The jury in the high-profile Karen Read murder trial asked the presiding judge a question that suggests they might be leaning toward an acquittal on most charges.
Jurors asked Judge Beverly Cannone if they would be considered a hung jury if they were able to find Read not guilty of two charges but unable to decide on a third.
Cannone said she couldn’t answer directly.
Karen Read speaks with her lawyers at court on Thursday. BH“To me, it’s a theoretical question and we don’t answer theoretical questions,” the judge told prosecutors and defense lawyers before the jury came back in. “I tell the jurors they’re not to be concerned with the consequences of their verdict.”
Read, 45, is accused of striking her Boston cop boyfriend John O’Keefe with her car and leaving him for dead outside a house party following a drunken argument in January 2022.
She’s facing counts of second-degree murder, vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and leaving the scene of a collision resulting in death.
Read’s lawyers have claimed she’s the target in a widespread law enforcement cover-up and that O’Keefe was actually killed during the party with his law enforcement buddies at the Canton house.
This is her second trial after the first ended in a mistrial last year.
Defense lawyer Alan Jackson argued that the judge should provide clearer instructions to the jurors’ query, but Cannone said the way the question is phrased is “hypothetical” at this point.
The judge decided not to answer the jury’s question. APJackson said Read could be in the same situation as a year ago following the hung jury.
Three jurors from the first trial claimed the jury at least had an agreement to acquit Read of second-degree murder and leaving the scene of a fatal crash, according to a previous filing from the defense team.
The jury for the second trial also asked numerous other questions Tuesday, including what the “timeframe” was connected to Read’s operating under the influence charge and can they consider Read’s media interviews as evidence, Masslive reported.
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Cannone reportedly told jurors they “should weigh the defendant’s statements in the videos as you would any other evidence.”
A new amended jury slip was also submitted by Cannone after she was asked about convicting Read of the less serious count of operating under the influence, the outlet reported.
The new slip for the manslaughter charge included more language to make it clearer for jurors to understand.
