BOSTON (AP) 鈥 Prosecutors have called on the state's highest court to allow them to retry Karen Read for murder in the death of her Boston police officer boyfriend, arguing against defense claims that jurors had reached a verdict against some of her charges before the judge declared a mistrial.
Read is accused of ramming into John O鈥橩eefe with her SUV and leaving him to die in a snowstorm in January 2022. Read鈥檚 attorneys argue she is being framed and that other law enforcement officers are responsible for O鈥橩eefe鈥檚 death. A judge declared a mistrial in June after finding that jurors couldn鈥檛 reach agreement. A retrial on the same charges is set to begin in January.
In a brief filed late Wednesday to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, prosecutors wrote that there's no basis for dismissing the charges of second degree murder and leaving the scene of the accident.
There was 鈥渘o viable alternative to a mistrial,鈥 they argued in the brief, noting that the jury said three times that it was deadlocked before a mistrial was declared. Prosecutors said the 鈥渄efendant was afforded a meaningful opportunity to be heard on any purported alternative.鈥
"The defendant was not acquitted of any charge because the jury did not return, announce, and affirm any open and public verdicts of acquittal," they wrote. 鈥淭hat requirement is not a mere formalism, ministerial act, or empty technicality. It is a fundamental safeguard that ensures no juror鈥檚 position is mistaken, misrepresented, or coerced by other jurors.鈥
In the defense filed in September, Read's lawyers said five of the 12 jurors came forward after her mistrial saying they were deadlocked only on a manslaughter count, and they had agreed unanimously 鈥 without telling the judge 鈥 that she wasn鈥檛 guilty on the other counts. They argued that it would be unconstitutional double jeopardy to try her again on the counts of murder and leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death.
Oral arguments will be heard from both sides on Nov. 6.
In August, ruled that Read can be retried on all three counts. 鈥淲here there was no verdict announced in open court here, retrial of the defendant does not violate the principle of double jeopardy,鈥 Judge Beverly Cannone wrote.
Read鈥檚 attorney, Martin Weinberg, argued that under Cannone's reasoning, even if all 12 jurors were to swear in affidavits that they reached a final and unanimous decision to acquit, this wouldn't be sufficient for a double jeopardy challenge. 鈥淪urely, that cannot be the law. Indeed, it must not be the law,鈥 Weinberg wrote.
The American Civil Liberties Union supported the defense in an amicus brief. If the justices don't dismiss the charges, the ACLU said the court should at least 鈥減revent the potential for injustice by ordering the trial court to conduct an evidentiary hearing and determine whether the jury in her first trial agreed to acquit her on any count."
"The trial court had a clear path to avoid an erroneous mistrial: simply ask the jurors to confirm whether a verdict had been reached on any count," the ACLU wrote in its brief. 鈥淎sking those questions before declaring a mistrial is permitted 鈥 even encouraged 鈥 by Massachusetts rules. Such polling serves to ensure a jury鈥檚 views are accurately conveyed to the court, the parties, and the community 鈥 and that defendants鈥 related trial rights are secure.鈥
Prosecutors said Read, a former adjunct professor at Bentley College, and O鈥橩eefe, a 16-year member of the Boston police, had been drinking heavily before she dropped him off at a party at the home of Brian Albert, a fellow Boston officer. They said she hit him with her SUV before driving away. An autopsy found O鈥橩eefe had died of hypothermia and blunt force trauma.
The defense portrayed Read as the victim, saying O鈥橩eefe was actually killed inside Albert鈥檚 home and then dragged outside. They argued that investigators focused on Read because she was a 鈥渃onvenient outsider鈥 who saved them from having to consider law enforcement officers as suspects.
The lead investigator, State Trooper Michael Proctor, was relieved of duty after the trial revealed he鈥檇 sent vulgar texts to colleagues and family, calling Read a 鈥渨hack job鈥 and telling his sister he wished Read would 鈥渒ill herself.鈥 He said his emotions had gotten the better of him.
