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Watch Live: Karen Read homicide trial ends in mistrial with “starkly divided” hung jury


DEDHAM – The Karen Read homicide trial ended Monday after a “deeply divided” hung jury failed to achieve a verdict, forcing Judge Beverly Cannone to declare a mistrial. The resolution got here after greater than 23 hours of deliberations in Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Massachusetts.

Watch full dwell protection of the mistrial on CBS News Boston by clicking on the video participant above.

Read is accused of killing her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, by hitting him along with her automotive in Canton on January 29, 2022. She denies any involvement and claims he was killed at a home social gathering with police and different regulation enforcement.

Judge Beverly Cannone set July 22 for the case to be again in courtroom to find out subsequent steps.

Karen Read hung jury

The mistrial comes after roughly 5 days of deliberations. The jury of six girls and 6 males obtained the case Tuesday, June 25, following closing arguments. They heard from 74 witness, 68 of them for the prosecution, throughout 29 days of testimony over practically two months. They instructed Judge Cannone Friday they have been deadlocked, however she despatched them again to proceed deliberating.

They despatched a second observe to the choose Monday morning, saying, “We discover ourselves deeply divided by elementary variations in our opinions and way of thinking. The divergence in our views are usually not rooted in a lack of awareness or effort, however deeply held convictions that every of us carry finally main to some extent the place consensus is unattainable. We acknowledge the burden of this admission, and the implication it holds.”

What is Tuey Rodriguez?

Judge Cannone then gave the jury what’s often known as a “Tuey-Rodriguez instruction,” a final resort instruction aimed toward getting them to achieve a verdict. But the jury remained hung and Cannone had no selection however to declare a mistrial.

Karen Read mistrial

Without a responsible or not responsible verdict on this trial, Karen Read could possibly be tried once more. That resolution shall be as much as the prosecution, however authorized specialists say that might take months. A re-trial wouldn’t be anytime quickly, as a result of there are different trials that also must be heard.

“If this case must be retried, we’re going again to the identical pool of individuals, the identical Norfolk County jury pool and we’re once more going to need to attempt to discover a subset of individuals that actually know nothing about this case. It’s going to be terribly tough,” authorized analyst Jennifer Roman instructed WBZ-TV.

Karen Read fees

Read, 44, of Mansfield, Massachusetts, was charged with second-degree homicide, manslaughter whereas working underneath the affect, and leaving the scene of private harm and dying. If she had been convicted on the homicide cost, she confronted as much as life in jail with the opportunity of parole.

Read is accused of hitting and killing O’Keefe, who she was courting on the time, along with her SUV after an evening of ingesting and leaving him to die throughout a snowstorm in Canton, Massachusetts.

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Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe.

Boston Police


O’Keefe’s physique was discovered within the entrance yard of Brian Albert’s residence at 34 Fairview Road in Canton. Albert, a retired Boston police officer, was internet hosting an afterparty for the group that was out ingesting within the hours main as much as O’Keefe’s dying.

Karen Read jury

It’s not clear but what the jury was caught on throughout their deliberations. 

For the prosecution to get any conviction, the jury needed to agree that she hit O’Keefe along with her SUV that night time, whether or not she meant to or not. It’s not recognized if the 12 jurors agreed on that or not. If they did, then they might start discussing the fees.

Karen Read trial closing arguments

Attorneys offered vastly completely different closing arguments on June 25.

The protection tried to color an image of an elaborate conspiracy by regulation enforcement and witnesses within the case. 

“Ladies and gents there was a coverup on this case, plain and easy,” Read’s lawyer Alan Jackson instructed the courtroom.  

Prosecutor Adam Lally urged jurors to observe the proof and Read’s personal phrases.

“‘I hit him, I hit him, I hit him, I hit him.’ Those are the phrases of the defendant. Four occasions,” Lally mentioned. “You heard testimony from 4 completely different witnesses who overheard and noticed these statements from the defendant on January 29, 2022.”

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Karen Read, heart, arrives at Norfolk Superior Court along with her father William Read, left, Tuesday, June 25, 2024, in Dedham. 

AP Photo/Steven Senne


Karen Read homicide trial testimony

Defense attorneys argued in the course of the trial that O’Keefe was truly killed throughout a battle inside Albert’s residence, then dragged outdoors and dumped on the garden throughout a snowstorm.

The trial started on April 16 with jury choice. Testimony received underway on April 29.

Over the course of practically two months, the prosecution referred to as 68 witnesses and the protection group referred to as a further six folks to the stand. 

Among the witnesses referred to as by the prosecution have been first responders who testified that they heard Read’s “I hit him” statements the morning O’Keefe’s physique was discovered. They additionally had a number of witnesses who testified that O’Keefe by no means went inside Brian Albert’s residence.

Defense attorneys spent vital time throughout cross-examination making an attempt to indicate that the investigation into O’Keefe’s dying was biased and centered solely on Read from the beginning. Read’s attorneys claimed that individuals investigating the case lied to cowl up for pals who have been witnesses.

The Karen Read investigation

Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor, the lead investigator within the case, was a key witness in the course of the trial.

Prosecutors referred to as Proctor to testify about proof he found all through the investigation. But Proctor was additionally compelled to learn aloud derogatory textual content messages he despatched to pals about Read.

Proctor is at present underneath investigation by the Massachusetts State Police, however stays on full obligation. Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey mentioned she was “disgusted” by Proctor’s actions.

Though Read had mentioned she can be keen to take the stand in her personal protection, she didn’t testify in the course of the trial.

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Supporters of Karen Read take heed to proceedings from Read’s trial from a laptop computer laptop whereas gathered a block away from Norfolk Superior Court, Tuesday, June 25, 2024, in Dedham.

AP Photo/Steven Senne


“Free Karen Read” supporters

Large crowds of Read’s supporters have been current outdoors Norfolk Superior Court all through the trial. The crowds grew even bigger within the remaining week of the trial, with many carrying pink and holding “Free Karen Read” indicators.

On the day closing statements have been offered, supporters instructed WBZ-TV they got here from as distant as Tennessee and Michigan to assist Read.



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