Speaker 1: This is WBZY, Boston's news radio, redefining local.
Speaker 2: News seventy five degrees in Boston. It is four o'clock.
Speaker 2: Good afternoon. I'm Nicole Davis. Here's what's happening. A massive
Speaker 2: legal victory for Karen Reid. She was acquitted on several
Speaker 2: charges today, including second degree murder, manslaughter while drunk, and
Speaker 2: leaving the scene of a crime resulting in death. Of course,
Speaker 2: all this connected to the death of John O'Keefe. She
Speaker 2: was sentenced to one year probation for OUI WBC's and
Speaker 2: the Friedman is back with us with the very latest Emma.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Nicole. Karen Reid, her defense team and her dad
Speaker 3: walked out of court after she was acquitted of some
Speaker 3: of the most severe charges against her, not most, actually
Speaker 3: all of the severe charges against her. She just spoke
Speaker 3: to a huge crowd of supporters, many dressed in pink,
Speaker 3: outside Norfolk Superior Cordon Detam. Thank you, Rice a Quarters.
Speaker 3: They pulled this through on their backs, thank you. Many
Speaker 3: of the supporters were doing that sign language sign for
Speaker 3: I love you while she walked out. Kind of looks
Speaker 3: like that rock and roll sign a little different though
Speaker 3: she's been doing it a lot recently as she walks
Speaker 3: to and from the courthouse during the eight weeks of testimony,
Speaker 3: doing it to all of her supporters out there and
Speaker 3: them doing it back. It's kind of become a sign
Speaker 3: on the internet. You see it everywhere.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 3: Today really has been a rollercoaster of emotions. Though everybody
Speaker 3: was called into court after jurors said they had a verdict,
Speaker 3: then they went back on that, as we saw just
Speaker 3: a few minutes later, everybody called back again. I mean,
Speaker 3: it's been really a crazy day and read and her
Speaker 3: defense seemed more visibly very emotional. I know you saw that, sure, Yeah,
Speaker 3: Like I think even David Yanetti, I believe there were
Speaker 3: tears in his eyes.
Speaker 2: I think I saw some too, And you know, she
Speaker 2: was hugging everybody, and you can imagine. I mean, this
Speaker 2: has been going on for three years now, at this point,
Speaker 2: more than three years. So it's a resolution not everybody
Speaker 2: will be happy with, but for the Red Team for sure.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Absolutely. I mean Karen Reid, like she came out
Speaker 3: victorious in this. She was not convicted of you know,
Speaker 3: second degree murder and that, but you know, the real
Speaker 3: victim in this, obviously, John O'Keefe, her boyfriend, Boston police
Speaker 3: officer who was found dead in the snow and Canton
Speaker 3: in twenty twenty two January twenty ninth. They're not Blizzard,
Speaker 3: so you know, it's there's definitely like there's all the
Speaker 3: supporters out there cheering, but there is very sad undertones
Speaker 3: throughout this whole day. I mean, the whole thing is
Speaker 3: all about John O'Keefe, right, So it's it's been a
Speaker 3: crazy day, very emotional day as well. I mean it's
Speaker 3: caught so many people's attention.
Speaker 2: Yeah, around the globe. I mean people have been following
Speaker 2: this everywhere, and the internet presence has been really something.
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, everybody seems to know about it. Everyone's mom,
Speaker 3: everyone's aunt, everybody has been talking about.
Speaker 2: The text messages I've been getting. Yeah, there's quite a few.
Speaker 2: Emma Friedman, thank you so much for all your work
Speaker 2: fallowing this case. We have a heat advisory up four
Speaker 2: parts of the day tomorrow because many of us will
Speaker 2: be seeing temperatures pushing ninety and if that wasn't uncomfortable
Speaker 2: enough for some, the humidity level is going to feel
Speaker 2: pretty tropical, so keep that in mind. Tonight it's already
Speaker 2: pretty muggy. You might want to run the ac tonight
Speaker 2: when you're sleeping. We have a low in the mid
Speaker 2: sixties for tomorrow, again hot and humid. We'll have some
Speaker 2: thunderstorms late in the afternoon with a high near ninety
Speaker 2: clearing out tomorrow night with a low in the mid
Speaker 2: upper sixties. Right now, seventy four in Wareham, seventy one
Speaker 2: in Auburn, seventy five in Lowell. In Boston at four
Speaker 2: oh six, it is overcast and seventy six degrees. Okay,
Speaker 2: Right back to our breaking news. Karen Reid acquitted of
Speaker 2: the most serious charges she was facing in the death
Speaker 2: of John o'keith. WBC's Madison Rodgers in the studio with me, now, Madison,
Speaker 2: what's going on here?
Speaker 4: Good afternoon, Nicole. Well, it's been two long trials and
Speaker 4: nearly three and a half years now with Karen Reid
Speaker 4: found not guilty of murder, manslaughter, and leaving the scene
Speaker 4: This afternoon in the death of her boyfriend Boston police
Speaker 4: officer John O'Keefe. Jurors announced the verdict, which included one
Speaker 4: guilty charge, operating under the influence. We heard from legal
Speaker 4: analyst Phil Tracy, a veteran local lawyer and former Suffolk
Speaker 4: County prosecutor.
Speaker 1: In this case, reasonable dove played a big factor because
Speaker 1: jurors might have said, well, I think she was mad
Speaker 1: and hit him by accident or whatever. But nevertheless they
Speaker 1: say that there's too much doubted you.
Speaker 4: Red has been sentenced to one year probation, which Tracy
Speaker 4: calls very light under the circumstances. He thought the Commonwealth
Speaker 4: might have pushed for harsher than usual punishment. But this
Speaker 4: isn't over yet.
Speaker 1: The civil case by the o'kay family is now strengthened
Speaker 1: in the sense that she's been found guilty of offerating
Speaker 1: onto the influence. And again the burden of proof is
Speaker 1: so different for the civil case. It's preponderance of the evidence,
Speaker 1: more evidence than less evident.
Speaker 4: He also stressed how hard this is for O'Keeffe's family.
Speaker 4: Reid is celebrating and told a crowd of supporters that
Speaker 4: no one's fought harder for justice for John O'Keeffe than
Speaker 4: me and my team. Back to Unicol.
Speaker 2: All right, thanks so much, Madison, And you know, when
Speaker 2: it comes to the trial, it took quite a bit
Speaker 2: of money to put all this on wbz's Hile Shaffle takes.
Speaker 5: A closer look. Denham has played host to the high
Speaker 5: drama of the Karen Reed trial for years now, and
Speaker 5: now we're getting a sense of the final tab. Barricades
Speaker 5: have been up everywhere, all on High Street and Debdham
Speaker 5: where Norfolk Superior Court sits, trying to keep protesters out
Speaker 5: of the way of traffic. The town also installed permanent
Speaker 5: buffer zone road signs at every corner of the court
Speaker 5: ordered buffer zone. On top of that, Deadham police officers
Speaker 5: have been on patrol around the court making sure nothing
Speaker 5: gets out of hand. And all that costs money. The
Speaker 5: town of Deadham tells WBZ News Radio that the police
Speaker 5: and public works efforts this here cost over one hundred grand,
Speaker 5: which is more than many town employees here making a year.
Speaker 5: We've asked State Police for their numbers. They're still tallying
Speaker 5: the trial costs for this year, but last year's trial
Speaker 5: costs more than two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in
Speaker 5: taxpayer money. Hyle Shaffle, WBZ Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2: So again a recap here. Karen Reid found not guilty
Speaker 2: of murder in the second degree in the death of
Speaker 2: John O'Keefe. She was found not guilty of manslaughter while
Speaker 2: operating a motor vehicle under the influence of liquor. She
Speaker 2: was found guilty on a lesser charge of OUI, and
Speaker 2: she was also acquitted on leaving the scene of an
Speaker 2: accident resulting in death.