A fast information to Karen Learn’s homicide case, forward of her retrial

Karen Learn is again for Spherical 2 as she prepares to face trial once more within the 2022 demise of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe.

Opening statements in Learn’s homicide trial shall be held Tuesday, greater than three years after O’Keefe’s demise rocked the city of Canton and launched a sprawling authorized saga that has since captured the nation. 

Choose Beverly Cannone estimates the case will take between six and eight weeks to strive. This shall be Learn’s second trial, after her first ended with a hung jury final July.

Beneath, discover a fast primer on the case. 

Prosecutors say Learn backed her SUV into O’Keefe whereas dropping him off at a house in Canton early on Jan. 29, 2022, following an evening of bar-hopping. Authorities allege Learn was driving drunk and left O’Keefe to die within the snow exterior a fellow Boston police officer’s residence on Fairview Highway.

Learn’s legal professionals contend she was a “handy outsider” framed in an unlimited conspiracy among the many householders, legislation enforcement, and fellow afterparty company. They’ve floated an alternate concept that O’Keefe was truly overwhelmed inside the house, attacked by the household’s canine, and dumped exterior within the snow.

The fees Learn is going through embody second-degree homicide, manslaughter whereas working a motorized vehicle underneath the affect, and leaving the scene of a deadly collision. She has pleaded not responsible to all three fees.

The important thing gamers are a motley crew of witnesses, legislation enforcement, media personalities, specialists, and others linked to the case.

The proof on the heart of the case is hotly debated, from a now-infamous Google search to contentious crash evaluation and Learn’s extemporaneous feedback on the scene.

Lots has occurred since Learn’s first trial. The Norfolk County District Lawyer’s Workplace tapped particular prosecutor Hank Brennan to steer the state’s case towards Learn, who has added a number of new legal professionals of her personal. Learn additionally appealed to the U.S. Supreme Courtroom in her ongoing bid to get two of her fees dropped, and Massachusetts State Police fired disgraced Trooper Michael Proctor, who led the investigation into Learn’s case and whose vulgar texts in regards to the defendant solid a pall over her first trial. Moreover, a federal probe into the state’s dealing with of the case concluded with no fees or arrests introduced.

Individually, Learn can be being sued by O’Keefe’s household, who filed a wrongful demise lawsuit final 12 months towards her and the 2 bars the place she and O’Keefe drank the evening earlier than he died. A decide final fall successfully delayed the lawsuit by ruling that Learn doesn’t have to provide discovery or give a deposition till after her felony trial has ended. 

In the event you plan to go to Norfolk Superior Courtroom throughout Learn’s retrial, keep in mind Cannone as soon as once more established a 200-foot buffer zone to bar demonstrations across the courthouse. Cannone additionally prolonged the buffer zone a further block from Courtroom Avenue to Bullard Avenue, noting demonstrators may very well be heard contained in the courthouse throughout Learn’s first trial.

Abby Patkin is a basic task information reporter whose work touches on public transit, crime, well being, and the whole lot in between. She has been overlaying the Karen Learn homicide case.