Karen Read is facing charges related to the death of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, whom she is accused of hitting with her SUV and leaving to die in a snowstorm. Her defense claims that she is being framed and that other law enforcement officers are responsible for O’Keefe’s death. After a mistrial was declared in June due to jurors being deadlocked, a retrial on the same charges is set to begin in January. The defense is arguing that trying Read again on charges of second-degree murder and leaving the scene would be unconstitutional double jeopardy.
Following the mistrial, five jurors came forward to say they were deadlocked only on a manslaughter count and had agreed that Read was not guilty on the other counts, which the defense argues reflects a clear decision of her innocence. They are requesting an evidentiary hearing to determine the jurors’ conclusions on the charges. The defense also cited a ruling in the case of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, where an investigation into juror bias was ordered, to support their request for further inquiry into the jury’s decision in Read’s case. They also criticized the judge for declaring the mistrial without confirming each juror’s conclusion about each count.
Despite the defense’s arguments, a judge ruled in August that Read can be retried on the charges of second-degree murder and leaving the scene, stating that no verdict was announced in open court, therefore retrial does not violate the principle of double jeopardy. Prosecutors assert that there is no basis for dismissing the charges, noting that the jury had declared being deadlocked three times before the mistrial was announced. They argue that the fundamental safeguard of an open and public verdict was not met, so Read was not acquitted of any charge. Prosecutors claim that Read and O’Keefe had been drinking heavily before she dropped him off at a party and then hit him with her SUV before driving away, causing his death.
The defense alleges that O’Keefe was actually killed inside a fellow officer’s home and then dragged outside, shifting the focus of investigators from law enforcement officers to Read. They claim that Read was targeted as a convenient outsider to avoid considering other officers as suspects in O’Keefe’s death. The defense’s arguments suggest that there may have been a bias against Read and a rush to judgment in her case, leading to the need for further inquiry into the jury’s decision. The ongoing legal battle in the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court is a crucial step in determining the fate of Karen Read and the charges against her related to the death of John O’Keefe.
After several delays and requests to postpone the retrial, both sides are gearing up for the legal battle ahead in determining Karen Read’s guilt or innocence in the death of her Boston police officer boyfriend. The defense’s arguments surrounding constitutional double jeopardy and a potential miscarriage of justice in the mistrial declaration will be central to the court’s decision on whether the charges of second-degree murder and leaving the scene should be dropped. Prosecutors continue to assert the validity of the charges against Read and the need for a retrial based on the jury’s deadlock and lack of an open and public verdict. The outcome of this high-profile case will have lasting implications on the criminal justice system and the handling of cases involving law enforcement officers. Karen Read’s fate hangs in the balance as the legal process unfolds in the state’s highest court.
