Judge declines to dismiss murder case against Karen Read after July mistrial
A Massachusetts judge declined to dismiss two charges, including murder, in the case of Karen Read, blamed in the death of her Boston police officer boyfriend.
DEDHAM, Mass. — A Massachusetts judge has declined to dismiss two charges, including murder, in the case of Karen Read, who is blamed in the death of her Boston police officer boyfriend.
Read is accused of ramming into John O’Keefe with her SUV and leaving him for dead in a January 2022 snowstorm. Her two-month trial ended in July when jurors declared they were hopelessly deadlocked and a judge declared a mistrial on the fifth day of deliberations.
Judge Beverly Cannone’s decision, released on Friday, means the case can move forward to a new trial set to begin Jan. 27.
The defense had presented evidence that four jurors said after the trial that the jury unanimously reached a not guilty verdict on second-degree murder and leaving the scene of a deadly accident and were deadlocked on the remaining manslaughter charge.
Trying her again on those two charges would be unconstitutional double jeopardy, the lawyers argued. They had also reported that one juror told them “no one thought she hit him on purpose or even thought she hit him on purpose.”
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