Almost a 12 months after she was acquitted of homicide prices within the demise of her police officer boyfriend following two extremely publicized trials, Karen Learn mentioned Friday that she nonetheless receives overwhelming help from legions of loyalists who imagine she was framed.
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“Irrespective of the place I am going — the grocery retailer, a restaurant, Newbury Road in Boston, any lodge or restaurant I eat at — I don’t pay for meals. I get reductions in all places,” Learn mentioned Friday on “TODAY.” “My mother and father get assist taking groceries in.”
Learn mentioned she shouldn’t be at present working and is focusing her time on the “all palms on deck” case. On Thursday, she filed a lawsuit in opposition to Massachusetts State Police and the city of Canton, alleging that misconduct and negligence led to her prosecution within the demise of 46-year-old John O’Keefe, who was discovered lifeless exterior the suburban residence of one other Boston police officer on the morning of Jan. 29, 2022.
The lawsuit comes after she was acquitted final June of a number of prices, following her first trial that led to a hung jury. She was convicted of a single cost of working beneath the affect of liquor.
“I’m engaged on the case on daily basis, and I don’t know that I actually ever took time without work, and I don’t know that I felt like I wished to take time without work,” Learn advised “TODAY” co-anchor Craig Melvin when requested about her life after two trials.
Melvin then requested Learn how she copes with some individuals nonetheless believing she was accountable for O’Keefe’s demise.
Learn pushed again on that characterization, noting that whereas she has lived “extra low key within the final 12 months,” she has felt that overwhelming help from her neighborhood that has reached past the courtroom and Massachusetts. She did, nevertheless, acknowledge criticism on-line in her controversial case, however she has “not interacted with anybody.”
“There was perhaps for each 50 pink shirts, there was somebody in a blue shirt who had a lot of them ties to individuals on the opposite facet of this case,” she added, referring to her color-coordinated supporters throughout her trials.
Prosecutors alleged that Learn was dropping O’Keefe off for a gathering on the different officer’s residence when — fueled by intoxication and anger in regards to the state of her deteriorating relationship — she reversed her Lexus SUV into O’Keefe and left him for lifeless. Learn rejected the allegations.
There was no video of the alleged collision, nor did any witnesses declare to have seen it. However prosecutors from the Norfolk County District Legal professional’s Workplace offered car information and professional testimony that they mentioned proved their case.
Her attorneys blamed others for O’Keefe’s demise — together with Brian Albert, the now-retired police sergeant who was serving to host the gathering at his Canton residence — and mentioned she was the sufferer of a corrupt, biased regulation enforcement investigation.
Through the first trial, Learn’s attorneys argued that Albert and others almost certainly killed O’Keefe throughout a struggle and framed Learn for his demise. The attorneys had been barred from figuring out the group as suspects within the second trial; after she was acquitted, Learn filed a lawsuit accusing them of masking up O’Keefe’s demise.
Attorneys for Albert and the others have referred to as the allegations “false, defamatory, and with out benefit.” In April, they filed a defamation go well with in opposition to Learn. The 2 lawsuits are nonetheless ongoing.
In a press release responding to Learn’s newest, sweeping civil lawsuit, officers in Canton rejected “broad stroke characterizations” about its law enforcement officials and mentioned the city had made vital strides towards implementing the findings of an audit that was vital of how its officers dealt with Learn’s case.
The Massachusetts State Police superintendent, Col. Geoffrey Noble, described derogatory textual content messages cited in Learn’s lawsuit as “totally inconsistent with any primary commonplace of decency and positively with the expectations of a Massachusetts State Trooper. These racist, sexist and abhorrent feedback completely don’t replicate the values of the Massachusetts State Police and usually are not tolerated inside our ranks.”
Learn on Friday famous that her newest lawsuit had at all times been the plan for her and her authorized crew after years of combating for her freedom.
“The wrongs haven’t been utterly righted,” she mentioned. “However I at all times knew this was going to occur if I might get the assistance legally to do that.”
“I would like this to be over, nevertheless it’s not performed but,” she later added.
