A woman accused of killing her boyfriend, a Boston police officer, has been framed, her lawyers say

A highly anticipated trial began last week in Massachusetts of a woman accused of hitting her boyfriend, a Boston police officer, with her SUV and leaving him stranded in a snowbank.

John O’Keefe died on January 29, 2022 in the Boston suburb of Canton.

The case has drawn national attention because the defense claims state and local law enforcement officials framed Karen Read and allowed the real killer to go free.

A look at the facts and legal arguments:

THE DEFENSE: FAMILY CONNECTIONS INCREASE INVESTIGATIONIn recent days, Read’s defense team has focused heavily on ties between police and the family that owned the home in the Boston suburb of Canton where O’Keefe’s body was found. They try to argue that those relationships influenced the investigation and blinded state and local law enforcement officials to the possibility that someone else killed the 46-year-old O’Keefe.

Defense attorneys initially went after Katie McLaughlin, a firefighter who was at the scene and was friends with family member Caitlin Albert. At the time, the house belonged to Albert’s father, Boston police officer Brian Albert.

McLaughlin confirmed Friday that she and Caitlin Albert went to high school together about a decade ago, were friends on social media and were photographed together at a local beach. However, she insisted that they were just acquaintances and that she did not know it was Albert’s home when she responded to the call. She also said she hadn’t spoken to Albert for several years.

Read’s defense attorney Alan Jackson repeatedly tried to show that the two were closer than McLaughlin wanted to admit, pointing to other beach photos of the two together.

On Monday, he and other defense attorneys reiterated that connection.

Before the jury arrived, attorneys told Judge Beverly Cannone that they had received many more photos of McLaughlin and Caitlin Albert together over the weekend, including at a baby shower. They also learned that the two had been on the track team together in high school. Cannone said she would address the issue later.

Defense claims bias on the part of the cantonal policeDefense attorneys also questioned Canton police Lt. Paul Gallagher, the first witness Monday, asking him why he didn’t search the family home for physical evidence. They noted that pieces of a broken cocktail glass had been found outside the house and suggested that a search may have found similar pieces inside the house.

Did the police not conduct a search “because this house belonged to a Boston police officer”? Jackson asked Gallagher.

Gallagher responded that a search would have required probable cause, which he said police did not have.

Jackson then asked Gallagher whether the reason Canton Police Chief Kenneth Berkowitz recused himself from the investigation was “due to the relationship between the Albert family and the Canton Police Department.”

Gallagher said no because one of Brian Albert’s brothers works in the Canton police investigative unit.

On Tuesday, the defense focused on the relationship that Lt. Michael Lank of the Canton police to Brian Albert’s brother Christopher Albert, a high school classmate.

Lank said he was drinking off-duty one night in 2002 when Christopher Albert asked him for help, saying he had previously been involved in a scuffle and that “some threats had been made against him and his family.”

Defense lawyers claimed Lank helped Albert because of their long friendship, but he denied this.

“It was I who that night came to the aid of a citizen who was very afraid for him and his family, who happened to be Chris Albert,” he told the court.

The accusation: A turbulent relationship turns deadlyRead and O’Keefe had been to two bars the night the officer died and were then on their way to a party in nearby Canton, police said. Read said she wasn’t feeling well and decided not to attend, sources said. When O’Keefe arrived at the house, she got out of Read’s vehicle and while making a U-turn, she hit him and then drove away, prosecutors said.

Read later panicked when she couldn’t reach O’Keefe, returned to the party and, along with two friends, found his body covered in snow, prosecutors said.

So far, they’re relying on Read’s statements at the scene, including statements from several first responders who recalled Read telling them loudly and repeatedly that she “hit him,” though she never said it happened with her SUV. They also called witnesses to the stand who testified that the couple had a strained relationship.