DEDHAM, Mass. — Karen Read’s defense team on Wednesday filed an official motion in Dedham’s Norfolk Superior Court to delay the start of her second murder trial amid their ongoing double jeopardy appeal.
Read’s lawyers asked Judge Beverly Cannone to push the start of the retrial back from April 1 to April 28 to allow them time to appeal a recent U.S. district court ruling that denied their bid to get her second-degree murder charge dismissed.
In the filing, Read’s lawyers wrote, “The defense respectfully submits that such continuance is necessary to permit Ms. Read to appeal the denial of her federal double jeopardy claims, which the federal court expressly found to be “substantial,” to the First Circuit Court of Appeals prior to being forced to undergo a retrial that Ms. Read contends would violate her rights.”
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.
She has pleaded not guilty to charges of manslaughter while operating under the influence of alcohol and leaving the scene of a crash resulting in death, in addition to the second-degree murder.
“Ms. Read respectfully submits that the double jeopardy protections at stake in this matter are simply too important to force her to stand trial for murder, in what she contents would be a violation of her rights, before having the opportunity to appeal her ‘substantial’ constitutional claims,” the defense team wrote in the filing.
The defense team has been arguing for months that Read’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 second-degree murder and leaving the scene of a deadly crash.
In court on Tuesday, Cannone expressed reservations about delaying the proceedings, citing the extensive preparations already underway.
Read the full filing below:
Karen Read filing to push back trial by Boston 25 Desk on Scribd
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