Selecting an unbiased jury in a criminal case is always a complex process. But that task will be particularly difficult Tuesday as the second murder trial begins in the case against Karen Read, the woman accused of causing the 2022 death of her police officer boyfriend, in a region that has for years been sharply divided over the controversial case.
Read, 45, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, and leaving the scene of a collision resulting in death. The case stems from the death of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, whose body was found bruised and battered in the snow on January 29, 2022, outside the home of a fellow Boston police officer in the suburb of Canton.
Related article: Amidst Fanfare, Can Prosecution Secure Fair Trial in Karen Read’s Murder Case?
Prosecutors have alleged a drunken Read struck O’Keefe with her vehicle and then fled, leaving him to die in the snowy cold. However, her defense team has alleged Read is the victim of a vast cover-up and accused the off-duty police inside the Canton home of killing O’Keefe and framing her.
Her murder trial last year in Dedham, Massachusetts, was marked by vulgar text messages about Read from the lead detective on the case – a state trooper who has since been fired.
Outside court, pink-wearing advocates gathered to support Read, holding signs and chanting “Free Karen Read.” They outnumbered others who wore blue to show their support for O’Keefe and his family.
Amid the commotion, the jury deadlocked on the charges and reported they could not come to a unanimous verdict. Police have again set up a buffer zone to keep the crowds from being too close to the courthouse. Still, in pretrial hearings, those crowds have booed O’Keefe’s family and other prosecution witnesses, leading to requests from state prosecutors for an expanded buffer zone.
“Your honor, the Commonwealth’s primary concern is the sanctity of the jury and the jury process,” Special Lead Prosecutor for the Commonwealth Hank Brennan said in court last month. “They should be free from outside influence.”
What happened at the first trial
The essence of the murder trial is the six-hour period beginning late January 28, 2022, into the morning hours of the following day. That night, Read and O’Keefe went out drinking at two bars with friends. Shortly after midnight, the couple climbed into Read’s SUV and drove to the home of O’Keefe’s colleague on Fairview Road in Canton for an after-party, court documents show. There, O’Keefe got out of the vehicle, and Read later drove home. Early the next morning, she and two friends drove around in a snowstorm to look for him and found his body in the front yard of the Canton house, according to court documents.
The prosecution has alleged the couple got into an argument that led O’Keefe to get out of the vehicle, but he never made it inside the house. A drunken Read allegedly struck him with the vehicle while driving in reverse and then fled, leaving him to die in the snowy cold, prosecutors said.
Firefighters who responded to the scene that morning asked about his injuries, and Read told them, “I hit him, I hit him,” according to their testimony. People at the house that night testified O’Keefe never came inside. In addition, Read’s vehicle had a broken taillight, and pieces of it were found outside the Canton home, prosecutors said. Data from the vehicle’s internal system also indicated she reversed at a rapid speed, according to testimony.
“What the constellation of the facts and the evidence ineluctably demonstrate here is that the defendant drove her vehicle in reverse at 24.2 miles per hour for 62.5 feet, struck Mr. O’Keefe, causing those catastrophic head injuries, leaving him incapacitated and freezing him to death,” prosecutor Adam Lally said in closing arguments of the first trial.
However, Read has said she dropped off O’Keefe at the house and then drove to his home because she wasn’t feeling well, according to court documents. Her defense has accused off-duty police inside that Canton home of killing O’Keefe and framing Read. The defense has theorized O’Keefe was beaten in the home and mauled by the homeowners’ German shepherd, Chloe, and then tossed out in the snow to die. The police then conspired to fabricate evidence and lie under oath to protect their own, the defense alleged.
“Ladies and gentlemen, there was a cover-up in this case, plain and simple,” defense attorney Alan Jackson said. “You’ll surely say to yourself, ‘I don’t want to believe it, I don’t want to believe that could happen in our community,’ but sadly over these past eight weeks you’ve seen it right before your eyes.”
The prosecution’s case in the first trial was hampered by a series of missteps and unusual investigative practices. Most notably, a lead investigator in the case, Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor, admitted that he sent a series of sexist and offensive texts about Read in a private group chat, calling her a “whack job c***,” mocking her medical issues, and commenting to coworkers that he had found “no nudes” while searching her phone for evidence, CNN affiliate WCVB reported.
Proctor apologized on the stand for the “unprofessional” comments, but the vulgar texts were sharply criticized in and out of court, including from the governor. He was relieved of duty shortly after the mistrial, and last month the state police fired him from the force.
After days of deliberations, the jury repeatedly said they could not come to a unanimous verdict in the case. Judge Beverly Cannone then declared a mistrial. Afterward, Read’s defense filed an appeal arguing that four jurors had come forward to say they had unanimously acquitted Read of two of the three charges: second-degree murder and leaving the scene of personal injury or death. Defense attorney Martin Weinberg argued Read can’t be retried on those counts under the rules of “double jeopardy.” However, Judge Cannone declined to dismiss the charges, noting the jurors didn’t tell the court during their deliberations that they had reached a verdict on any of the counts, according to the Associated Press. Last month, the state’s top appeals court rejected the defense filing and ruled Read can be retried on the same charges.
