UPDATE: Norfolk prosecutors to re-try Karen Read murder case, spokesperson says
A Norfolk County judge declared a mistrial on Monday afternoon after a jury could not come to a unanimous verdict in the murder trial of Karen Read, who was charged with second-degree murder in the death of her Boston police officer boyfriend, John O’Keefe.
Norfolk prosecutors signaled their intent to pursue a retrial of Read in a statement issued by a district attorney spokesperson. Read’s trial began with jury selection in April and ended Monday with a hung jury.
“The jury is at an impasse,” Presiding Judge Beverly Cannone told the court at about 2:35 p.m., the second time that the jury said they were deadlocked on Monday.
“Despite our rigorous efforts, we continue to find ourselves at an impasse,” the jury’s note read.
The jury wrote that they were “starkly divided” and that some believed that the evidence “surpassed” the prosecutor’s burden of reasonable doubt, others on the jury found the evidence “failed to meet the standard and does not sufficiently establish the necessary elements of the charges.”
“The deep division is not due to a lack of effort or diligence, but rather a sincere adherence to our individual principles and moral convictions,” the juror’s note read. “To deliberate would be futile and only serve to force us to compromise these deeply held beliefs.”
Cannone said she would not force jurors to compromise and declared a mistrial.
“Your service is complete,” Cannone told jurors.
Read and her attorneys David Yannetti and Alan Jackson turned around after the judge’s decision and hugged Read’s family.
Norfolk prosecutors and Read’s defense team will return to court on July 22 at 2 p.m. to decide on the next steps.
The jury wrote a note earlier on Monday morning informing the judge that fundamental differences between the 12 jurors prevented them from agreeing.
“We find ourselves deeply divided by fundamental differences in our opinions and our state of mind,” the jury note read. “The divergence in our views are not rooted in our lack of understanding or effort, but deeply held convictions that each of us carry ultimately leading to a point where consensus is unattainable.”
Presiding Judge Beverly Cannone said she’s “never seen a note like this reporting to be at an impasse” and read the jury an instruction known as a Tuey-Rodriguez charge to encourage jurors to continue their deliberations.
Norfolk Superior Court Judge Beverly Cannone is presiding over Karen Read's murder trial. (Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff)Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff
The charge asks jurors to consider that no other jury would be assembled “who are more intelligent, more impartial, or more competent to decide it than you are, or that more or clearer evidence will be produced on one side or the other.”
On Friday, jurors told Cannone that after an exhaustive review of evidence, they were unable to break the deadlock.
The trial began with jury selection in mid-April and closing arguments took place last Tuesday.
Norfolk County prosecutors charged Read, 44, with second-degree murder in the death of O’Keefe, who was found cold to the touch and unresponsive on Jan. 29, 2022, outside of a home in Canton.
Read pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, motor vehicle manslaughter while driving under the influence, and leaving the scene of a motor vehicle crash causing death.
The prosecution spent eight weeks arguing its case, calling on first responders from Canton and friends of O’Keefe and Read who went out drinking together the night before O’Keefe’s death in the early weeks of the trial.
Jurors heard from more than 60 of the prosecutions’ witnesses throughout May and June, but at every step, Read’s defense team questioned their testimony and often sought to point out inconsistencies.
Since opening statements, Read’s defense team criticized the investigation into O’Keefe’s death.
Canton police testified about collecting blood samples in Solo cups at the scene during the second week of the trial.
Weeks later, text messages from Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor showed he blamed Read for O’Keefe’s death within hours of starting his investigation and made lewd and dehumanizing comments about Read’s appearance and medical conditions.
In the end, the defense’s case lasted less than two full days. They called six witnesses in total, with two medical experts telling jurors that they believed O’Keefe’s injuries were consistent with a dog attack and inconsistent with being struck by a vehicle.
The final two witnesses of the trial — a pair of accident reconstructionists hired by the Department of Justice for its independent investigation — put the largest dent in the state’s theory of the case.
The two expert witnesses testified that the damage to Read’s vehicle was inconsistent with hitting a pedestrian and that O’Keefe’s injuries were inconsistent with being struck by a vehicle.
Scientifically speaking, the two witnesses concluded, that the evidence did not support that Read’s vehicle struck O’Keefe.
During closing arguments, Read’s attorney Alan Jackson asked jurors to “do justice” and find Read not guilty.
He told jurors they were “lied” to by investigators time and time again throughout the trial and presented the defense team as the ones delivering jurors the truth.
Norfolk prosecutor Adam Lally emphasized what investigators described as Read’s motive, saying that the couple argued consistently in the weeks and months before O’Keefe’s death and that his injuries were the result of Read backing her car into him.