BOSTON (WHDH) – The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court upheld the trial judge Beverly Cannone’s decision to deny dismissal of two of the charges against Karen Read on Tuesday.
Karen Read’s re-trial for the murder of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, will continue as planned; proceedings are currently scheduled to begin on April 1.
Read’s defense team requested dismissal of two of the charges against her, arguing that several jurors, after the mistrial was declared, told them that Read had actually been acquitted by the jury, despite jury communications with Cannone during deliberations that explicitly stated they were deadlocked on the charges.
In August, Cannone rejected the defense’s request for dismissal of those two charges, a decision affirmed in Tuesday’s filing by the SJC.
“[… T]he trial judge correctly denied the defendant’s motion to dismiss and request for a posttrial juror inquiry,” the SJC ruling released Tuesday said. “The case is remanded to the county court for entry of a judgment denying the defendant’s petition for relief.”
Background on the rejected request for dismissal
Read was charged with several charges including second degree murder after prosecutors said she hit O’Keefe with her car and left him to die outside the Canton home of another Boston police officer in January 2022.
Her defense has said she is being framed, saying O’Keefe actually died after a fight inside the home.
The prosecution and the defense called more than 70 witnesses before the case went to the jury in late June 2024.
Jurors deliberated but did not deliver a verdict, prompting Cannone to declare a mistrial after nearly five days of deliberations.
The Norfolk County District Attorney’s office said it planned to re-try Read following the mistrial. Read’s defense attorneys said they would continue fighting allegations against her.
As both sides began eying a new trial, the defense said it heard from several…