the verdict. They gather behind barricades and across the courthouse each morning to catch a glimpse of Read.

Members of the crowd, some of whom waved American flags or posters supporting Read or denigrating the prosecution, said they came because Read could have been one of them. The tightly knit group of mostly women said the case woke them up to a corrupt justice system and they hoped their movement can reform it.

Read faced several charges, the most serious being second-degree murder. She faced a maximum sentence of life in prison. She also faced manslaughter while operating a motor vehicle under the influence, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

She was also charged with involuntary manslaughter, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; motor vehicle homicide, which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison; as well as operating under the influence and leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death. They carry maximum sentences of 2 1/2 years and 15 years, respectively.

Whittle reported from Scarborough, Maine.

Read hugs her parents Janet and William after the verdict is read in Norfolk Superior Court, Wednesday, June 18, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)

Karen Read, center, waves to supporters after she was found not guilty of second-degree murder on Wednesday, June 18, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)

Karen Read supporter Bonnie Fitzgibbon of Chelmsford, MA, wears earrings mocking the investigation into the death of John O'Keefe outside the courthouse on the third day of jury deliberations in Read's trial at Norfolk Superior Court, Wednesday, June 18, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)

Karen Read smiles as the not guilty verdict of second-degree murder is read in Norfolk Superior Court, Wednesday, June 18, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)

Karen Read embraces a supporter as she leaves the courthouse at the start of the third day of jury deliberations in her trial at Norfolk Superior Court, Wednesday, June 18, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)

William Read, left, father of Karen Read, behind him, speaks after she was found not guilty of second-degree murder on Wednesday, June 18, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)

Supporters of Karen Read react after she was found not guilty of second-degree murder on Wednesday, June 18, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)

Blogger Aidan Kearney, center, meets with fans and Karen Read supporters, from left, Linda Allen of Rockland, MA, and Shannon LoPorto of Weymouth, MA, outside the Dedham, Mass. courthouse on the third day of jury deliberations in Read's trial at Norfolk Superior Court, Wednesday, June 18, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)

Supporters of Karen Read react after she was found not guilty of second-degree murder on Wednesday, June 18, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)

Karen Read leaves the courthouse after she was found not guilty of second-degree murder on Wednesday, June 18, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)

Read weeps as the final verdict of not guilty of second-degree murder is read in Norfolk Superior Court, Wednesday, June 18, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)

Paul O'Keefe, brother of John O'Keefe, looks toward Karen Read as they leave the courthouse at the start of the third day of jury deliberations in Read's trial at Norfolk Superior Court, Wednesday, June 18, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)

Karen Read embraces a supporter as she leaves the courthouse at the start of the third day of jury deliberations in her trial at Norfolk Superior Court, Wednesday, June 18, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)

Supporters of Karen Read make the American Sign Language sign for "I Love You" as she leaves the courthouse at the start of the third day of jury deliberations in Read's trial at Norfolk Superior Court, Wednesday, June 18, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)

Nichole Tellier, a resident of Cape Cod, Mass., center, and fellow supporters of Karen Read, react as she leaves the courthouse at the start of the third day of jury deliberations in Read's trial at Norfolk Superior Court, Wednesday, June 18, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)

Supporters of Karen Read gesture as Read departs Norfolk Superior Court for the day during jury deliberations at her trial, Tuesday, June 17, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Karen Read gestures to her supporters while arriving at Norfolk Superior Court during jury deliberations at her trial, Tuesday, June 17, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Supporters of Karen Read gesture as Read departs Norfolk Superior Court during jury deliberations at her trial, Tuesday, June 17, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Karen Read gestures to her supporters while departing Norfolk Superior Court during jury deliberations at her trial, Tuesday, June 17, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Karen Read gestures to her supporters while departing Norfolk Superior Court during jury deliberations at her trial, Tuesday, June 17, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Becky Pepper-Jackson finished third in the discus throw in West Virginia last year though she was in just her first year of high school. Now a 15-year-old sophomore, Pepper-Jackson is aware that her upcoming season could be her last.

West Virginia has banned transgender girls like Pepper-Jackson from competing in girls and women's sports, and is among the more than two dozen states with similar laws. Though the West Virginia law has been blocked by lower courts, the outcome could be different at the conservative-dominated Supreme Court, which has allowed multiple restrictions on transgender people to be enforced in the past year.

The justices are hearing arguments Tuesday in two cases over whether the sports bans violate the Constitution or the landmark federal law known as Title IX that prohibits sex discrimination in education. The second case comes from Idaho, where college student Lindsay Hecox challenged that state's law.

Decisions are expected by early summer.

President Donald Trump's Republican administration has targeted transgender Americans from the first day of his second term, including ousting transgender people from the military and declaring that gender is immutable and determined at birth.

Pepper-Jackson has become the face of the nationwide battle over the participation of transgender girls in athletics that has played out at both the state and federal levels as Republicans have leveraged the issue as a fight for athletic fairness for women and girls.

“I think it’s something that needs to be done,” Pepper-Jackson said in an interview with The Associated Press that was conducted over Zoom. “It’s something I’m here to do because ... this is important to me. I know it’s important to other people. So, like, I’m here for it.”

She sat alongside her mother, Heather Jackson, on a sofa in their home just outside Bridgeport, a rural West Virginia community about 40 miles southwest of Morgantown, to talk about a legal fight that began when she was a middle schooler who finished near the back of the pack in cross-country races.

Pepper-Jackson has grown into a competitive discus and shot put thrower. In addition to the bronze medal in the discus, she finished eighth among shot putters.

She attributes her success to hard work, practicing at school and in her backyard, and lifting weights. Pepper-Jackson has been taking puberty-blocking medication and has publicly identified as a girl since she was in the third grade, though the Supreme Court's decision in June upholding state bans on gender-affirming medical treatment for minors has forced her to go out of state for care.

Her very improvement as an athlete has been cited as a reason she should not be allowed to compete against girls.

“There are immutable physical and biological characteristic differences between men and women that make men bigger, stronger, and faster than women. And if we allow biological males to play sports against biological females, those differences will erode the ability and the places for women in these sports which we have fought so hard for over the last 50 years,” West Virginia's attorney general, JB McCuskey, said in an AP interview. McCuskey said he is not aware of any other transgender athlete in the state who has competed or is trying to compete in girls or women’s sports.

Despite the small numbers of transgender athletes, the issue has taken on outsize importance. The NCAA and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committees banned transgender women from women's sports after Trump signed an executive order aimed at barring their participation.

The public generally is supportive of the limits. An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll conducted in October 2025 found that about 6 in 10 U.S. adults “strongly” or “somewhat” favored requiring transgender children and teenagers to only compete on sports teams that match the sex they were assigned at birth, not the gender they identify with, while about 2 in 10 were “strongly” or “somewhat” opposed and about one-quarter did not have an opinion.

About 2.1 million adults, or 0.8%, and 724,000 people age 13 to 17, or 3.3%, identify as transgender in the U.S., according to the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law.

Those allied with the administration on the issue paint it in broader terms than just sports, pointing to state laws, Trump administration policies and court rulings against transgender people.

"I think there are cultural, political, legal headwinds all supporting this notion that it’s just a lie that a man can be a woman," said John Bursch, a lawyer with the conservative Christian law firm Alliance Defending Freedom that has led the legal campaign against transgender people. “And if we want a society that respects women and girls, then we need to come to terms with that truth. And the sooner that we do that, the better it will be for women everywhere, whether that be in high school sports teams, high school locker rooms and showers, abused women’s shelters, women’s prisons.”

But Heather Jackson offered different terms to describe the effort to keep her daughter off West Virginia's playing fields.

“Hatred. It’s nothing but hatred,” she said. "This community is the community du jour. We have a long history of isolating marginalized parts of the community.”

Pepper-Jackson has seen some of the uglier side of the debate on display, including when a competitor wore a T-shirt at the championship meet that said, “Men Don't Belong in Women's Sports.”

“I wish these people would educate themselves. Just so they would know that I’m just there to have a good time. That’s it. But it just, it hurts sometimes, like, it gets to me sometimes, but I try to brush it off,” she said.

One schoolmate, identified as A.C. in court papers, said Pepper-Jackson has herself used graphic language in sexually bullying her teammates.

Asked whether she said any of what is alleged, Pepper-Jackson said, “I did not. And the school ruled that there was no evidence to prove that it was true.”

The legal fight will turn on whether the Constitution's equal protection clause or the Title IX anti-discrimination law protects transgender people.

The court ruled in 2020 that workplace discrimination against transgender people is sex discrimination, but refused to extend the logic of that decision to the case over health care for transgender minors.

The court has been deluged by dueling legal briefs from Republican- and Democratic-led states, members of Congress, athletes, doctors, scientists and scholars.

The outcome also could influence separate legal efforts seeking to bar transgender athletes in states that have continued to allow them to compete.

If Pepper-Jackson is forced to stop competing, she said she will still be able to lift weights and continue playing trumpet in the school concert and jazz bands.

“It will hurt a lot, and I know it will, but that’s what I’ll have to do,” she said.

Heather Jackson, left, and Becky Pepper-Jackson pose for a photograph outside of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Heather Jackson, left, and Becky Pepper-Jackson pose for a photograph outside of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Becky Pepper-Jackson poses for a photograph outside of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

The Supreme Court stands is Washington, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

FILE - Protestors hold signs during a rally at the state capitol in Charleston, W.Va., on March 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Chris Jackson, file)