During the trial, defense lawyers for Reed, 44, dissected the prosecution's argument that Reed intentionally beat O'Keefe after a night of drinking in January 2022, causing her to die of head injuries and hypothermia during a blizzard. They put forward an alternative theory: that O'Keefe was fatally injured at a late-night party hosted by another Boston police officer in Canton, Massachusetts, and then dumped in the snow.
“The facts are clear to all that you have been lied to in this courtroom,” Reed's lawyer, Alan Jackson, said in closing arguments. “One lie begets another and a malignant tumor grows. This, my friends, is how a cover-up is born.”
Reed, who previously worked for an investment firm and taught college finance classes, pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder, vehicular manslaughter and leaving the scene of a fatal accident. He could have faced five to 20 years in prison for manslaughter, 10 years for leaving the scene and life in prison for murder.
Prosecutors argued the couple had been fighting and that O'Keefe, 46, had recently been trying to end their relationship. They told jurors that, according to testimony from several emergency responders called to the scene, Reid had repeatedly claimed responsibility for her boyfriend's death shortly after his body was discovered.
“'I hit him, I hit him, I hit him, I hit him,'” Norfolk County Assistant District Attorney Adam Lally said during closing arguments. “Those are the defendant's words, and you've heard the testimony of four witnesses who heard those words.”