The Karen Read army of supporters let out a roar heard all the way back to Canton.

After the jury foreman read the verdict, clearing the defendant of all but the least serious offense, hundreds of supporters celebrated loudly and tearfully on the street outside the Dedham courthouse.

“We have stood by her, we love her, we support her,” Karen’s older cousin, Kelly Read, told the Herald, moments after the verdict came out. “I am happy for our family and her that this nightmare is over.”

Kelly Read hugged supporters, shedding tears, recounting all her family has been through over the past three years, since the winter of 2022, when Karen was charged with the murder of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe.

The overwhelming support that the family gained as people from around the Bay State, country, and world learned about the case helped them persevere through the pain, Kelly Read said.

“They all have been amazing through the entire thing,” she said of supporters. “They’ve never given up on her — through trial one, they came back for trial two. They’ve raised the money. Karen has said ‘You are my defense.’ We love them.”

Kelly Read helped spearhead fundraisers that led to hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund Karen’s defense, with many of those events and giveaways conducted in partnership with Nick Rocco, an avid supporter.

Rocco appeared in the courtroom with the Read family numerous times in the first and second trials, and at other hearings in the case. He called Wednesday a “day that a lot of us had been working towards for the past 2.5, almost 3 years now.”

Read, 45, of Mansfield, had faced up to life in state prison if convicted of second-degree murder, the top-level offense charged against her. She was also charged with manslaughter while operating a motor vehicle under the influence of liquor and leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death.

Prosecutor Hank Brennan recommended that Read be required to complete the state’s 24(d) program, which includes outpatient treatment, loss of license and probation, a sentence that is standard for first-time drunk driving convictions in Massachusetts.

“This is what justice is,” Rocco told the Herald. “Now that Karen Read is free, we can now get justice for John O’Keefe because the jury unequivocally said ‘She did not murder John O’Keefe, she did not hit John O’Keefe with her vehicle.’ Somebody else did that to him, and we will get justice for him — we will, it’s going to happen.”

Rocco said he became hooked on the case when he started following “Turtleboy” journalist Aidan Kearney’s coverage of it. Kearney became a prominent voice in the Free Karen Read movement, being indicted on 16 counts of witness intimidation in the case.

A Norfolk Superior judge dropped six of the 16 counts last month.

“I am overcome with emotion,” Kearney said after walking outside the courthouse to loud chants. “Karen Read is free. … We finally have justice.”

In their spirited, celebratory chants, supporters knocked Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey, “Morrissey resign,” Judge Beverly Cannone, “Bev needs to go,” and witness Jennifer McCabe – a main figure who the defense alleges was involved in framing Read for the murder of O’Keefe – “Lock up Jen.”

Dedham resident Jason Grant, a plaintiff on a successful federal complaint that prompted the easing of a restrictive buffer zone outside Norfolk Superior Court during the trial, says corruption runs rampant in Norfolk County.

He told the Herald that Read supporters will move on to fighting for justice in other controversial cases, including Sandra Birchmore, whose body was found in her Canton apartment in February 2021 in what the feds have since described as a staged suicide scene.

“It’s a lot of the same investigators and the State Police,” Grant said. “The people who lied, like the investigators, at the very least need to lose their jobs. The judge should be looked into it. This is deep. We can now go for the real killers.”

Weymouth resident Chrissy Young had followed the case since its first pretrial. She called the verdict “overwhelming” as she started to tear up. She added that through her background as a nurse at Boston Medical Center, she knew that Read was wrongfully accused after she saw O’Keefe’s autopsy photos.

“It’s a win for the people. It’s a win for Karen,” Young told the Herald. “She was framed from the jump. She knew it. We all knew it.”