Karen Read asks Massachusetts court to throw out wrongful death lawsuit after murder acquittal

Karen Read, cleared last month of murder charges in the death of her former boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, is asking a Massachusetts court to throw out the wrongful death lawsuit his family filed against her, according to a new court filing.

The O’Keefes named Read and two bars the couple visited in the hours before his death in a lawsuit seeking an unspecified sum of more than $50,000.

She has a different legal team in the civil case than the high-profile criminal defense team that helped win her freedom. Read’s civil lawyers notified the court Wednesday they had served a motion to dismiss to all parties.

The burden of proof is held to a lower standard in lawsuits. In the 1990s, former NFL star O.J. Simpson was acquitted of the murders of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman but found civilly liable for their deaths.

Read is accused of “knowingly and deliberately” changing her story, concocting “a conspiracy” and publicizing a “false narrative, thereby frustrating Justice for JJ.”

JJ was O’Keefe’s nickname, and the family alleges Read’s narrative caused them “aggravated emotional distress.”