Prosecutors in Karen Read case argue against dismissing any charges

BOSTON — Prosecutors in the Karen Read murder case filed a motion Friday, arguing against dropping any charges after her mistrial.

Read was accused of ramming into her Boston police officer boyfriend with her SUV and leaving him for dead in a snowstorm in January 2022. Her two-month trial ended when jurors declared they were hopelessly deadlocked and a judge declared a mistrial on the fifth day of deliberations.

The defense said she abruptly announced the mistrial without questioning the jurors about where they stood on each of the three charges Read faced, and without giving lawyers for either side a chance to comment.

Prosecutors described the defense request to drop charges of second degree murder and leaving the scene of a deadly accident an “unsubstantiated but sensational post-trial claim,” based on “hearsay, conjecture and legally inappropriate reliance as to the substance of jury deliberations.”

“Contrary to the defendant's claims, throughout the jury deliberations the defendant was given a full opportunity to be heard, the jury's communications to the court explicitly indicated an impasse on all charges, and the court carefully considered alternatives before declaring a mistrial,” prosecutors wrote.

The jury “did not reach any verdicts partial or otherwise,” prosecutors wrote.

Read’s defense filed motions asking for the murder and leaving-the-scene charges to be dismissed. They contend that four jurors have said the jury had unanimously reached a not-guilty verdict on those two charges. They said the jurors reported being deadlocked only on the charge of manslaughter while operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol. Trying her again for murder would be unconstitutional double jeopardy, they said.

As they push against a retrial, the defense wants the judge to hold a “post-verdict inquiry” and question all 12 if necessary to establish the record they say should have been created before the mistrial was declared, showing they “unanimously acquitted the defendant of two of the three charges against her.”

But prosecutors argued the defense was given a chance to respond and, after one note from the jury indicating it was deadlocked, told the court that there had been sufficient time and advocated for the jury to be declared deadlocked. Prosecutors wanted deliberations to continue, which they did before a mistrial was declared the following day.

“Contrary to the representation made in the defendant's motion and supporting affidavits, the defendant advocated for and consented to a mistrial, as she had adequate opportunities to object and instead remained silent which removes any double jeopardy bar to retrial,” prosecutors wrote in their motion.

Read, a former adjunct professor at Bentley College, had been out drinking with her boyfriend John O'Keefe, a 16-year member of the Boston police who was found outside a Canton home of another Boston police officer. An autopsy found O’Keefe died of hypothermia and blunt force trauma.

The defense contended O’Keefe was killed inside the home after Read dropped him off and that those involved chose to frame her because she was a “convenient outsider.”