BOSTON (Court TV) — A full panel of judges will hear Karen Read’s appeal to the highest court in Massachusetts as she tries to get murder charges dismissed ahead of her retrial.
FILE – Karen Read waits for her court case to resume at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass., on June 28, 2024. Read returned to court Monday, July 22, for the first time since her murder case ended in a mistrial. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, Pool, File)
Read, 44, stood trial in the spring for the second-degree murder of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, but the case ended in a mistrial when the jury was unable to come to a unanimous verdict on any of the charges in the case.
In the days and weeks after the mistrial, both the defense and prosecution were approached by people purporting to be jurors who said they actually had been unanimous on two counts. Those jurors said that they had only been deadlocked on the charge of manslaughter, but wanted to acquit Read of second-degree murder and leaving the scene of a deadly accident.
READ MORE | Karen Read defense cites Alex Murdaugh in arguments for dismissal
Judge Beverley Cannone denied a post-trial motion filed by Read to dismiss the two charges based on double jeopardy, ruling that no verdict was issued and ordered Read to stand trial in January.
On Sept. 11, Read’s attorneys filed a petition with the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC), the highest court in Massachusetts, requesting they overrule Judge Cannone and dismiss the two charges. Court TV reviewed the petition, which reiterates Read’s position that a retrial would constitute double jeopardy.
The filing also notes that after initially filing a motion for the charges to be dismissed, Read’s attorney, Alan Jackson, was contacted by two more jurors to corroborate the others’ accounts, bringing the total number of jurors who contacted the defense to five.
On Sept. 19, Justice Elizabeth Dewar ruled that the case would be presented to the full bench of six justices and a chief justice. Read’s team has until Sept. 25 to file a brief, and the Commonwealth has until Oct. 16 to respond.
Read’s attorneys have pointed to Alex Murdaugh‘s murder trial and his applications for appeals based on alleged jury tampering by Clerk of Court Becky Hill as further reason why her motion should be granted: “A defendant who comes forward with credible evidence of a serious constitutional violation post-trial is entitled to an opportunity to prove those claims.”
Representing Read for her appeal are Jackson and David Yannetti, who were by her side during the first trial. Added to her team is Martin Weinberg, who joined her team for the appeals process.
Justice Dewar’s order notes that oral arguments should take place in November 2024 “or such other time as the full court may order.”
