DEDHAM, Mass. — The Karen Read case has ended in a mistrial after five days of jury deliberation, but prosecutors said they will retry Read for the alleged murder of her Boston cop boyfriend in January 2022.
Judge Beverly Cannone ruled Monday that the deadlocked jury in Dedham, Massachusetts, is not able to reach a unanimous verdict after jurors sent her notes on Friday and again on Monday that they disagree because of “deeply-held convictions that each of us carry.”
The jury foreman, in his final note to the judge, said, “Our perspectives on the evidence are starkly divided. Some members of the jury firmly believe that the evidence surpasses the burden of proof establishing the elements of the charges beyond a reasonable doubt. Conversely others find the evidence fails to meet this standard and does not sufficiently establish the necessary elements of the charges.”
The foreman added: “The deep division is not due to a lack of effort or diligence, but rather a sincere adherence to our individual principles and moral codes. To continue to deliberate would be futile and only serve to force us to compromise these deeply held beliefs.”
Cannone’s response was simple: “I’m not going to do that to you, folks. Your service is complete. I’m declaring a mistrial in this case. Thank you so much for your service.”
The jurors said they were deadlocked and could not reach a unanimous decision – a situation in trials often referred to as a “hung jury.” As a result, the judge declared a mistrial.
Norfolk District Attorney Michael W. Morrissey said immediately after the ruling that he plans to re-try Read.
The sensational two-month trial featured stunning revelations, including crowds of fawning Read supporters who cheered her on outside court each day. The lead detective on the case texted a friend saying she was a “babe” and a “wack job c–t.”
After the ruling the crowd outside cheered and screaming, yelling “free Karen Read!”
Read’s lawyer declared victory to the crowd following the ruling, with the defendant by his side.
“This is what it looks like when you bring false charges against an innocent person. The Commonwealth did their worst,” Alan Jackson said.
“They brought the weight of the state based on spurious charges, based on a compromised investigation, and investigators and compromised witnesses.This is what it looks like. Guess what? They failed.”
The jurors — six men and six women — were tasked with deciding whether Read, 44, backed over Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, with her Lexus SUV and then leaving him to die in the cold outside of a home in Canton on Jan. 29, 2022.
She was charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter while operation a motor vehicle under the influence and leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death. She faced up to life in prison if she had been convicted on the top count of murder.
The night of O’Keefe’s death, the couple had been out on a bar crawl with Read allegedly consuming seven drinks in just 90 minutes, prosecutors said.
Read was accused of then drunkenly driving O’Keefe to cop pal Brian Albert’s home for a party with a group of officers before mowing him down in a rage and hightailing away, then sending a slew of swear-laden voicemails and text messages to her beau.
During the two-month trial in Norfolk County Superior Court in Dedham, Mass. — that featured testimony from 74 witnesses — Read’s lawyers argued she is a the victim of a frame job carried out by law enforcement in order to cover-up that O’Keefe was actually fatally beaten up by his officer friends.
The theory has galvanized hundreds of supporters to come out to court to advocate for her innocence.
Outside court on Monday, supporters said the mistrial should vindicate Read and the prosecutors should drop the charges.
One supporter said no prospective jurors in Norfolk County, a Boston bedroom community, could have avoided the wall-to-wall coverage of the trial, which was live-streamed across the internet.
“I think you’ll have a really hard time finding jurors that are number one not biased and number two not living under a rock,” said Stacy Bettancourt, 47, who was wearing a red “Free Karen tank top.