DEDHAM, Mass. — Karen Read’s defense team said the state’s continued push for a conviction in the death of her Boston police officer boyfriend John O’Keefe is “grossly unfair.” That’s after the Commonwealth opposed Read’s motion to dismiss.
In new documents filed Tuesday in Norfolk Superior Court, Read’s team said that a retrial “should not be allowed.”
The defense said that a second trial could increase the financial and emotional burden on the accused of wrongdoing and may even enhance the risk that an innocent defendant may be convicted.
Boston 25 legal analyst Peter Elikann weighed in on the back and forth between the defense and prosecution.
“I think it’s a genuine bona fide request by the part of the defense,” Elikann said. “The defense truly believes that if the jury unanimously reached a verdict on two of the counts they’d like it to be honored.”
Elikann said that’s where battle lines are drawn.
The defense claims four deliberating jurors say all 12 found Read not guilty on two of the three charges against her, second-degree murder and leaving the scene of a fatal crash.
The defense added that it would be wrong to require Read to obtain two acquittals from two different juries for the same crime, given the post-trial evidence.
“Of course, the prosecution disputes that. They say it’s too late and besides it’s only kind of hearsay,” said Elikann.
Prosecutors opposed the defense’s original motion to dismiss last week. The Commonwealth said the “unsubstantiated and sensational” claim made by the defense “lacks any merit or legal foundation.”
The Norfolk District Attorney’s Office also said the defense’s motion to dismiss is “premised upon hearsay, conjecture, and legally inappropriate reliance as to the substance of jury deliberations.”
Elikann added context, “The defense would like that honored so that the defendant would not have to try to be acquitted a second time and that would be considered double jeopardy according to the defense. So the judge can either grant the defense motion or get it clarified whether the jury actually did come to a definite verdict or the judge could decide to rule against that.”
Elikann said there are ways to go about getting answers.
“One is to call the jury back into a non-public hearing so that the judge can absolutely hear from them firsthand whether they all did unanimously reach a verdict or the court could somehow officially reach out to each and every juror through the form of an affidavit or some other kind of official communication,” Elikann explained.
Lawyers for Read also argued they weren’t allowed an opportunity to contest the judge’s mistrial ruling.
“This was kind of an outlier and unusual that somehow that wasn’t communicated, that they were deadlocked on some counts and had reached an actual verdict on other accounts, because that would certainly be permissible,” Elikann said.
Read is accused of killing O’Keefe by striking him with her SUV and leaving him in a snowstorm in Canton in January 2022.
Prosecutors said Read and O’Keefe had been drinking heavily before she dropped him off at a party at the home of Brian Albert, a fellow officer. They said she hit him with her SUV before driving away.
The defense sought to portray Read as the victim, saying O’Keefe was actually killed inside Albert’s home and then dragged outside and left for dead.
Read and her defense team are expected back in court on Monday, July 22.
A new trial date could be chosen then.
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