The Karen Learn military of supporters let loose a roar heard all the best way again to Canton.
After the jury foreman learn the decision, clearing the defendant of all however the least critical offense, tons of of supporters celebrated loudly and tearfully on the road exterior the Dedham courthouse.
“We have stood by her, we love her, we support her,” Karen’s older cousin, Kelly Learn, instructed the Herald, moments after the decision got here out. “I am happy for our family and her that this nightmare is over.”
Kelly Learn hugged supporters, shedding tears, recounting all her household has been by over the previous three years, for the reason that winter of 2022, when Karen was charged with the homicide of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe.
The overwhelming assist that the household gained as folks from across the Bay State, nation, and world realized in regards to the case helped them persevere by the ache, Kelly Learn mentioned.
“They all have been amazing through the entire thing,” she mentioned of supporters. “They’ve never given up on her — through trial one, they came back for trial two. They’ve raised the money. Karen has said ‘You are my defense.’ We love them.”
Kelly Learn helped spearhead fundraisers that led to tons of of 1000’s of {dollars} to fund Karen’s protection, with lots of these occasions and giveaways carried out in partnership with Nick Rocco, an avid supporter.
Rocco appeared within the courtroom with the Learn household quite a few instances within the first and second trials, and at different hearings within the case. He known as Wednesday a “day that a lot of us had been working towards for the past 2.5, almost 3 years now.”
Learn, 45, of Mansfield, had confronted as much as life in state jail if convicted of second-degree homicide, the top-level offense charged in opposition to her. She was additionally charged with manslaughter whereas working a motorcar below the affect of liquor and leaving the scene of an accident leading to dying.
Prosecutor Hank Brennan advisable that Learn be required to finish the state’s 24(d) program, which incorporates outpatient therapy, lack of license and probation, a sentence that’s customary for first-time drunk driving convictions in Massachusetts.
“This is what justice is,” Rocco instructed the Herald. “Now that Karen Read is free, we can now get justice for John O’Keefe because the jury unequivocally said ‘She did not murder John O’Keefe, she did not hit John O’Keefe with her vehicle.’ Somebody else did that to him, and we will get justice for him — we will, it’s going to happen.”
Rocco mentioned he grew to become hooked on the case when he began following “Turtleboy” journalist Aidan Kearney’s protection of it. Kearney grew to become a outstanding voice within the Free Karen Learn motion, being indicted on 16 counts of witness intimidation within the case.
A Norfolk Superior choose dropped six of the 16 counts final month.
“I am overcome with emotion,” Kearney mentioned after strolling exterior the courthouse to loud chants. “Karen Read is free. … We finally have justice.”
Of their spirited, celebratory chants, supporters knocked Norfolk District Lawyer Michael Morrissey, “Morrissey resign,” Decide Beverly Cannone, “Bev needs to go,” and witness Jennifer McCabe – a principal determine who the protection alleges was concerned in framing Learn for the homicide of O’Keefe – “Lock up Jen.”
Dedham resident Jason Grant, a plaintiff on a profitable federal grievance that prompted the easing of a restrictive buffer zone exterior Norfolk Superior Court docket in the course of the trial, says corruption runs rampant in Norfolk County.
He instructed the Herald that Learn supporters will transfer on to preventing for justice in different controversial circumstances, together with Sandra Birchmore, whose physique was present in her Canton house in February 2021 in what the feds have since described as a staged suicide scene.
“It’s a lot of the same investigators and the State Police,” Grant mentioned. “The people who lied, like the investigators, at the very least need to lose their jobs. The judge should be looked into it. This is deep. We can now go for the real killers.”
Weymouth resident Chrissy Younger had adopted the case since its first pretrial. She known as the decision “overwhelming” as she began to tear up. She added that by her background as a nurse at Boston Medical Heart, she knew that Learn was wrongfully accused after she noticed O’Keefe’s post-mortem pictures.
“It’s a win for the people. It’s a win for Karen,” Younger instructed the Herald. “She was framed from the jump. She knew it. We all knew it.”
