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Karen Read attorney Alan Jackson answers burning questions about the case in Turtleboy interview
“I mean, do I have a theory? Sure, I have a theory,” Jackson replied when asked what he believes happened to John O’Keefe.
Still basking in the glory of Karen Read’s recent acquittal, lead defense attorney Alan Jackson made an appearance on Turtleboy blogger Aidan Kearney’s livestream Saturday as part of his victory lap.
“You’re the ‘crowd daddy,’” Jackson playfully told Kearney, praising the controversial newsman for his ability to rouse a swarm of people.
A leading figure in the “Free Karen Read” movement, Kearney was among the most vocal advocates for Read’s innocence in the January 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe. Recalling the origins of his prolific reporting on the case, he said he initially found Read’s background unremarkable and felt the allegation that she backed her SUV into O’Keefe while dropping him off at an afterparty “just seemed like this horrible accident.”
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At first glance, Jackson agreed, “Karen seemed like just a boring woman who’s, you know, getting along in her life and gets into this … terrible, tragic accident, and her boyfriend ends up dying, et cetera. Except none of it is true. None of it. Not one goddamn word of it is true. Not one.”
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He added: “The narrative that was so easy to swallow at the beginning became a jagged pill for a lot of folks.”
Jackson told Kearney that Read’s defense team has heard from countless individuals around Massachusetts who shared stories of their own encounters with local law enforcement and the justice system.
“The Karen Read movement, the ‘Free Karen Read’ movement, was so much bigger than this 110-pound girl who got wrongfully accused,” he said, telling Kearney he was proud to be part of the wave.
“I’m very honored to have led the defense team that sort of unveiled or pulled back the curtain to a larger problem,” Jackson continued, adding, “There’s a lot yet to be done to fix the problems that … sort of germinated this issue. So stand by.”
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Asked if he’ll be sticking around to see those problems solved, the California-based attorney replied, “I’m always going to be Karen’s attorney. I’m not going anywhere. So if there is a, or when there is a next chapter to this, you can bet I’ll be involved.”
While Read is facing a wrongful death lawsuit from O’Keefe’s family, she’s retained a team of civil attorneys separate from her criminal defense.
‘We proved that she was innocent’
Jackson said the piece of evidence that hooked him in Read’s case was a photograph of O’Keefe’s injured arm. While prosecutors alleged the wounds were from a collision with Read’s SUV outside 34 Fairview Road in Canton, Jackson has long suggested the cuts were actually from a dog attack.
When Read initially reached out to him to share those early case details, Jackson said the hairs on the back of his neck stood straight. He quickly looped in Elizabeth Little, a partner at his firm Werksman Jackson & Quinn.
“I called her in with our very, very elegant intercom system. And it sounded a little bit like this: ‘Liza! Get your ass in here! Oh my god!’” Jackson joked. “I just screamed … through the wall.”
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“This is not right,” he remembered thinking. “Everything that I’m seeing suggests something is desperately wrong with this prosecution.”
Jurors last month rejected prosecutors’ theory that Read rammed O’Keefe with her SUV in a drunken rage, acquitting her of murder and manslaughter charges and only finding her guilty of drunk driving. This was Read’s second time standing trial for murder; her first trial last year ended with a hung jury.
According to Jackson, the years-long adrenaline rush put Read through the ringer, and she needed to “come down” post-verdict.
“She almost crashed a little bit,” he added. Still, Jackson described the verdict as an incontrovertible win for Read and those who believe in her innocence.
“Make no mistake, Aidan. It’s not that the commonwealth didn’t prove that she’s guilty,” he told Kearney. “We proved that she was innocent. We proved it.”
The ‘ogre under the bridge’ in Karen Read’s case
Jackson also addressed a notable absence on the witness stand during Read’s retrial: former Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor, who led the investigation into O’Keefe’s death and was later fired in light of his conduct during the case. Neither prosecutors nor defense attorneys called Proctor to testify, though Read’s lawyers alleged Proctor was a “cancer” who tainted the investigation by lying and fabricating evidence.
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Speaking to Kearney, Jackson said he believes Proctor was present outside 34 Fairview Road as State Police investigators searched for evidence in the snow the evening of Jan. 29, 2022. State Police Sgt. Yuriy Bukhenik, who investigated O’Keefe’s death alongside Proctor, was adamant he and Proctor were still at the Canton Police Department when members of the State Police Special Emergency Response Team (SERT) found their first piece of broken taillight in the snow.
“That’s just my opinion. The evidence is the evidence, but I think Proctor was there,” Jackson told Kearney. “I don’t think that he missed the opportunity to go to 34 Fairview.”
He also shed some light on the defense team’s strategy in not calling Proctor or Brian Higgins, a witness who exchanged flirty texts with Read and attended the afterparty at 34 Fairview Road. Read’s lawyers have argued Higgins had motive and opportunity to harm O’Keefe but was not adequately vetted by investigators.
“In my heart of hearts, I knew that having an empty chair, having the ogre under the bridge — and that’s both Proctor and Higgins — I could make hay out of the fact that the commonwealth didn’t call two very, very obvious witnesses,” Jackson explained.
What happened to John O’Keefe?
Jackson peppered his Turtleboy interview with jabs at prosecutors and the Superior Court judge who oversaw Read’s case, Judge Beverly Cannone. He specifically accused Cannone of favoring the prosecution by barring jurors from hearing about the now-closed federal probe into the state’s handling of Read’s case.
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“Do you feel like she was doing this because she’s bad at her job, or do you think she just doesn’t like you and Karen Read?” Kearney asked. “Because that was the vibe I got. I don’t think she likes you; I don’t think you’re getting a Christmas card.”
“Can I choose ‘all of the above’?” Jackson joked, alleging Cannone “could not stand” him right off the bat. He also compared Assistant District Attorney Adam Lally, who led the prosecution during Read’s first trial, with special prosecutor Hank Brennan, who took point for the retrial.
“Look, I’m not going to speak about personalities. But just in terms of legal prowess, I think Adam probably tried a better case,” Jackson said. “I think Hank thought he was being too cute by half by being the data guy, when the data actually benefits us.”
Turning his attention to the million-dollar question, Kearney asked Jackson what he believes happened to O’Keefe that cold night in Canton three years ago.
“I’m going to leave that to a … different time and place,” Jackson demurred, possibly hinting at the screen deal he and Read reportedly signed for a scripted adaptation.
“I mean, do I have a theory? Sure, I have a theory,” he continued. “That’s the beauty of this, is that every single bit of this data played out in open court. I mean, some of it was attempted to be hidden by the prosecution. Some of it was attempted to be hidden by the judge, which is shameful. But the real data got played out in open court. People can make their own decisions.”
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