A Massachusetts judge has denied Karen Read’s bid to have part of her murder case thrown out for allegedly killing her cop boyfriend, paving the way for a retrial to go forward next year.
Norfolk County Judge Beverly Cannone on Friday morning denied Read’s request to have two of three charges she faced tossed on the grounds that a handful of jurors said, after the case ended in mistrial, that they planned to acquit her of second-degree murder.
Cannone declared a mistrial on July 1 after the jury sent out multiple notes telling the judge it was hopelessly deadlocked.
But days later, Read’s lawyers claimed that five jurors separately said they actually planned to clear her of the charges of second-degree murder and leaving the scene of a death — and were only deadlocked on the count of manslaughter.
Read’s team asked for the dismissed jurors to be brought back into court to poll them on their verdict for each charge, as part of her lawyers’ efforts to have those two counts dismissed.
“Because there was no open and public verdict affirmed in open court rendered in this case, the defendant was not acquitted of any of the charges,” Cannone’s decision reads. “The only unanimous act of the jury here was their representation to the court that they were ‘at an impasse’ and unable to agree.”
Cannone claimed that Read’s attorneys did not raise any concerns over mistrial being declared despite “multiple opportunities” over the course of the two days that the jury returned notes indicating its disagreement.
And the judge said it would be “impermissible” to call the panelists back into court to probe them about their deliberations.
David Traub, a spokesman with the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office, said it is planning to go forward with the trial again on Jan. 27.
“We believe that the judge’s decision is consistent with almost 200 years of case law,” Traub said.
Read is accused of backing over her beau, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, with her Lexus SUV and leaving him for dead in the yard of his friend in Canton, Mass., as a snowstorm was set to roll in on Jan. 29, 2022.
She has maintained her innocence, claiming she was a scapegoat in a sweeping law enforcement conspiracy — a theory which has gained her a cult-following of supporters.
Read’s lawyers did not immediately return requests for comment Friday morning.






