CNN
—
Karen Read is a rare case: a woman accused of murder who has her own fan club.
More often, alleged female murderers are reviled or belittled. Casey Anthony became known as “the most hated woman in America” when accused of killing her toddler daughter. Susan Smith saw the nation’s concern turn to anger and revulsion when it became clear her 1- and 3-year-old sons had not been carjacked by “a Black man” but drowned by their mother, still strapped in their seats. Amanda Knox talked of being seen as “a clever psychopath, dirty and drug-addicted whore, guilty until proven innocent” in the death of her roommate in Italy.
But when a mistrial was declared for Read, who is charged with second-degree murder and other crimes for allegedly hitting her boyfriend with her car and leaving him to die outside on a winter’s night, cheers erupted on the street outside the Norfolk Superior Court, south of Boston.
Supporters had gathered every day of the trial, the young, the old, and families, mostly dressed in pink.
A buffer zone was set up around the court to try to prevent the jury hearing the coordinated chants of “Free Karen Read” or the approving honks from passing drivers and even loud boos as prosecution witnesses arrived.
By the end of the trial, there was an opposing group, wearing blue and calling for justice for the victim, Police Officer John O’Keefe, but they never managed the crowd size or intensity of the Read fans.
And it’s likely that support will show up again, with a retrial of Read set to begin on April 1.
“I actually ran that whole sidewalk at the courthouse for 12 weeks,” said Rita Lombardi, an early supporter of Read’s who says she went to every pretrial hearing and took a leave of absence from work during the trial.
“I wanted to draw more attention, so I started ordering pink pom-poms from Amazon because people around the world would say ‘Why did these people have pom-poms at a murder trial?’” Lombardi told CNN.
The demonstrations had a life and energy of their own — on Father’s Day, some in the crowd wore T-shirts celebrating Read’s dad William Read as “2024 Father of the Year.”
Lombardi, who had not met Read when the rallies started, said the gatherings were filled with more “love, hope and compassion” than anger.
“It was total strangers coming together to use our voices to advocate in a positive and productive manner for justice,” she recalled.
She said she wanted to “help build up Karen, because they were destroying her character, and we wanted her to know we loved and supported her.”
Lombardi says she supports Read “1000%.” “I believe she was framed. There is no doubt in my mind,” she said.
But she says she will step away from the second trial because of the toll on her physical and psychological health from the first.
She says generations of her family have lived in the small town of Canton, southwest of Boston, for 118 years.
Outsiders may know it as the headquarters of Dunkin’, or see wealth in its large, detached houses. But for Lombardi, it’s a town of first responders — sons and daughters who’ve followed their fathers into the police, fire or ambulance service. And everybody knows everybody.
Lombardi has not been swayed by the long list of prosecution witnesses who testified that Read and O’Keefe had been drinking and arguing and that she hit him with her car, leaving him to die in an approaching blizzard outside the house of another police officer.
She believes the defense argument that O’Keefe went inside the house, where colleagues were having a get-together, was attacked there and then dumped outside.
The unanimity of witnesses, including people the community has known forever, is just a sign of a cover-up, she says, echoing the defense.
“My family is broken up. It’s divided and relationships have been destroyed,” said Lombardi, describing how her hometown has been torn apart not united in grief.
Lombardi said her goal was to raise awareness of Karen Read’s case and she did it: “Mission accomplished.”
Read, a financial analyst and lecturer, has done her part too, giving interviews for television and magazines and being featured in a documentary.
The other side has noticed. At a pretrial last month Special Lead Prosecutor for the Commonwealth Hank Brennan complained about O’Keefe’s family and prosecution witnesses being booed.
“The defendant is entitled to a fair trial … but the Commonwealth is entitled too … to a fair trial,” he argued.
At a hearing last week, he made the case again to Judge Beverly Cannone for a larger buffer zone around the courthouse in Dedham, Massachusetts. “Your honor, the Commonwealth’s primary concern is the sanctity of the jury and the jury process,” he said. “They should be free from outside influence.”
Florida defense attorney Cheney Mason believes Read’s sudden fame and loud band of supporters are indeed a gift — for the prosecution.
He represented Casey Anthony, a client he acknowledges was hated by the masses especially when she was acquitted on the three felony counts related to Caylee’s death. But Mason sees the downside of fans like Lombardi too.
“When you are trying to do so much to influence a jury outside a trial, that backfires,” said Mason, who has approximately 350 jury trials under his belt.
“I do not think those types of things are persuasive to most people. In fact, I think an overreaction like that could produce the opposite effect.”
Mason said people called for jury service usually report to the courthouse with the mindset that the defendant did it. “Our citizenry has just a general belief that if someone is arrested and charged it’s because they’re guilty of something,” he told CNN.
Once in the trial, he said he believes jurors do try to find the truth and apply the law and not be swayed by outside factors.
But still, he would not want cheering crowds waving pom-poms in support of any client.
“If I was the defense lawyer, I would want that demonstration gone.”
In the first trial, the prosecution had several first responders testify they heard Read say, “I hit him, I hit him.” They presented data of how Read backed up her car after O’Keefe got out, along with evidence of a broken taillight, and autopsy findings that a battered and bruised O’Keefe died from head injuries and hypothermia.
But the defense presented its mass cover-up theory and was able to dent the credibility of the lead investigator, Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Proctor, who texted demeaning and vulgar comments about Read to friends, family and colleagues, including that he couldn’t find any nude photos on her phone. Proctor has since been fired.
The foreperson of the deadlocked jury wrote to Judge Cannone that their perspectives on the evidence were “starkly divided.”
The final note to the judge reported “some members of the jury firmly believe that the evidence surpasses the burden of proof” but others “find the evidence does not sufficiently establish the necessary elements of the charges.”
The second trial will begin as the first did, with a search for a panel of fair and impartial jurors who can weigh the evidence to try to find the truth of what happened to John O’Keefe and what role, if any, Karen Read played in his death.
Read faces life in prison if convicted. O’Keefe is buried in the Blue Hill Cemetery in Braintree, Massachusetts, where he grew up.
