Karen Read Joins the OJ Simpson Club.
Many of us having flashbacks to OJ Simpson's verdict being read as a crowd cheers for the acquittal.
WHAT. A. WHIRLWIND. OF. A. WEEK.
Here’s a brief update in case you were living under a rock and fell behind the recent events of the trial plastered all over the media…
Followed up by some thoughts I wanted to share for those who feel deep sadness and dismay over the verdict. ❤️
If you missed the closing arguments…
HERE is Defense Attorney Alan Jackson’s closing.
HERE is Prosecutor Hank Brennan's closing.
As you likely already know…
A verdict was reached while the judge was at lunch this past Wednesday.
Before alerting the attorneys, Judge Cannone received a knock on the door from a juror basically saying -
JUST KIDDING. We have no verdict. Someone has changed their mind.
The attorneys were summoned to the courtroom to receive this false-alarm-verdict news, and then headed back out of the courtroom to wait again.
BUT alas…
Everyone made a swift u-turn back into the courtroom because the jury officially agreed on a verdict again.
The jury found that Karen Read is…
👉Not Guilty of Murder in the Second Degree
👉Not Guilty of Manslaughter
👉Guilty of OUI (She was sentenced to a year of probation.)
As the verdict was read, Karen, dawned in her powdered blue designer pantsuit and standing with her high-priced attorneys, including Alan Jackson (Harvey Weinstein’s former attorney) that she hired from across the country, all celebrated.
Karen Read’s supporters (cloaked in pink attire) who crowded out front of the courthouse cheered and screamed so loud that it echoed throughout the courtroom.
The pain that must have caused John O’Keefe’s loved ones is hard to fathom.
The cheering replicated that of the crowd that celebrated OJ Simpson’s acquittal back in 1995.
(I have A LOT to say about the similarities of OJ Simpson’s trial and Karen Read’s trial, and I plan to write about it soon.)
While many people vocally celebrated…
A large amount of people quietly mourned at what feels like another massive loss for the victim and his loved ones.
The fact that 12 people dismissed evidence that literally fits together in the most cohesive way is baffling. Things like:
Karen reversing at 24mph, 74.5% throttle in the same exact location and time that John’s iPhone registers his final steps.
Karen screaming that she “fucking hates” John moments later after driving away, and leaving a voicemail soon after that saying ‘no one knows where you are’ after allegedly dropping him off at a house.
John’s iPhone temperature steadily decreasing in the timeframe from when his last steps were registered to when he was found hours later.
Waking up and telling John’s niece that she may have done something bad.
Admitting in an interview that she said she hit John and that she knew she would find him on the side of the road.
Medics testifying to her incriminating statements, and forensic scientists and officers discussing the remnants of her broken taillight being found not only at the scene under the snowbank (during a blizzard), but also lodged into the victim’s own shirts.
I don’t have the right words for this moment.😔
But John’s close friend’s words captured it all. The grief he shares in this heart-breaking statement after the verdict was read is going under-reported as Karen Read is celebrated all over the media. (Thank you to Mike Dury for sharing this on X). My heart aches for John’s loved ones.
You - like myself - might be feeling all kinds of emotions since the verdict was reached this past Wednesday.
I went from sadness to anger…
Back to sadness…
And then found myself somewhere settled near ‘okay’.
“Okay” is simply my acceptance that…
More needs to be done to ensure victims and their loved ones receive fair treatment and fair trials.
The public (and the legal system) need awareness and some form of action regarding how attorneys are using PR tactics to market conspiracy narratives in order to impact public opinion (tainting a jury pool).
Journalistic integrity needs to be revived as a GOLD standard so the public can blatantly see the difference between those who use primary sources with intent to share truth, not curate truth. (Just because a content creator or a media outlet with huge viewership gives commentary doesn’t make them a GOLD standard of truth-telling.)
Other discussions also need to be had regarding things like —
Is there an ethical issue with allowing people to monetize off of streaming murder trials?
Does this Wild West era of the internet change the landscape of our jury system being untainted from influence? Do we need professional jurors like other countries?
Is society’s obsession with non-stop commentary impacting our own ability to silence the group thought and use critical thinking skills?
Has the true crime sphere become obsessed with conspiracy ideation? Feeding our need for salacious entertainment? Filling the pockets of tabloid lawtubers?
What many people may not know is that Karen Read’s allies worked hard for years to dehumanize and vilify witnesses.
From hosting dinner parties filled with a group mob mentality towards witnesses and the government…
To hiring a person as part of the ‘defense team’ who markets false information as FACTS.
Like this one:
(Microdots run by Richie Keough also participated in the planned harassment of witnesses at a child’s sport’s game).
And don’t get me started again on how Vanity Fair participated in promoting misinformation despite an expert telling the writer that he felt she misrepresented what he was given for his own analysis. You can find my PART 1 article on this topic HERE.
Guys…
There’s work to be done.
But the most important first step in healing what is broken in our society is moving forward with grace and truth.
Hang in there, friends.
xo
#2490
