Karen Read’s defense team is challenging a federal court’s decision to not dismiss the charges against her.
Her defense team filed paperwork with the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit Friday, a day after the U.S. District Court judge refused to throw out two charges, including second-degree murder, Thursday.
The defense team has argued that their client’s double jeopardy protections were violated because several jurors who came forward after a mistrial was declared in her first trial indicated that Read was found not guilty of two of the three charges she faces in O’Keefe’s death, second-degree murder and leaving the scene of a deadly crash.
A federal judge said juror’s comments after the trial’s conclusion don’t count as a verdict and said re-trying Read on all three charges doesn’t violate double jeopardy.
Read is accused of hitting O’Keefe with her Lexus SUV on Jan. 29, 2022, and leaving him to die after a night of drinking. The defense has sought to portray Read as the victim, saying O’Keefe was actually killed inside the Albert family home and then dragged outside and left for dead.
The push to drop Read’s charges was also denied by the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts in February, upholding Norfolk Superior Court Judge Beverly Cannone’s initial decision to reject the motion to dismiss.
Read’s second trial is scheduled to get underway with jury selection on April 1.
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