Karen Read jury resumes deliberations Monday. What happens next?
DEDHAM - The jury in the Karen Read murder trial resumes its deliberations Monday after resting this weekend and struggling to reach a verdict last week.
Jury remains deadlocked
After 10 weeks, the trial is now in its final phase. Prosecutors said Read hit her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O'Keefe, with her SUV before leaving him to die in the snow in Canton back in January 2022. Read is charged with second degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence of alcohol, and leaving the scene where there has been personal injury and death. She and her defense attorneys claim she's being framed and that his body was dumped in the snow after he was possibly beaten inside the home of a fellow Boston police officer.
The potential jail time and courtroom debate have likely driven a wedge between jurors, who sent a note to the judge on Friday saying they're deadlocked and unable to come to a unanimous decision. Judge Beverly Cannone sent them back to the deliberation room, asking them to keep trying.
What happens next?
"If the jury still cannot reach a unanimous verdict, then the judge will declare a mistrial," said legal analyst Jennifer Roman. "Which means there will be no guilty or not guilty finding against Karen and she could be tried again. A decision, a verdict, a hung jury, whatever the case may be, will come to us by Monday afternoon, the very latest Tuesday morning."
Legal analyst Phil Tracy predicted the state will want to try her again if there's a hung jury but he said it would be difficult.
"To get jurors that haven't made an opinion yet is going to be brutal," Tracy said.
