Karen Read’s criminal lawyer joins defense of wrongful death suit by John O’Keefe family

The criminal attorney who helped Karen Read clinch an acquittal in the case accusing her of murdering her cop boyfriend has announced he’ll be joining her fight against a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the officer’s family.

Alan Jackson announced that he and Elizabeth Little, another lawyer who repped Read during the criminal trial, will be coming onto her team of civil lawyers to fight the civil claims mounted by the family of late Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe.

“I’m proud to stand alongside Elizabeth Little as we join Karen Read‘s civil defense team in her relentless pursuit of justice,” Jackson said in a statement to Boston 25. “Karen’s courage in confronting abuse of power and demanding the truth is unwavering — and so are we.

“This fight isn’t over. Not until every lie is exposed in every wrong is made right,” the statement concluded.

Read, 45, was found not guilty in the murder of O’Keefe, 46, by a jury in June, nearly a year after a prior trial ended with a hung jury. She was convicted of drunk driving and sentenced to one-year probation.

After the acquittal, Read’s lawyers filed a motion to dismiss the O’Keefe family’s lawsuit against her, which had previously been on hold while her criminal case played out.

Prosecutors claimed that after a night out drinking together, Read drunkenly dropped O’Keefe off at his buddy’s party in Canton, Mass., and then backed over him with her Lexus SUV, leaving him to die in a snow bank as a storm was rolling in on Jan. 29, 2022.

Read has claimed all along that she was framed to help cover up a sweeping law enforcement conspiracy.

Similar to the criminal charges, the lawsuit claimed she intentionally hit him with her car while she was drunk and then left him for dead. Then she “outrageously created a false narrative.”

All of Read’s negligent actions caused the O’Keefe family emotional distress, the suit claimed.

A trial date has not yet been set in the civil case.