Karen Read’s defense team files brief in attempt to convince Massachusetts SJC to dismiss charges

Karen Read’s defense team filed a lengthy brief with the highest court in Massachusetts, claiming that before her high-profile case goes on trial again early next year, they should overturn a decision made by a lower court and drop two of the charges against her. They claim in the brief that her main point is supported by a century of precedent.

The jury in Read’s first murder trial was deadlocked. The defense, however, stated that a number of jurors had come forward to say they were prepared to clear her of both the second-degree murder charge and the other one. The defense is currently appealing this decision to the Supreme Judicial Court after the Superior Court judge declined her move to dismiss the charges.

After a night of drinking, Read, 44, of Mansfield, is accused of hitting O’Keefe with her SUV outside a Canton home on January 29, 2022, and leaving him to perish in a snowstorm. According to her defense, O’Keefe was dragged outdoors after being beaten up in the basement and attacked by a dog at the Canton house of fellow Boston police officer Brian Albert. On July 1, Judge Beverly Cannone declared a mistrial after the jury, which consisted of six women and six men, repeatedly said that they were at a standstill. This marked the end of Read’s first trial.

Subsequently, after hearing from other jurors who said the panel had reached a decision, Read’s defense requested that Cannone dismiss two of the three charges, second-degree murder and fleeing the scene. The defense of Read presents three points in their brief, which was submitted on Tuesday, in an effort to persuade the SJC to overturn Cannone’s ruling. Their main contention is that the jury’s purported verdict of not guilty on Counts 1 and 3 should be interpreted as an acquittal, and that the avoidance of double jeopardy bars a retrial on those counts.

“In rejecting Ms. Read’s claim of acquittal, the court relied solely upon the lack of a ‘open and public verdict affirmed in open court,'” the defense stated. “This reasoning is rooted in a formalism that has been consistently rejected by the United States Supreme Court and this Court in a string of precedents spanning more than one hundred years.”

Read further contends that she should have a post-trial investigation conducted to validate her assertion on the jury’s agreement, and her defense is requesting that the SJC decide whether Cannone was correct to declare a mistrial at the appropriate time. “The defense respectfully submits that the Court should hold that the presence of an unannounced verdict, supported by the unambiguous post-trial statements of five deliberating jurors, constitutes a ‘overt factor’ at least entitling the defense to further inquiry,” The brief states of Read.

The appeal has been acknowledged by the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office, which has stated that it would file its replies with the SJC appropriately. District Attorney Michael Morrissey designated lawyer Hank Brennan as a special prosecutor to oversee the retrial earlier this month.