Simply days earlier than Karen Learn returns to courtroom to defend herself in opposition to costs of second-degree homicide and manslaughter, she’ll inform her facet of the story within the Investigation Discovery docuseries A Physique within the Snow: The Trial of Karen Learn, debuting on Monday, March 17, at 9/8c on ID and Max.
Learn stands accused of killing Boston police officer John O’Keefe, her boyfriend on the time, by reversing her Lexus SUV into him on a snowy January 2022 evening within the Boston-area city of Canton, Massachusetts. However her protection has alleged {that a} legislation enforcement coverup is at play. Learn’s first trial ended with a hung jury; her second is slated to start on April 1.
A WBZ Information timeline lays out the chronology of O’Keefe’s loss of life and Learn’s authorized saga. O’Keefe died on January 29, 2022, within the hours after he and Learn went out for drinks with buddies at a Canton bar. At 6 a.m. that morning, Learn discovered O’Keefe’s physique within the snow exterior the Canton dwelling of then-Boston police officer Brian Albert, the place the good friend group was as a consequence of reconvene after their bar outing, police mentioned. An post-mortem revealed O’Keefe died from blunt affect accidents to the pinnacle and hypothermia, and police mentioned they discovered a damaged cocktail glass and items of a taillight on the scene.
Learn was arrested the next month, and she or he pleaded not responsible to costs of manslaughter, motorcar murder, and leaving the scene of a motorcar collision inflicting loss of life. That June, nonetheless, a Norfolk County grand jury indicted Learn on costs of second-degree homicide and manslaughter whereas working drunk and leaving the scene of non-public harm and loss of life. Learn once more pleaded not responsible.
In Could 2023, Learn’s protection attorneys claimed that O’Keefe was crushed in an altercation inside Albert’s home and that his physique was dumped exterior the home, pointing to wounds on O’Keefe’s arm that the attorneys mentioned evidenced an assault by Albert’s canine.
“That’s an animal assault,” protection legal professional Alan Jackson instructed Learn over the cellphone after seeing a photograph of O’Keefe’s arm, per Self-importance Truthful. “If there’s any health worker or DA or lead investigator on the market claiming that’s from a automobile, that’s bulls***. And if that’s not true, what else isn’t true?”
That very same month, the protection attorneys alleged that there had been a legislation enforcement coverup, one which concerned Massachusetts State Police and Albert, in addition to Jennifer McCabe, Albert’s sister-in-law, per WBZ Information.
Days after O’Keefe’s loss of life, an nameless man known as Learn’s legal professional David Yannetti to say Brian Albert and his nephew had assaulted O’Keefe on January 29 and that Albert and an unnamed “federal agent” dumped the unconscious O’Keefe exterior the home. The person later recanted his tip, however particulars from his account lined up with particulars that emerged later within the case, in line with Self-importance Truthful.
Norfolk County District Legal professional Michael Morrissey acknowledged in an August 2023 video assertion that “the concept a number of police departments, EMTs, Fireplace personnel, the health worker, and the prosecuting company are joined in, or taken in by, an enormous conspiracy” was “fully opposite to the proof and a determined try to re-assign guilt,” per WBZ Information.
Prosecutors on the case mentioned in February 2024 courtroom filings that DNA on a damaged taillight linked Learn to O’Keefe’s loss of life. However Learn, her members of the family, and a police officer recalled seeing Learn’s taillight cracked, not damaged, per Self-importance Truthful. Plus, Massachusetts State Police trooper Michael Proctor mentioned in an affidavit that he seized Learn’s SUV greater than an hour after the Learn household’s safety digicam confirmed him seizing the automobile. Learn thinks her SUV’s taillight was smashed whereas the automobile was in police custody, she instructed the journal.
Safety footage from contained in the Canton Police Division storage appeared to indicate a person recognized as Proctor within the proximity of solely the SUV’s left taillight — not the broken proper taillight — however Learn’s authorized crew realized the phrase “police” on a close-by cruiser was displayed backward, which means the video was inverted and Proctor was close to the best taillight in spite of everything, Self-importance Truthful reported. And but the timestamp on the video wasn’t mirrored. Jackson mentioned that truth “means any individual needed to put that [timestamp] on the inverted, the manipulated, the altered video, on function.” (Proctor’s supervisor testified he didn’t know the way the video had been inverted.)
Learn’s first trial began in April 2024. Throughout that trial’s proceedings, an emergency responder recalled listening to a lady repeatedly saying, “I hit him, I hit him,” exterior O’Keefe’s dwelling. Albert and McCabe took the stand the next month, with Albert testifying that O’Keefe and Learn didn’t come inside his dwelling on the evening of O’Keefe’s loss of life. McCabe testified that Learn requested her after discovering O’Keefe’s physique to Google how lengthy it might take somebody to die within the chilly. However an professional witness for Learn mentioned McGabe made that Google search hours earlier, round 2:27 a.m. that morning, per Self-importance Truthful.
The trial additionally uncovered messages Proctor despatched his buddies. “There shall be severe costs introduced on the lady,” Proctor mentioned by way of textual content message 16 hours into his investigation, per Self-importance Truthful. “She’s a whack job c***. Zero probability she skates. She’s f***ed.”
Proctor additionally texted, “Ready to lock this whack job up,” and, “Hopefully she kills herself.”
After weeks within the courtroom and days in deliberation, the jury within the first trial failed to achieve a verdict, and a mistrial was declared. A juror instructed WBZ-TV the jury was unanimous to find Learn not responsible of two of the fees, second-degree homicide and leaving the scene of non-public harm and loss of life, however didn’t know methods to talk these selections to the choose.
In the meantime, one other authorized case is enjoying out alongside Learn’s: Massachusetts blogger Aidan Kearney, higher recognized on-line as Turtleboy, is dealing with witness intimidation costs in connection together with his protection of Learn’s case, per WBZ Information.
Earlier this month, a federal probe into the case ended with out costs filed in opposition to police, per The Unbiased. The probe, run by the U.S. Legal professional’s Public Corruption Unit with an help from FBI brokers, targeted on allegations that legislation enforcement framed Learn for O’Keefe’s loss of life, per Boston 25 Information.
And simply final week, a federal choose denied Learn’s request to have her costs of second-degree homicide and leaving the scene of non-public harm and loss of life dismissed, in line with Boston.com. Learn’s crew, citing juror’s statements that the primary trial jury was unanimous to find Learn not responsible of these costs, had argued that the principles of double jeopardy precluded prosecutors from retrying Learn on these counts.
By the point Learn sat down for the Self-importance Truthful interview, she had misplaced her jobs as an fairness analyst and an adjunct professor, her medical insurance, her automobile, and her life financial savings and was residing off her 401(okay), and after the interview, she bought her home however nonetheless owed greater than $5 million in authorized bills. However she was dedicated to proving her innocence on the second trial. “I’m not backing down now,” she mentioned. “As scary as a possible conviction is, I’ll go to jail for one thing I didn’t do earlier than I plea out. I’ll by no means give them that win.”
A Physique within the Snowdirector Terry Dunn Meurer (Unsolved Mysteries) instructed The Hollywood Reporter that she took on the undertaking after Learn’s attorneys seemed for somebody to comply with them by the pretrial and trial course of. And Meurer was excited in regards to the “extremely, actually unprecedented” entry she obtained from Learn and her illustration.
“Within the documentary [Read] says, ‘That is my testimony,’” Meurer defined. “Karen favored to speak, and she or he’s been muzzled for 2 years. She’s achieved a couple of interviews right here and there. However she’s by no means felt like she might inform her whole story from starting to finish. And that’s what she needed to do.”
Meurer was additionally intrigued that there have been “very, very sturdy theories on either side of the case,” she mentioned.
“The prosecution has actually attention-grabbing factors to make, and the protection has actually attention-grabbing rebuttals,” she noticed. “I’ve not seen a case both the place there’s a lot suspicious conduct on either side.”
A Physique within the Snow: The Trial of Karen Learn, Collection Premiere, Monday, March 17, 9/8c, ID & Max