Karen Read’s second murder trial began today. How will this one be different?
Read first trial ended in a mistrial after jurors failed to reach a unanimous verdict.
Jury selection began Tuesday for the second murder trial of Karen Read, a Massachusetts woman accused of running over her boyfriend, a Boston police officer, after a night of drinking.
Read was tried on charges of second-degree murder last year for the alleged killing of her 46-year-old partner, John O'Keefe, but a mistrial was declared on July 1 after the jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict.
Prosecutors in the case accused Read of striking O’Keefe with her SUV and then leaving him to die in the snow on the lawn of a friend’s house after the couple got into an argument during a night of heavy drinking. Read’s defense team argued that she was a scapegoat in a cover-up by local law enforcement officials.
Judge Beverly Cannone denied a motion in March to delay the start of the second trial, despite a pending federal court appeal that could impact the charges Read faces.
The case has garnered national intrigue, and Read has amassed a legion of supporters who have been spotted outside of the courtroom holding signs as a show of solidarity.
Here’s what to know about the case.
What happened during Karen Read’s first trial?
The defense and prosecution teams called more than 65 witnesses during Read’s first murder trial, including family members of O’Keefe, forensic experts and police investigators.
Prosecutors alleged that Read hit O’Keefe with her car and left him for dead on Jan. 29, 2022. They presented evidence suggesting that Read and O’Keefe had a rocky relationship. Read reportedly told police that she fought with O’Keefe shortly before his death. She swore at him and accused him of infidelity in voicemail messages left the morning he died, police said.
The defense said Read dropped O’Keefe off at the home of their friend and fellow Boston police officer, Brian Albert. They argued that Read was framed, and that O’Keefe was beaten inside Albert’s home and then left in the snow outside.
The monthslong trial ended in a hung jury on July 1.
How did John O’Keefe die?
A medical examiner ruled O’Keefe’s manner of death “undetermined.”
He sustained multiple injuries, including two black eyes, cuts on his face and the back of his head, and skull fractures that caused bleeding in his brain, Boston.com reported. His body had laid in the snow outside of Albert’s house for hours in freezing temperatures.
How might the second trial be different?
Judge Cannone ruled Monday that Read’s defense team may only use a portion of the third-party culprit defense they used during the first trial, which cast blame on others for O’Keefe’s death, WCVB reported.
During the first trial, the defense implicated Brian Albert, his nephew Colin Albert and their friend Brian Higgins as potential suspects. For this trial, Cannone said the defense could not use Colin Albert in the case because they had insufficient evidence. She also put limitations on the defense’s ability to connect Brian Albert and Higgins to the murder.
How long will the second trial take?
During Read’s first trial, Jury selection took five days, and 19 jurors and alternates were selected from a pool of 401 people.
The process could take longer this time. Judge Cannone said during the last pre-trial conference for the case that she expected many potential jurors to have heard about the case.
More than 1,000 people have been called to be potentially considered to serve on the jury, including approximately 275 people each day this week, according to The Patriot Ledger, part of the Paste BN Network.
The first trial ran nine weeks long. The jury took five days to deliberate and remained deadlocked.
Contributing: Phaedra Trethan, Paste BN