A Massachusetts judge denied a request to dismiss the murder charge against Karen Read following a mistrial last month in the high-profile case, after her defense attorneys said four jurors reported that the jury had found her not guilty of the offense.
Read was accused of killing her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, in January 2022. Prosecutors allege she hit O’Keefe with her car and left him to die in the middle of a snowstorm after the two got into an argument earlier in the day.
Judge Beverly Cannone declared a mistrial in the case on July 1 after the jury said it was unable to reach a unanimous consensus on the fifth day of deliberations. The Norfolk District Attorney’s Office said they planned to retry the case.
Read was charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating a motor vehicle under the influence and leaving the scene of a fatal accident. She had pleaded not guilty.
Read’s attorneys asked the judge to dismiss the charges of second-degree murder and leaving the scene of a fatal accident in the retrial. They argued in court filings that retrying her on the charges would violate double jeopardy protections because, based on subsequent statements from the four jurors, the jury had reached a unanimous decision to acquit Read on the charges.
Karen Read looks toward the jurors during her trial at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass., July 1, 2024.
Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool, FILE
In her ruling released on Friday, Cannone concluded that double jeopardy was not at issue “because the defendant was not acquitted of any charges and defense counsel consented to the court’s declaration of a mistrial.”
Cannone acknowledged the statements from the jurors cited in defense filings, though said that any agreement among the jurors on the charges “cannot be considered acquittals for purposes of double jeopardy.” Because no verdict was announced in court, Read was not acquitted of any charges, the judge said.
Prosecutors had asked the judge not to dismiss the two charges, arguing in court filings that the defense’s motion “lacks any merit or legal foundation” and labeled the defense’s claims that the jury reached a unanimous decision to acquit on the two counts “unsubstantiated and sensational.”
Read has strenuously denied the allegations, and her lawyers alleged that a fellow police officer was involved in O’Keefe’s death and colluded with others in a cover-up.
The new trial has been scheduled to start on Jan. 27, 2025, “in an effort to make sure we have plenty of time,” Cannone said during a hearing last month.
“I assume whatever I ended up doing on the motion to dismiss will be appealed,” Cannone said at the time.
In a recent court ruling, a judge has decided against dismissing a murder charge for Karen Read, following a mistrial in her case. The decision comes after weeks of deliberation and legal arguments from both the defense and prosecution.
Karen Read was charged with the murder of her husband, John Read, in a case that has garnered significant media attention. The prosecution argued that Karen had a motive to kill her husband, citing financial troubles and a tumultuous relationship as possible reasons for her alleged crime. However, the defense maintained that there was insufficient evidence to prove Karen’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
The mistrial occurred when the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict after days of deliberation. As a result, the case was declared a mistrial and sent back to the court for further proceedings. The defense immediately moved to have the murder charge dismissed, arguing that the mistrial indicated a lack of evidence against Karen.
However, the judge ultimately ruled against dismissing the murder charge, stating that there was still enough evidence to proceed with a new trial. The decision was met with mixed reactions from both sides, with the prosecution applauding the judge’s ruling and the defense expressing disappointment.
The case will now move forward with a new trial date set in the coming months. Both the prosecution and defense will have the opportunity to present their arguments once again, with the hope of reaching a final verdict in the murder case of Karen Read.
As the legal proceedings continue, the public will be closely following the developments in this high-profile case. The outcome of the trial will have far-reaching implications for Karen Read and her family, as well as for the broader community seeking justice for the victim, John Read.
