Streets lined with Karen Read supporters as her fate rests in hands of the jury

DEDHAM, Mass. — Supporters have been lining the street for Karen Read outside of the Dedham courthouse every day for the last 9 weeks of her murder trial.

But Tuesday was a different level — the streets were lined with hundreds of people now waiting for a verdict.

Karen Read supporters were camped out in beach chairs, with tents, and waved flags and signs — all saying they believed she was framed and is totally innocent.

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Streets lined with Karen Read supporters as her fate rests in hands of the jury

Some expressed concerned that a verdict wasn’t reached right away

And most people say they’re not worried at all.

They believe the jury will find her not guilty of murdering John O’Keefe.

The case has garnered national attention.

“Everything about it is just so wrong and it’s scary that 2024 somebody can be so badly framed and have the facts be so wrongly presented I mean it’s phenomenal that this can happen in 2024,″ one supporter said.

“It could be any one of us, any one of us, and just what happened, it’s just horrific,” Kristine O’Connell said.

“I hope that they’re thinking if that was my loved one, and that’s how that investigation was handled, what would that look like for them,” said Kerry Anne, another supporter.

Boston 25 legal expert Peter Elikann says it’s not surprising there’s no verdict yet after only a couple of hours of deliberations.

“For the first time they really get to look at each other and talk, and a lot of them must be ready to explode, like, ‘What, this is what I think, and did you hear this, and what did you think of that?’ So it’s not unusual that they wouldn’t do it in 2 or 3 hours,” said Elikann.

Elikann says these 12 jurors need to go over testimony from nearly 70 witnesses and hundreds of documents of evidence after sitting through this 10-week trial.

“It’s really kind of a wild card how long it’s going to take, we don’t know whether they’re all going to be very quickly on the same page or whether there’s some questioning or debate on anything also,” said Elikann.

“I hope they take as much time as they need to go over that evidence or the lack thereof,” said Kerry Anne.

Read’s supporters say no matter how long it takes, they’ll be back out here in Dedham waiting for that verdict.

“We’ll be here tomorrow, hopefully in different clothes,” said Catherine.

Elikann says that even if there’s a verdict in the next day or two, that’s considered pretty quick for a murder case like this.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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