PLYMOUTH, Mass. (Court TV) — Karen Read was back in a Massachusetts courtroom Monday afternoon for a status hearing regarding a wrongful death civil suit filed by the family of John O’Keefe.
Karen Read is pictured at her wrongful death civil hearing on Sept. 22, 2025. (Court TV)
Back in June, Read was acquitted of second-degree murder in O’Keefe’s death. O’Keefe had been a Boston police officer and was dating Read at the time of his death. His body was found on the front lawn of a private home located at 34 Fairview Road in Canton, Massachusetts during a blizzard in the early morning hours of Jan. 29, 2022.
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O’Keefe’s family is also suing C.F. McCarthy’s and The Waterfall, two Canton bars that Read and O’Keefe drank at in the hours leading up to O’Keefe’s death.
Read was joined by Alan Jackson, who once again flew in from Los Angeles to join her defense team, even though she’s no longer facing criminal charges. However, it was a different member of Read’s defense team who came out swinging.
Damon Seligson told the Court that the defense intends to add 10 additional parties to the civil suit. Doubling down on their allegations of a massive conspiracy and cover-up, Read’s defense wants to bring in fired Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Proctor and the people who were at 34 Fairview on the night in question: members of the Albert and McCabe families and Brian Higgins, among others.
MORE | Karen Read wants emotional distress claims tossed from O’Keefe lawsuit
Seligson argued that those parties should be brought into the suit because they caused the emotional distress that the O’Keefes suffered, not Read. Everyone in the house was either police or police-adjacent, Seligson argued, and they collectively conspired to make sure that what really happened in the house that night was never investigated. Instead, Seligson argued, Read was targeted and prosecuted.
The defense plans to dispute the O’Keefe family’s allegations that she negligently inflicted emotional distress upon them, and wants those charges dropped.
The O’Keefes made it clear that they still want a jury trial, but Judge Daniel O’Shea encouraged the parties to attempt to come to a resolution. The judge also made it clear that the additional parties mean the trial will be very much delayed, likely until at least Spring 2027.
The next status hearing will be in person on Nov. 21
