No decision made after judge in Karen Read murder case hears arguments on motion to dismiss charges

DEDHAM, Mass. (AP/Boston 25) — Defense attorneys for Karen Read argued Friday that two charges in the death of her Boston police officer boyfriend should be dismissed, focusing on the jury deliberations that led to a mistrial.

The defense and prosecution appeared before Judge Beverly Cannone in Dedham’s Norfolk Superior Court.

Defense attorney Marty Weinberg and Assistant District Attorney Adam Lally argued their cases for about an hour before Cannone said that there would be no decision today.

“I’ll take it under advisement,” Cannone told the court.

• WATCH LIVE: Streaming coverage of Friday’s hearing begins at 2 p.m.
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• Live court updates from Boston 25′s Ted Daniel

LIVE PLAY-BY-PLAY FROM COURT:

3:10 p.m.

• NO DECISION TODAY. The judge taking it under advisement meaning she’ll rule on paper at a later date.

3:05 p.m.

• Weinberg is back at the podium: “We have evidence here that the jury acquitted Ms. Read...”

3 p.m.

• Lally says there was no extraneous influence or bias with the deliberating jury and that is what needed to reengage them.
• Lally says his position is backed by decades of case law and the defense is twisting the law with their request to bring the jury back

2:45 p.m.

• Lally says his position is backed by decades of case law and the defense twisting the law with their request to bring the jury back.
• Lally: There was no verdict slip returned in this case. “There’s a box for guilty and not guilty… and neither was checked.”

2:40 p.m.

• Weinberg ends by saying, “It’s the right thing to do.”
• Norfolk ADA Adam Lally is up now. He says the motion to dismissed should be denied. He says the jury never indicated that they reached a partial verdict.

2:30 p.m.

• Weinberg: “Order a hearing judge, don’t let this person (KR) be the first person in the Commonwealth” to be retried after an “acquittal.”

2:20 p.m.

• Weinberg says the jury could be polled privately or lawyers could obtain signed affidavits from the jurors. “your honor has a lot of discretion in terms of how we get to a bottom line.. the truth here.”

2:15 p.m.

• Weinberg talks about the jurors who reached out to the defense and prosecution, saying they were only deadlocked on the manslaughter charge. “Not one of them has picked up the phone” to dispute that, he says.

2:05 p.m.

• Weinberg: There is “strong uncontradicted evidence... that jury reached a unanimous verdict on 2 of the 3 counts” (murder 2/leaving the scene)
• Weinberg argues the jury note was “ambiguous” by not stating they had reached verdicts on 2 counts.
• Weinberg references “founding fathers” and “double jeopardy.”

2 p.m.

• Here we go. Judge Cannone is on the bench. Defense attorney Marty Weinberg authored the motion to dismiss and he is arguing it.

PREVIOUS STORY:

Read is accused of ramming into John O’Keefe with her SUV and leaving him for dead in a snowstorm in January 2022. Her two-month trial ended when jurors declared they were hopelessly deadlocked and a judge declared a mistrial on the fifth day of deliberations.

A new trial is set to begin Jan. 27.

In several motions since the mistrial, the defense contends four jurors have said the jury unanimously reached a not guilty verdict on second-degree murder and leaving the scene of a deadly accident and were deadlocked on the remaining manslaughter charge. Trying her again on those two charges would be unconstitutional double jeopardy, they said.

They also reported that one juror told them “no one thought she hit him on purpose or even thought she hit him on purpose.”

The defense also argues Judge Beverly Cannone abruptly announced the mistrial without questioning jurors about where they stood on each of the three charges Read faced and without giving lawyers for either side a chance to comment.

Prosecutors described the defense’s request to drop charges of second-degree murder and leaving the scene of a deadly accident as an “unsubstantiated but sensational post-trial claim” based on “hearsay, conjecture and legally inappropriate reliance as to the substance of jury deliberations.”

But in another motion, prosecutors acknowledged they received a voicemail from someone who identified themselves as a juror and confirmed the jury had reached a unanimous decision on the two charges. Subsequently, they received emails from three individuals who also identified themselves as jurors and wanted to speak to them anonymously.

Prosecutors said they responded by telling the trio that they welcomed discussing the state’s evidence in the case but were “ethically prohibited from inquiring as to the substance of your jury deliberations.” They also said they could not promise confidentiality.

As they push against a retrial, the defense wants the judge to hold a “post-verdict inquiry” and question all 12 jurors if necessary to establish the record they say should have been created before the mistrial was declared, showing jurors “unanimously acquitted the defendant of two of the three charges against her.”

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Prosecutors argued the defense was given a chance to respond and, after one note from the jury indicating it was deadlocked, told the court there had been sufficient time and advocated for the jury to be declared deadlocked. Prosecutors wanted deliberations to continue, which they did before a mistrial was declared the following day.

“Contrary to the representation made in the defendant’s motion and supporting affidavits, the defendant advocated for and consented to a mistrial, as she had adequate opportunities to object and instead remained silent which removes any double jeopardy bar to retrial,” prosecutors wrote in their motion.

Read, a former adjunct professor at Bentley College, had been out drinking with O’Keefe, a 16-year member of the Boston police who was found outside the Canton, Massachusetts, home of another Boston police officer. An autopsy found O’Keefe died of hypothermia and blunt force trauma.

The defense contended O’Keefe was killed inside the home after Read dropped him off and that those involved chose to frame her because she was a “convenient outsider.”

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