By Jean Casarez, Dakin Andone, CNN

Dedham, Massachusetts (CNN) — Karen Read was acquitted in the killing of her Boston police officer boyfriend John O’Keefe on Wednesday, clearing of her the most serious charges – though she was convicted of drunk driving.

She will serve 1-year probation, according to the judge.

The verdict comes after nearly eight weeks of testimony that featured a combined 49 witnesses from the prosecution and the defense, and less than a year after jurors in Read’s first trial failed to reach a unanimous verdict.

Prosecutors had accused Read of hitting John O’Keefe, a Boston police officer, with her SUV during a night out drinking with friends, alleging she struck her boyfriend while driving in reverse and left him to die in the snow outside a home in Canton, Massachusetts.

But Read contended she was the target of a cover-up and has alleged off-duty law enforcement inside that home were responsible for O’Keefe’s death and conspired to frame her. At trial, her defense worked to paint the police investigation as biased and flawed.

The sharply divergent theories on each side split these suburbs outside Boston for the better part of three years.

On one side, Read’s supporters donned pink, championed her claims of innocence and echoed allegations of police corruption. They congregated in recent days in a sea of pink outside the courthouse in Dedham, Massachusetts, holding their hands up in the American Sign Language gesture for “I love you,” rather than loudly chant “Free Karen Read.”

Meanwhile, O’Keefe’s family and close friends, much more subdued, wore blue. But CNN did not see them outside the courthouse among Read’s advocates, only glimpsing them as they walked into and out of the courthouse, escorted by law enforcement.

The jury deliberated for about 21 hours over four days.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

CNN’s Jean Casarez reported from Dedham, Massachusetts and Dakin Andone wrote from New York.

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