MANSFIELD — The full state Supreme Judicial Court will hear arguments in November on whether to dismiss two of the three charges against Karen Read, including second-degree murder, for the January 2022 death of her police officer boyfriend.
Lawyers for Read, 44, of Mansfield, filed a petition to the state’s highest court on Sept. 11 asking it to overturn a superior court ruling denying their motion to dismiss the murder charge and one of leaving the scene of an accident with injury or death.
A single justice of the seven-member court forwarded the case to the full court on Thursday, ruling oral arguments shall take place in November “or such other time as the full court may order,” according to a notation on the court’s docket.
Read’s lawyers have until Sept. 25 to file their brief and the prosecution has until Oct. 16.
Earlier this year, Read went to trial in Dedham Superior Court for allegedly intentionally backing her SUV into her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, in Canton on Jan. 29, 2022 and leaving him for dead in a snowstorm after a night of heavy drinking.
Read and her lawyers say she was framed by corrupt Canton and state police investigators. During the trial, her lawyers argued O’Keefe was beaten and bitten by a dog at the Canton home of another Boston police officer where Read dropped him off for an after party.
The case ended in a mistrial on July 1 after the 12-member jury reported they were deadlocked after several days of deliberations.
Along with the second-degree murder and leaving the scene charges, Read is accused of manslaughter by a motor vehicle while driving drunk.
After the mistrial, Read’s lawyers asked Judge Beverly Cannone to dismiss the murder and leaving the scene counts, arguing that several jurors contacted them and said the panel acquitted Read of the two charges during deliberations but could not reach a verdict on the manslaughter one.
Cannone denied the request, saying case law requires any verdict to be reported by the jury in open court. Because no verdict was reported, the judge ruled there would be no violation of Read’s double jeopardy rights, an argument her lawyers raised in their petition.
Read is scheduled for trial again in January and has pleaded not guilty. She remains free on bail.
This week, Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey appointed a prosecutor from outside his office to lead his team for the new trial. The lawyer, Hank Brennan, is a prominent Boston lawyer who is a seasoned prosecutor and defense attorney. Among other clients, he was on the defense team for mobster James “Whitey” Bulger in 2013.
If she is ultimately tried again on the second-degree murder charge and convicted, she would face life in prison with parole eligibility. Manslaughter while driving drunk carries a maximum sentence of 20 years.
Source: https://www.thesunchronicle.com/news/local_news/massachusetts-supreme-judicial-court-to-hear-appeal-on-karen-read-murder-case/article_008d7a02-775b-11ef-bf23-5fc576aacd12.html