Northeast
Karen Read appeals double jeopardy ruling to US Supreme Court
With jury selection underway for her second murder trial in the death of Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, attorneys for Karen Read are appealing a lower court’s ruling that she is not facing double jeopardy to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Read’s first trial ended with a mistrial last year, but her lawyers have argued that the jury agreed unanimously that she was not guilty of two of the three charges, including the most serious of murder, and that keeping those on the books for her second trial is unconstitutionally placing her on trial twice for the same crime.
This agreement was unannounced at trial, however.
PROBE OF TOWN POLICE IN KAREN READ CASE FINDS NO SIGN OF ‘CONSPIRACY TO FRAME’ SLAIN OFFICER’S GIRLFRIEND
Karen Read exits Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Massachusetts, on Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (Dario Alequin for Fox News Digital)
According to the 149-page filing, Read’s lawyers are presenting the high court with two questions:
- Whether a final and unanimous, but unannounced, decision by a jury following trial that the prosecution failed to prove a defendant guilty of a charged offense constitutes an acquittal precluding retrial under the Double Jeopardy Clause.
- Whether a defendant who produces credible evidence of such a final, unanimous, and unannounced acquittal is entitled to a post-trial hearing to substantiate the fact of such acquittal.
KAREN READ AND JOHN O’KEEFE: INSIDE EVOLUTION OF BOSTON MURDER MYSTERY SINCE JULY MISTRIAL
Officer John O’Keefe poses for his official headshot. O’Keefe’s girlfriend, Karen Reed, is currently on trial for murder after he was found dead outside a Massachusetts home in January 2022. (Boston Police Department)
The Fifth Amendment guarantees constitutional protection from facing double jeopardy – trial or punishment for the same offense twice.
After a mistrial, a retrial can normally proceed – but Read’s lawyers argue the unique circumstances in her case place her under double jeopardy on the two charges jurors agreed on but did not announce.
GO HERE FOR FULL COVERAGE OF THE 2ND KAREN READ TRIAL
Karen Read and John O’Keefe pose in an undated photo. (Karen Read)
Over days of stalled deliberations, jurors repeatedly sent notes to the court explaining they were at an impasse, and Judge Beverly Cannone instructed them to keep trying. Deliberations began on June 25, 2024. By July 1, with jurors still deadlocked, the judge declared a mistrial.
In their appeal, Read’s lawyers said the judge did not give counsel for either side the opportunity to speak and dismissed the jury without asking them if they were locked on all charges or any charges individually.
KAREN READ JURY SELECTION: DOZENS IN POOL ALREADY HAVE AN OPINION ON THE CASE
Karen Read sits in court during jury selection at Norfolk County Superior Court on Thursday, April 18, 2024 in Dedham, Massachusetts, for her first trial. (David McGlynn/New York Post via AP, Pool)
The next day, a juror identified as Juror A contacted Read’s attorney, Alan Jackson, and told him that the panel had “unanimously agreed that Karen Read is not guilty of Count 1 (second-degree murder),” according to the lawsuit.
Text messages purportedly sent from Juror B expressed similar claims, according to the lawsuit. Jurors C and D also reached out to Read’s team with similar versions of events, according to the filing.
Additionally, at least one juror said it in a voicemail for prosecutors.
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Karen Read smiles as defense attorney David Yannetti speaks to reporters in front of Norfolk Superior Court after the judge declared a mistrial after jurors were unable to reach a verdict following a two-month trial on Monday, July 1, 2024 in Dedham, Massachusetts. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
“It was not guilty on second degree,” Juror B wrote in a text shared with another Read attorney, David Yannetti. “And split in half for the second charge…I thought the prosecution didn’t prove the case. No one thought she hit him on purpose or even thought she hit him on purpose.”
In a phone conversation, Read’s lawyers claim Juror B clarified the second sentence of that text, saying it should have read, “No one thought she hit him on purpose or even knew that she had hit him.”
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Judge Beverly Cannone looks over the verdict slip the jurors have to fill out when they reach a verdict in Karen Read’s murder trial on Wednesday, June 26, 2024 at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Massachusetts. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)
The murder charge was “off the table,” according to the filing, and Juror A also said jurors agreed that Read was not guilty of leaving the scene.
Read was arrested on charges of drunken driving, manslaughter and leaving the scene of an accident, and later indicted for the additional charge of second-degree murder after she allegedly backed into O’Keefe outside a party and drove away, leaving him to die on the ground in a snowstorm.
If her appeal is successful, she would just face the manslaughter charge.
Karen Read appears with her attorneys, Alan Jackson and David Yannetti, during the first day of jury selection at Norfolk Superior Court on Tuesday, April 1, 2025 in Dedham, Massachusetts. (Nancy Lane/The Boston Herald via AP, Pool)
Appellate courts in Massachusetts have already denied her request, finding that because no verdict had been read in court, she was not acquitted of any charges and is not facing double jeopardy. Her legal team turned to the nation’s highest court this week, asking them to review a lower court’s decision and for a post-trial hearing on the matter.
Read could face life in prison if convicted of second-degree murder at her second trial, which began Tuesday. She has pleaded not guilty and denied involvement in O’Keefe’s death, with her defense presenting her as a scapegoat being framed by the alleged true killers.
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A 9-year-old boy died Friday morning after a school bus hit him while he was crossing the street in Brooklyn, the police said.
The child, who has not been identified pending notification of his family, was struck around 8:18 a.m. at the intersection of Lee Avenue and Lorimer Street in the Williamsburg neighborhood as the bus driver turned left, the police said.
The boy was “unconscious, unresponsive” and had injuries to his head and body when the police arrived, officials said. Paramedics responded and transported him to Woodhull Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The police said the bus driver left the scene but returned; it was not immediately clear why.
In February, another child was killed by a school bus while crossing a street in Brooklyn, in the Bath Beach neighborhood. Amira Aminova, 11, had been waiting at the edge of an intersection when the pedestrian signal turned from a walk sign to a flashing red hand with a countdown timer, according to surveillance video. She started running across the crosswalk.
The bus driver appeared to have a green light, and began to make a right turn. Amira was halfway through the intersection by then, but the driver failed to yield and struck her.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani sent his condolences to the child’s family in a post on X on Friday, saying that he was “devastated” by the incident.
“Children should be safe walking around our city,” Mr. Mamdani wrote. “This horrific road death is a painful reminder that we must continue to use every tool available to make our streets safe for all New Yorkers.”
Lincoln Restler, a City Council member, said he was “heartbroken” about the accident that occurred in his district.
“This is one of the busiest intersections in Williamsburg, and I have requested that city agencies immediately make safety improvements,” Mr. Restler said in a statement.
Mr. Restler said he had asked the city’s Department of Transportation to expedite painting new markings at the intersection, which he said was recently under construction and lacked crosswalks and street markings. He also asked the department to analyze crosswalk signal timing for pedestrians and to make the signals longer to give people more time to walk.
“I have also asked the N.Y.P.D. to station a crossing guard here to help children cross safely,” Mr. Restler said.
FSU softball focuses on rival Florida. Here’s its approach on Wednesday
Here’s how Lonni Alameda and Florida State softball are preparing for its rivalry matchup against Florida. First pitch is at 6 p.m.
Jazzy Francik returned to the site of one of the toughest outings of her career and delivered a dominant performance.
The Florida State sophomore tossed her third career no-hitter and powered the Seminoles to a 10-0 win over Boston College in six innings Saturday at Harrington Athletics Village, moving FSU within one win of clinching the ACC regular-season title.
Francik (19-2) was in control from the first pitch, striking out six and allowing only one baserunner on an infield error in the fifth inning. She needed just 67 pitches to complete the no-hitter, the third of her career and one of the most efficient outings of her season.
Florida State’s offense gave its ace plenty of support, collecting 12 hits and scoring 10 runs. After a scoreless first inning, the Seminoles broke through in the second with three runs on RBI doubles by freshmen Haley Griggs and Makenna Sturgis.
FSU added four more runs in the fourth inning behind a two-run double from Jaysoni Beachum and an RBI single by Ashtyn Danley. The Seminoles put the run-rule into play in the sixth, scoring three times on an RBI single from Sturgis, an RBI double by Isa Torres and a sacrifice fly from Danley.
Beachum, Torres, Sturgis and Danley each drove in two runs as Florida State continued to pressure Boston College despite several highlight-reel defensive plays from the Eagles.
Francik and the Seminole defense sealed the no-hitter in the bottom of the sixth to end the game early.
Florida State is one win away from securing at least a share of the ACC regular-season championship. A sweep of Boston College on Sunday would clinch the title outright.
How to watch FSU vs. Boston College Game 2
- Date: Saturday, May 2
- Time: 4 p.m.
- Where: Harrington Athletics Village, Brighton, Massachusetts
- TV/Stream: ACC extra
Peter Holland Jr. covers Florida State athletics and Big Bend Preps for the Tallahassee Democrat. If you like to pitch a story on a high school athlete, don’t hesitate to get in touch with him via email at PHolland@Gannett.com or on X @_Da_pistol.
Outrage is building in a quiet Pittsburgh neighborhood.
Residents say they were blindsided by a plan to convert the former Fraternal Order of Police lodge on Banksville Road into a reentry center. The building could be turned into housing for up to 100 federal inmates, officials said.
Dismas Charities, an organization that operates federal halfway houses across the country, is behind the proposal. But neighbors say this isn’t the place.
“What will these people be doing when they’re not in the halfway house? Will they be law-abiding citizens and respect our community and its members?” questioned Judi Perry, a Shady Crest resident.
Concerns range from safety to proximity. Some fear the risk of repeat offenses, even though the facility is designed for rehabilitation. Residents point to past incidents tied to similar programs, including a case in Kentucky where an inmate left a facility and killed a police officer.
“We need to be better educated about how this facility would operate, what the parameters are for the people who stay there, and maybe, if we had more information, it would comfort us,” Perry said.
Inside a recent Pittsburgh Planning Commission presentation, Dismas Charities pitched the facility as a second-chance model.
“Over the past five years, we’ve had almost 40,000 residents participate in our programs nationally, and the rate of recidivism is .08 percent,” a Dismas Charities representative said at the meeting.
But that message isn’t landing here. Petitions are already circulating with hundreds of signatures collected. Neighbors say this fight is just beginning.
“We have preconceived notions about these people who were convicted and committed a crime. We don’t know what their crime was, and so maybe our concerns are exaggerated. But in general, you don’t like the idea of that facility being so close to our community,” Perry said.
A decision could come soon, as the commission is set to take this up in the coming days. If approved, it would still need additional sign-off before any inmates move in.
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