John O'Keefe, the victim in the Karen Read trial, was a veteran officer and devoted father figure

Who was John O'Keefe, the antheral whose decease led to a Massachusetts execution proceedings attracting nationalist attention

CANTON, Mass. -- CANTON, Mass. (AP) — John O’Keefe’ s rubric was Boston constabulary officer, but to those who loved him, helium was Johnny, J-J oregon affectionately, the Godfather. His woman erstwhile called him “the patron saint of Canton.”

That girlfriend, Karen Read, is present connected trial, accused of sidesplitting O’Keefe successful a lawsuit that has attracted nationalist attention and called into question the integrity of a wide swath of Massachusetts' instrumentality enforcement assemblage and adjacent immoderate of O'Keefe's friends.

Born and raised successful suburban Braintree, O’Keefe graduated from Northeastern University and earned a master’s successful transgression justness from the University of Massachusetts. He was 46 astatine the clip of his death, and had been a Boston constabulary serviceman for 16 years.

For overmuch of that time, O’Keefe besides had been raising his niece and nephew successful Canton aft his sister and her hubby died conscionable months apart. He besides mislaid his champion friend, chap Boston Officer Pat Rogers, to suicide. Rogers’ woman was large astatine the time, and O’Keefe rapidly stepped up to enactment her arsenic well, acting arsenic godfather to her son.

“He was the archetypal idiosyncratic successful my transportation country aft I gave birth,” Laura Sullivan testified during the trial, describing O’Keefe arsenic a “constant” beingness successful her son’s life.

Other witnesses described O’Keefe’s devotion to his niece and nephew, who called him J-J and were conscionable 6 and 3 erstwhile helium became their guardian. O’Keefe’s younger brother, Paul, was the archetypal witnesser called by the prosecution. Asked to sanction his siblings, helium struggled to enactment composed erstwhile naming his precocious sister and “my member John.” Everyone called him Johnny, helium said, “especially if you were family.”

Paul O'Keefe said helium had planned to spot his member the time earlier helium died, but they canceled due to the fact that of a coming snowstorm. Their past connection was successful a radical substance with household members. John O’Keefe was excited, helium said, due to the fact that their niece had been accepted to a backstage precocious school.