Massachusetts murder suspect Karen Read compared her supporters to Vietnam War protesters, telling a group Monday, "Thank you. I hope I meet all of you one day, and I don't know you, but I love you."
Read, 44, has been accused of killing her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe, 46, in January 2022 by striking him with her SUV and letting him freeze to death in the snow outside a Canton home.
Read has maintained her innocence and went to trial, which ended in a mistrial in July. Prosecutors plan to retry her in January.
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Stopping by the group demonstrating on the side of the highway in Dedham on Labor Day, Read expressed her appreciation for their support.
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"You’re brave," Read told the crowd, and then compared their efforts to protests of the Vietnam War, which left nearly 60,000 Americans and millions of Vietnamese dead.
"You would’ve protested the Vietnam War and ended it. And this is the modern equivalent to that, so thank you all," she said in footage obtained by WCVB.
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Read's trial this year ignited dueling demonstrations outside the Dedham courthouse, with many supporting Read and advocating for her innocence as others voiced their belief in her guilt.
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After the mistrial, Read's attorneys asked that the charges be thrown out by arguing jurors had voted to acquit her but misunderstood deliberation procedures.
A judge denied the request, and since then, many people have continued to demonstrate across Massachusetts in support of her.
Read pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder.
Prosecutors said Read dropped O'Keefe off at a house party hosted by a fellow officer after a night of drinking, then mowed him down while making a three-point turn and drove away.
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Read's defense team countered that she had been framed by someone who beat O’Keefe to death inside the home.
