The Massachusetts woman accused of killing her Boston police officer boyfriend in a snowy collision has lost her Massachusetts Supreme Court appeal seeking to have her case tossed on the grounds of double jeopardy after a chaotic murder trial ended in a hung jury.
Karen Read, 45, is expected to go on trial for the second time as previously scheduled in April on charges of second-degree murder and leaving the scene of a deadly accident.
Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe died from blunt force trauma to the head and hypothermia during a January snowstorm in Canton, Massachusetts, about 15 miles outside Beantown. Prosecutors say Read hit him with her SUV and fled the scene after a drunken fight. She claimed it was an elaborate cover-up and that she had left before he suffered any injuries. Jurors couldn’t reach an agreement on which side to believe.
After a lower court denied her motion to dismiss following the mistrial, she appealed to the state’s highest court, which handed down a decision Tuesday rejecting her argument that jurors only deadlocked on one of the three charges. She wanted the remaining two thrown out.
WATCH KAREN READ: KILLER OR CONVENIENT OUTSIDER?
Karen Read departs Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Massachusetts on Friday, August 9, 2024. Read, who was accused of killing her Boston police officer boyfriend with a vehicle in January 2022, was back in court Friday for a hearing discussing her defense team’s motion to dismiss. (Patriot Pics/Backgrid for Fox News Digital)
“The jury clearly stated during deliberations that they had not reached a unanimous verdict on any of the charges and could not do so,” Massachusetts Supreme Court Justice Serge Georges Jr. wrote in the court’s 35-page decision.
Jurors told the judge in a series of notes that they were “deeply divided” over Read’s guilt of murder and other charges and could not reach an agreement.
“Only after being discharged did some individual jurors communicate a different supposed outcome, contradicting their prior notes,” Georges wrote.
Because the jurors broke their silence only after the trial, it was too late, the court ruled.
“Such posttrial disclosures cannot retroactively alter the trial’s outcome — either to acquit or to convict,” Georges wrote. “Accordingly, we affirm the trial judge’s denial of the motion to dismiss and the defendant’s request for a posttrial juror inquiry.”
Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe poses for his official portrait. O’Keefe’s girlfriend, Karen Reed, will have a second murder trial after the first ended with a hung jury following his death in January 2022. (Boston Police Department)
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Read’s new trial is expected to be led by a special assistant prosecutor, Hank Brennan, who once represented the mobster James “Whitey” Bulger and has already begun trying to obtain unpublished records from Massachusetts reporters who have interviewed Read.
Read the court’s decision
WATCH: DASHCAM FROM THE NIGHT JOHN O’KEEFE WAS FOUND DEAD
“I don’t see how that was going to fly, because it was a mistrial, she wasn’t found guilty or not guilty,” said Paul Mauro, a former NYPD inspector and attorney. “Double jeopardy applies when you have a verdict. It’s in the Constitution.”
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“This is settled law,” he added. “This is not double jeopardy, I agree with the court. Let’s get to a new trial and resolve this.”
The new trial is scheduled to begin on April 1.
She is also facing a wrongful death lawsuit from O’Keefe’s family.
Read, in a recent round of interviews, argued that she was framed by the real killers, whom she believes are other members of law enforcement O’Keefe got into a fight with after she dropped him off at the home of fellow Boston Police Officer Brian Albert. O’Keefe was found dead in the snow on Albert’s front lawn.
Karen Read waits as her legal team meets at the side bar during Reid’s trial in Norfolk Superior Court, Friday, June 14, 2024, in Dedham, Mass. Read, 44, is accused of running into her Boston police officer boyfriend with her SUV in the middle of a nor’easter and leaving him for dead after a night of heavy drinking. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, Pool)
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Testimony from Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Proctor, one of the key investigators, severely hurt prosecutors in court.
Jurors were seen shaking their heads in court as Read’s defense team read some of his text messages.
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In them, he called Read a “wack job,” a “babe … with no a–” and a “c—.” He wrote that he wished she would kill herself and joked about looking for nude selfies while searching her phone.
