\u201cI\u2018m confident that we did the right thing,\u201d said Prado, who lives in Walpole. \u201cThe OUI was the only thing that the Commonwealth actually proved, really.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, a jury cleared Read<\/a> of three serious charges<\/a>: second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence, and leaving the scene of a crash resulting in death. The jury found her guilty of a lesser charge of drunken driving.<\/p>\n She will serve one year of probation as a first-time offender.<\/p>\n The decision marked the end of a years-long criminal case<\/a> in which prosecutors alleged that Read backed her SUV into O\u2019Keefe, a Boston police officer, and left him to die in the snow. Read\u2019s lawyers said she was framed. <\/p>\n Prado, a native of Brazil and former lawyer, is a true crime fan, but before the case only listened to stories in her native Portuguese and mainly followed national news. She had never heard of Read beyond the billboards she saw on Route 1 and at the grocery store that read \u201cFree Karen Read.\u201d<\/p>\n But after the verdict and the cheers it drew from the crowd outside the courthouse, Prado downloaded X, immediately followed journalists and influencers who covered the case, and vowed to follow trials in America from now on. <\/p>\n As an immigrant, she <\/b>believed the United States was the most \u201cperfect place on the planet\u201d in terms of its criminal justice system, <\/b>Prado said. But after serving on the Read jury, she has a more measured view.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not saying it\u2019s fully bad … but there are flaws too, and I wasn\u2019t aware of that.\u201d <\/p>\n Throughout her time on the jury, Prado said she felt \u201cpressure\u201d and by the end, \u201cclaustrophobic.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe deliberation was the most emotional moment for me because it\u2019s the moment you have someone\u2019s life in your hands,\u201d Prado said. <\/p>\n Prado said jurors used large pieces of paper which they put on the walls of the small deliberation room. The papers had the charges written down and other pieces of evidences so all 12 people could visualize the case.<\/p>\n At the beginning of deliberations, the jurors decided not to vote, per instruction from Judge Beverly J. Cannone, and instead went through the testimony, videos, and witnesses, Prado said. <\/p>\n The group never got angry, but the discussion was \u201cheavy\u201d and \u201coverwhelming\u201d at times, she said. The group dug into the evidence, raised questions to each other, and then discussed the charges one by one, eliminating the ones they didn\u2019t agree with, until they reached a verdict, she said. <\/p>\n Prado said she felt luck to be with \u201cintelligent, bright, respectful people.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf there was one person who had more questions, we would stay longer to answer,\u201d Prado said. \u201c12 of us, we felt comfortable with the decision.\u201d<\/p>\n Prado said she is \u201cconvinced\u201d Read is not responsible for O\u2019Keefe\u2019s death and \u201chappy\u201d for Read and her family.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s too many holes for us to fill, and it wasn\u2019t our job to fill those holes,\u201d Prado said. \u201cWe needed to have the reasonable doubt, and we had [it] over all the aspects of the investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n The final crash reconstruction expert <\/a>the defense called made a not guilty decision \u201cclear,\u201d she said, along with a report from a <\/b>forensic pathologist who testified for the defense that was \u201ceasy to understand.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey did a great job,\u201d Prado said of <\/b>the expert witnesses. <\/b>She also said the prosecution\u2019s argument that the injuries to O\u2019Keefe\u2019s arm came from the taillight of Read\u2019s SUV was \u201cimpossible\u201d after reviewing autopsy photos and seeing the broken taillight. <\/p>\n \u201cIf a car at that speed hit someone, we would see more injuries on his body,\u201d Prado said. \u201cI don\u2019t think the car killed John O\u2019Keefe.\u201d<\/p>\n On Read reversing her car at a high speed, Prado said that \u201cdidn\u2019t shock [her] at all.\u201d That, along with the \u201cnasty voicemails\u201d Read left O\u2019Keefe, \u201cdidn\u2019t make a difference,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n \u201cShe was angry,\u201d Prado said. \u201cAs a woman, as a human, as a married woman, I can tell that sometimes when we are angry, we say things we not supposed to say, we act out in a way we\u2019re not supposed to act.\u201d<\/p>\n Prado said she thought there was a \u201c50-50\u2033 chance that she hit O\u2019Keefe with her car, but that \u201che didn\u2019t die outside.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cHe did walk inside that house, and something happened inside the house,\u201d Prado said.<\/p>\n Prado said her \u201ctheoretical\u201d guess is that Read might have \u201ctouched him [with her car], he lost his shoes in the process, she left angry, and his phone maybe dropped when he lost\u201d his balance. She said she \u201ccan\u2019t say\u201d for sure whether Read was framed but believes more investigation is needed. <\/p>\n In terms of the OUI conviction, Prado said it was the \u201conly thing\u201d the jurors could find Read guilty of because she said in a video played in court that she was drinking and video footage from the bars showed the same. <\/p>\n \u201cWe couldn\u2019t let that pass,\u201d Prado said.<\/p>\n Prado said the jury knew the case was a retrial and that members were \u201cpositive\u201d they would discuss all the evidence to reach a decision. They also noticed the amount of money being spent on the case, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe definitely didn\u2019t want to hang this jury,\u201d Prado said. \u201cIt messed up so many lives, not just Karen Read and John O\u2019Keefe\u2019s family\u2019s lives, and we want this to be over for the sake of our county.\u201d <\/p>\n Prado said she was initially surprised that Michael Proctor<\/a>, the lead investigator on the case, did not testify, but understood when Read attorney Alan Jackson mentioned he <\/b>had been fired. <\/p>\n But she did \u201cfind it strange\u201d not to hear from Brian Albert, a now-retired Boston police officer who owned the house on Fairview Road, or Brian Higgins, an ATF agent who attended the afterparty at the Canton home and exchanged flirtatious text messages with Read<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe all want to know what Brian Higgins was doing at 2 a.m.,\u201d Prado said of video footage that showed him at the Canton police station. <\/b>\u201cAnd why the Alberts didn\u2019t come out of the house with all that movement.\u201d<\/p>\n Prado also has questions about the family dog, who now lives in Vermont.<\/p>\n Prado said decided to speak publicly so the O\u2019Keefe family knows the jurors cared.<\/p>\n \u201cWe didn\u2019t take his death lightly,\u201d Prado said. \u201cI want John O\u2019Keefe\u2019s family to know that we care … that was my main goal.\u201d<\/p>\n Prado said she and other jurors also felt \u201cfrustrated\u201d at times. While they were \u201cconfident\u201d Read did not kill O\u2019Keefe, they don\u2019t know who did.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are serving justice to Karen Read, but the family of John O\u2019Keefe, they didn\u2019t receive the justice they deserve,\u201d Prado said. \u201cIt\u2019s a loss for society not having him as a police [officer] and as an uncle, as a friend, as a son, I\u2019m sure.\u201d <\/p>\n Prado said she wants the case to be \u201creopened.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI want them to go through other people who are involved in this case,\u201d Prado said. \u201cAs a society, we need to continue pushing for answers for this case and many others.\u201d<\/p>\n Ava Berger can be reached at ava.berger@globe.com<\/a>. Follow her @Ava_Berger_<\/a>.<\/p>\n