Karen Read: What to Know About Boston Murder Trial

BOSTON — A highly anticipated trial began in Massachusetts this week involving a woman accused of striking her Boston police officer boyfriend with her SUV and leaving him for dead in a snowbank.

John O’Keefe died in a suburb about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from Boston on Jan. 29, 2022.

The case has garnered national attention because the defense alleges state and local law enforcement officials have framed her and allowed the real killer to go free.

Here are the facts and legal arguments in the case:

The charges: A tumultuous relationship turns deadly

Karen Read, 44, of Mansfield, Massachusetts, faces several charges including second-degree murder in the death of John O’Keefe, 46. The 16-year police veteran was found unresponsive outside the home of a fellow Boston police officer.

After a night out drinking at several bars, prosecutors say Read dropped O’Keefe off at a house party just after midnight. As she made a three-point turn, Read allegedly struck O’Keefe before driving away. She returned hours later to find him in a snowbank.

Part of what prosecutors are trying to do is show Read’s actions were intentional. To do that, Norfolk Assistant District Attorney Adam Lally started offering up evidence showing the couple had a stormy relationship that had begun to “sour” in the month before O’Keefe died. The prosection’s first witness, O’Keefe’s brother Paul, testified they would regularly argue including over what Read fed his two adopted children and that he witnessed a 2021 fight the couple had in Cape Cod over how O’Keefe treated her.

Paul O’Keefe’s wife, Erin, testified that Read told her the couple fought in Aruba after she caught O’Keefe kissing another woman.

The defense: Police are framing the suspect

In their opening statement, the defense team laid out plans to portray the investigation into O’Keefe’s death as shoddy and undermined by the close relationship investigators had with the police and other law enforcement agents at…