Imagine you're Karen Read and you're just living your life as a very successful business woman that is also an adjunct professor. You have loving parents and own a beautiful house. The only fly in the ointment is that your Boston police officer boyfriend, John O'Keefe, thinks you spoil the children under his care, his niece and nephew. And you might be feeling a little iffy on the romance front because it feels like every woman in his orbit wants to get their hands on him, regardless of their marital status.
One night you drop him off after a night of drinking at a "blizzard party" that you're not sure that you and he are actually invited to. You ask him to let you know if you're welcomed and you wait in your car for him to report back. Then you wait some more. And finally you get ticked off and drive back to his place. You're angry and getting angrier because it seems like he's flat out ignoring your calls. You really just want to go back to your own house but one of your boyfriend's charges is sleeping all alone in his house. You're feeling used because this is not the first time he's dumped a responsibility like this in your lap. You try calling your mother for advice even though it's 1:30 in the morning. Finally, you drift off on the couch where you awake several hours later in a panic because he never came home!
You're frantic and fuzzy headed but you know one thing: you must find your boyfriend because he would never have left his niece home alone over night. Even though he could be a bit of a horn dog and sometimes behave like a jackass (as many men do), he takes his responsibility for the children very seriously. Unfortunately, you don't know the people you hung out with the night before all that well. That's why you weren't sure if you were truly welcomed at the after party. You become fixated on one thing: find your boyfriend by any and all means necessary. What you don't know is that, sadly, those you enlist to help you have neither you nor your boyfriend's best interests at heart.
Imagine you're the one who finds him laying in the snow and cold on the front lawn of the house you dropped him off at. You desperately try to warm him up and administer CPR. When EMS take over shock begins to set in and you cannot make sense of the situation. You wonder if you somehow caused this because that's what normal people do. Could you have somehow prevented this outcome? You frantically pace around, a stream of consciousness pouring loudly out of your mouth. Not one person on the scene offers you comfort - they actually tell you to "shut up."
You reach out to your parents, beside yourself with grief. The conversation is so alarming that they call 911 which ends up placing you at the exact same hospital your dying boyfriend was taken to. Your father gently breaks the news to you, "he's gone, honey." The next big thing on your mind are the children your boyfriend has been guarding over. You've grown close to them over the last 2 years and you want to be there for them. When you make your way back to the house, your boyfriend's mother stares daggers at you while saying, "You just left him there?!" The place that had felt like home to you has become very hostile. You gather up your possessions with your father's help and flee to a place that is truly home: your parents' house.
Later that day, state troopers arrive and confiscate your car and phone. A few days later you're arrested and charged with manslaughter. The prosecution claims they have ring footage of your crime which turns out to be a big fat lie. Someone approaches your lawyer and tells him a story about your boyfriend being attacked in the "party" house and names three individuals. He knows details that have not yet been discovered, like the wounds to your boyfriends arm and how a dog was involved.
As you and your legal team begin investigating, the DA prosecuting you for this alleged crime sends out an unprecedented video press release to a whole bunch of media outlets in defense of the individuals named by the informant as well as the lead investigator who's friends with the homeowner and his family. First they lie about the ring video and now these out-of-pocket and incredibly prejudicial statements from the office that will eventually upgreade your charges to murder. Outrageous! So you decide to fight fire with fire and begin doing both print and televised interviews to get your side into the public consciousness.
I am only scratching the surface of what has transpired over the last 3+ years. Remember, the government pretty much has unlimited resources when attempting to convict citizens of crimes. Few have the resources to fight back. Every person charged with a crime has constitutionally protected rights and deserves zealous advocacy.
If you're unable to put yourself into Karen Read's shoes, it says more about YOU than it does about HER.