Karen Read has agreed to a $100,000 settlement with the Massachusetts State Police, according to a Nov. 2 motion reviewed by Oxygen. Read had accused investigators of bias and misconduct in the murder case that ultimately ended with her acquittal.
Read filed a lawsuit in June against the Massachusetts State Police and the town of Canton. The complaint alleged that the investigation into the 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, violated her constitutional rights and harmed her reputation.
Her lawsuit accused both agencies of failing in the hiring, training and supervision of officers she described as biased and corrupt. It further alleged that officials had worked for years to conceal “an [embedded] culture of bigotry, misogyny, systemic failures, and institutional rot at the very core of both organizations.”
Central to Read’s allegations were vulgar text messages exchanged by former Massachusetts State Police lead investigator Michael Proctor and former Canton Police Sgt. Sean Goode. Read argued that the messages demonstrated what she characterized as their “unrepentant hatred for women.”
A Massachusetts State Police spokesperson told Oxygen that the agency accepted the settlement to “avoid prolonged litigation and the significant costs to taxpayers of continuing the case.”
“The State Police will continue to strengthen its investigative practices, enhance comprehensive training for investigators,” the spokesperson said, “and ensure that every investigation is thorough, impartial, and guided by the facts.”
In the motion, the agency also stated that it “unequivocally condemns the racist, sexist, and abhorrent messages quoted in the complaint, which do not reflect the values of the Massachusetts State Police and are not tolerated within its ranks.”
The agreement settles Read’s claims against the state police but does not end her case against the town of Canton, which has previously rejected allegations that it knowingly overlooked misconduct.
Read’s case, which ended with a hung jury before her eventual acquittal, will be examined in the three-part Netflix documentary series The Trials of Karen Read, set to premiere Nov. 23.
What Happened to Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe?
Prosecutors said Read struck O’Keefe with her SUV after leaving him outside the Canton residence of retired police officer Brian Albert on Jan. 29, 2022.
Several hours later, Read and her friends discovered O’Keefe unresponsive in a snowbank near the home.
Read was arrested the following month after emergency personnel said they heard her repeatedly exclaim, “I hit him, I hit him, I hit him, I hit him.” Prosecutors later argued that damage to her vehicle’s taillight corresponded with evidence recovered at the scene.
She pleaded not guilty to manslaughter, negligent motor vehicle homicide and leaving the scene of a fatal crash. A grand jury later indicted her on a second-degree murder charge.
Karen Read’s First Murder Trial Ends with Hung Jury
At Read’s first trial in April 2024, jurors were presented with sharply conflicting accounts of what happened.
Prosecutors described Read’s statements to emergency workers as an admission. They also alleged that a friend said Read told her, “I don’t remember anything from last night. We drank so much.”
The prosecution also presented forensic evidence that O’Keefe’s DNA had been found on Read’s taillight.
Read’s attorneys offered a different theory, arguing that O’Keefe died inside Albert’s house during an altercation and that his body was later placed outdoors as part of an alleged law enforcement cover-up. They said Read’s repeated statement that she had hit him reflected shock and confusion rather than guilt.
The judge declared a mistrial in July 2024 after jurors could not reach a unanimous decision, paving the way for a second trial.
Karen Read Is Acquitted in Her Second Murder Trial
Read’s second trial began in April 2025 as the Supreme Court considered whether her charges should be dismissed under double-jeopardy protections. The court ultimately declined to hear the case. During the proceedings, supporters continued to promote the “Free Karen” movement, often represented by pink, Read’s favorite color.
In June 2025, a jury cleared Read of second-degree murder, manslaughter and leaving the scene of an accident. She was found guilty of operating under the influence of liquor and received a one-year probation sentence.
“You lost. You lost big time,” Read told prosecutors, according to People. “And you know what you did.”
What Did Karen Read Allege in Her Police Misconduct Lawsuit?
Karen has largely stayed out of the public eye since her acquittal, but she filed a lawsuit in Plymouth Superior Court in June 2026, naming the Massachusetts State Police and the town of Canton as defendants.
“John was the victim of this institutional corruption,” Read told TODAY in June. “We’re the voice for John.”
“I couldn’t just go back to life as it was,” she continued. “I have to continue fighting for justice. The acquittal is deserved but the wrongs have not been completely righted.”
The complaint pointed to sexually explicit and disparaging messages sent by Proctor and Goode, arguing that they revealed investigators’ bias. At the time, Proctor’s attorney told NBC Boston, “it is a matter of undisputed fact that anything Mr. Proctor did or said in his personal life, years before Officer O’Keefe was killed, had no bearing whatsoever on the investigation of Karen Read.” Goode’s attorney did not respond to an NBC News request for comment.
“The Town of Canton has the utmost faith and confidence in the new leadership of Canton Police Department under Chief Michael Daniels,” a spokesperson told TODAY at the time. “And we would refute any broad stroke characterizations about the brave and dedicated men and women who serve in the Department.”
In one message, Proctor referred to Read as a “whackjob” with “no a- -.” In another, he wrote “no nudes so far” while searching her phone and said he hoped Read would kill herself.
Read alleged that Proctor wanted to “make [the investigation] cut and dry so he and his close-knit circle of friends could pin it on ‘the girl.’”
Proctor was dismissed from the Massachusetts State Police in March 2025. He acknowledged during testimony that he had sent the messages but denied that his personal views about Read influenced his work. He described the comment about Read killing herself as “just a figure of speech.”
Goode, who resigned from the Canton Police Department in June 2026, testified that he never heard Read say she had struck O’Keefe with her vehicle, despite statements attributed to her by first responders.
Representatives for the Massachusetts State Police, the town of Canton and Proctor did not immediately respond to Oxygen’s requests for comment.