Karen Read has presented an emergency request before the Supreme Court that seeks an immediate suspension of his new trial, which has begun the jury selection, waiting for the review of the Superior Court on his claims of constitutional violation.
“Read’s request argues that its scheduled judgment on two of the three pending positions against it, including a second degree murder position, will violate the double danger clause because the jury in its first trial reached a final and unanimous decision, but without prior notice that it is not guilty of those charges.”
Reading is accused of killing her boyfriend, Boston police officer, John O’Keefe, in January 2022. The prosecutors alleged that the reading hit O’Keefe with his vehicle and let him die when Boston was hit with a large snowstorm. Read has denied the accusations and maintained his innocence.
Karen read conversations with one of his lawyers within the Superior Court of Norfolk during the second week of his trial, on April 7, 2025 in Didham, Massachusetts.
Suzanne Kreiter/The Boston Globe through AP
She was accused of first degree murder, homicide while operating a motorized vehicle under the influence and left the scene of a fatal accident. She declared herself innocent.
The first Read trial ended in a last null trial after the jury stagnated after five days of deliberations.
“Despite our rigorous efforts, we are at a dead point,” Judge Beverly Cannone said, reading a jury note. “The deep division is not due to the lack of consideration, but to a severe adherence to our personal beliefs and moral compasses. Continue to deliberate would be useless.”
In response, Cannone declared: “His service is complete. I am declaring a null trial.”
Read lawyers have requested multiple Courts of Appeals, and now the Supreme Court, which dismisses second degree murder charges and left the scene of a fatal accident in the new trial. They argued in judicial presentations to try again on the charges would violate the double danger protections because, according to the subsequent statements of four jurors, the jury had reached a unanimous decision to acquit reading about the charges.
All these requests have been rejected by judges.
This is a development story. Consult the updates again.
