Karen Read's new lawyer argues to dismiss charges in murder trial
DEDHAM - The Karen Read murder case returned to court Friday for a dismissal hearing as the defense tries to convince the judge to throw out two charges against her in the death of Boston police officer John O'Keefe in Canton, Massachusetts.
Karen Read jurors come forward after mistrial
Read's first trial ended in a mistrial after the "starkly divided" jury said they were unable to reach a verdict. Read was accused of hitting her boyfriend with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow after a night of heavy drinking in Canton in January 2022.
But in the weeks since a mistrial was declared, Read's lawyers said some jurors have come forward to say they all agreed unanimously to acquit Read of the second-degree murder charge and of leaving the scene of personal injury and death. A juror told WBZ-TV they were unsure how to communicate to the judge that they had made up their minds on two of the charges, but not the third charge of manslaughter while operating under the influence.
Read's new attorney Martin Weinberg argued the motion to dismiss for the defense under the "double jeopardy" principle that says someone can't be tried again after they are acquitted of a crime. He said Judge Beverly Cannone has the right to call the jury back and poll them in a variety of ways, including anonymously, to find the truth about their deliberations.
"Don't make Ms. Read be the first person in the history of the Commonwealth to face re-prosecution for murder by the same prosecutor's office that tried her once and failed to persuade the jury she was guilty," he said.
Prosecutor Adam Lally said Read's defense is twisting legal precedent into a "pretzel" to fit its argument. He said Massachusetts law prevents questioning the content of jury deliberations, even if jurors reached out to the defense or prosecution on their own.
"Simply because someone called you first does not then allow for that inquiry to occur," Lally said. "So whether or not you initiate the call to the juror, or the juror calls you, it still does not allow for counsel or the court to then have these conversations with these jurors."
Judge Cannone did not issue an immediate ruling on the motion to dismiss, only saying she'll take the issue under advisement.
Even if the judge does not dismiss the charges, prosecutors could before the next trial. "I mean, I'd like to think they'd do the right thing," Read's attorney David Yannetti said outside court. "We've been disappointed along the way but maybe they'll surprise us."
Juror says "it's pretty simple"
WBZ's Kristina Rex spoke with a juror from Karen Read's first trial on Friday.
They said they spoke with a couple other jurors from the trial and they "think it's pretty simple" that if the court wants the truth about the final unanimous not guilty votes on charges one and three, they will reach out to the jury or bring them back in. "If they don't, they won't," the juror said.
The juror agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity.
Why wasn't the Karen Read jury questioned earlier?
The question now: Whose job was it to ask if the jury was hung on all charges, or just some?
"Well, you have 3 parties here who had the ability to be able to question what they meant by deadlocked," CBS News legal analyst Rikki Klieman said. "You had the judge, you had the prosecutor and you had the defense lawyer."
Read's new trial is scheduled for Jan. 2025, but experts say appeals over the jury deliberations could delay it.
