PLYMOUTH, Mass. (Court TV) — A Massachusetts judge refused to dismiss multiple claims of emotional distress levied against Karen Read, pushing a civil case against her closer to trial.
Karen Read appears in court for a hearing in a civil lawsuit filed against her by the O’Keefe family on Sept. 22, 2025. (Court TV)
Read was acquitted of murdering her boyfriend, Boston Police officer John O’Keefe, after two high-profile trials. O’Keefe was found dead in the snow outside of a fellow officer’s home after a night out drinking. Read was accused of hitting him with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow, while her defense accused prosecutors and police of a wide-ranging cover-up. She was convicted of driving under the influence and sentenced to probation.
MORE | Karen Read denies responsibility for John O’Keefe’s death in new filing
O’Keefe’s mother, father, brother and niece filed a wrongful death lawsuit naming Read, along with two bars the couple and their friends had visited before O’Keefe’s death.
At a Sept. hearing, Read’s attorneys claimed that there was no basis in Massachusetts law for her to face claims of emotional distress. While Judge Daniel O’Shea agreed to dismiss a single claim of negligent infliction of emotional distress on behalf of O’Keefe’s niece, he ruled the other claims of reckless and/or intentional infliction of emotional distress can stand.
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Judge O’Shea pointed not to the victim’s death itself, but to Read’s alleged narrative surrounding his death. As she faced two trials for murder, Read repeatedly expressed her innocence. In doing so, she is accused of collaborating with blogger Aiden Kearney, known as “Turtleboy,” who accused the O’Keefe family of being involved in a cover-up in John’s death.
The parties are due to return to court in November. No trial date has been set.
