Karen Learn, who was discovered not responsible of expenses within the demise of her boyfriend, has filed a lawsuit accusing members of the Massachusetts State Police and several other others of focusing on her and shielding the actual killers.
Learn walked out of court docket earlier this yr after greater than three years and two trials over the demise of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, who was discovered on the garden of a fellow officer’s dwelling after an evening of heavy consuming.
“For 3 and a half years, plaintiff Karen Learn was wrongly accused of murder and subjected to suspicion, arrest, two prosecutions and public condemnation all ensuing from the gross misconduct of the Massachusetts State Police — and people working in tandem with the MSP — to defend from legal responsibility the celebration or events liable for the demise of Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe III,” the lawsuit says
Learn was accused of hanging O’Keefe, together with her SUV in 2022 and leaving him to die alone within the snow outdoors of a home celebration in Canton, a suburb about 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of Boston. She was charged with second-degree homicide, manslaughter whereas working a car below the affect and leaving the scene.
A mistrial was declared final yr after jurors stated they have been at an deadlock and deliberating additional can be futile. Within the second trial, a jury discovered her not responsible of second diploma homicide and manslaughter expenses however did discover her responsible of a lesser cost of drunken driving.
Tuesday’s lawsuit was filed towards a number of members of the state police and most people on the home celebration together with federal agent Brian Higgins, Nicole and Brian Albert, who owned the home, and Jennifer and Matthew McCabe. It raises most of the allegations Learn’s protection staff made throughout her two trials.
The lawsuit alleges O’Keefe was killed on the home celebration throughout an “altercation throughout a late evening home celebration with different defendants after an evening of heavy consuming.” It says there was an unlimited conspiracy by members of a well-connected and shut social group in the home to cowl up the crime. It additionally accused investigators of shoddy police work, manufacturing proof and failing to analyze the home for blood, DNA or different proof or interview anybody on the home.
“The Home Defendants liable for Mr. O’Keefe’s demise — a few of whom had skilled expertise with police investigations — concocted a plan instantly after the altercation to keep away from culpability and body Ms. Learn,” the lawsuit alleges, including that state police investigators allowed these defendants to redirect the investigation away from themselves and towards Learn.
In assertion from their attorneys, Higgins, the McCabes and the Alberts denied the allegations.
“The allegations made by Karen Learn are fully false, defamatory, and with out benefit,” they stated in a press release. “Our purchasers categorically deny every declare. This lawsuit is nothing greater than a continuation of a baseless conspiracy narrative that has brought on important hurt to the reputations and lives of harmless individuals.
“Our purchasers acted responsibly, fulfilling their civic responsibility as witnesses, and have participated appropriately within the authorized course of from the outset.”
The lawsuit additionally alleges the investigation, led by former Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Proctor, was biased from the beginning.
Proctor was fired after sharing offensive and sexist texts about Learn with associates, household and associates.
Through the second trial, Learn’s protection lawyer Alan Jackson argued Proctor’s “blatant bias” tainted each facet of the corrupt and flawed investigation.
In a press release, the Karen Learn Civil Crew stated she “was dragged via a baseless legal prosecution engineered by people who abused their authority, manipulated the investigative course of, and trampled her rights.”
“Our criticism lays out, in stark element, the malicious prosecution, the conspiracy, the civil-rights violations, and the intentional misconduct that these defendants visited upon an harmless girl,” the staff added.
A spokesman for the Massachusetts State Police didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
The lawsuit, amongst different issues, alleges malicious prosecution below the Fourth Modification and conspiracy to deprive Learn of her Fourth Modification rights. Her attorneys are demanding a jury trial.
