Northeast
Karen Read murder case ends in mistrial with ‘deeply divided’ jury
Karen Read’s murder-or-conspiracy trial, scripted like a TV drama, ends in a mistrial.
The Massachusetts jury had been deadlocked for days and couldn’t come to a unanimous decision about Read’s innocence or guilty after nearly 26 hours of deliberations.
The 44-year-old woman, who was accused of killing her Boston cop boyfriend John O’Keefe, smiled outside the Dedham courthouse. She stood next to her lawyers, David Yannetti and Alan Jackson, who said prosecutors relied on a compromised investigator.
“We will not stop fighting,” Jackson said, and it appears they will have to.
“The Commonwealth intends to re-try the case,” the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office said within minutes of Monday afternoon’s outcome.
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Karen Read smiles during a news conference in front of Norfolk Superior Court, Monday, July 1, 2024, in Dedham, Mass. A judge declared a mistrial Monday after jurors deadlocked in the case of Read, who was accused of killing her Boston police officer boyfriend by striking him with her SUV and leaving him in a snowstorm. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Karen Read smiles as defense attorney David Yannett 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, Monday, July 1, 2024, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
The jury, which heard from 74 witnesses and examined nearly 700 pieces of evidence during the polarizing trial, first told presiding Judge Beverly Cannone they were deadlocked late last week.
They doubled down late Monday morning when the jury penned a well-crafted note to the judge.
“Despite our commitment, we are deeply divided by fundamental differences. No lack of understanding or effort. Consensus is not reachable,” the jury said.
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Cannone issued a dynamite charge (or Allen charge), which is a last-resort option to force jurors to go continue deliberations and try to reach a unanimous verdict.
The result was the same. “Despite our commitment to the duty entrusted in us, we find ourselves deeply divided by fundamental differences in our opinions and state of mind,” the jury wrote in a note to the judge.
Karen Read talks with her legal team at the Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass., Monday, July 1, 2024. Read was accused of backing her SUV into her Boston Police officer boyfriend, John O’Keefe, and leaving him to die in a blizzard in Canton, in 2022. (Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool)
Karen Read gets a long hug from her dad William before the jury breaks for lunch at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass., Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)
The jubilation on Read’s side of the courtroom was a stark contrast to the tears and defeated faces on O’Keefe’s side.
The Boston police officer’s mom was being consoled by family and friends as Read hugged her dad and reached her hand to thank her supporters.
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O’Keefe’s body was found in several inches of snow outside the home of Boston police officer Brian Albert.
Prosecutors alleged Read purposely backed into him with her SUV during a booze-infused fight in January 2022 and let him die on the front lawn of a Canton, Massachusetts, home during a nor’easter.
Karen Read, center, listens as Judge Beverly J. Cannone greets the jury at the start of the third day of deliberations in her murder trial, in Norfolk Superior Court on Thursday, June 27, 2024 in Dedham, Massachusetts. (Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool)
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, Wednesday, June 26, 2024, at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)
Read claimed she was framed in an elaborate cover-up to protect the Alberts, an influential family with deep law enforcement ties.
She pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder, motor vehicle manslaughter while driving under the influence and leaving the scene of a collision causing injury and death.
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The mistrial mimicked the civil-war-like atmosphere in the Boston suburb between Read supporters and critics.
Protesters voiced their opinions, #FreeKaren billboards cropped up, and family and friends of both sides of the case were lambasted and heckled.
Supporters of Karen Read gather outside the courthouse in Dedham, MA on Friday, June 28, 2024. (Patriot Pics/Backgrid for Fox News Digital)
Supporters of Karen Read gather outside the courthouse in Dedham, MA on Friday, June 28, 2024. (Patriot Pics/Backgrid for Fox News Digital)
One of O’Keefe’s friends told Fox News Digital that Read supporters shouted profanities and heckled them as they entered the courtroom for the first day of the trial.
Aidan “Turtleboy” Kearney, a controversial blogger who was frequently seen with a bullhorn backing Read and writing about the case, was assaulted outside a Canton bar over the weekend.
GO HERE FOR MORE TRUE CRIME FROM FOX NEWS DIGITAL
Jillian Daniels and James Farris, two Canton residents, were charged with assault, police confirmed to NBC 10 Boston.
Shortly before the trial started, Kearney was arrested after he allegedly was “showing up” at sporting events of witnesses’ children and “made scenes,” harassed and photographed witnesses at their homes and jobs and instructed followers of his blog to do the same.
He pleaded not guilty to all charges, including witness intimidation. That case is ongoing.
Massachusetts blogger Aiden “Turtleboy” Kearney was charged with witness intimidation for allegedly threatening witnesses in a murder case in Massachusetts. (Aidan Kearney(@DoctorTurleboy)/X)
Before the jury enters, Judge Beverly J. Cannone, right, speaks to the defense and prosecution during the Karen Read trial at the Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass., Monday, July 1, 2024. (Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool)
Prosecutor Adam Lally speaks in court during jury selection of the Karen Read trial at Norfolk County Superior Court on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in Dedham, Massachusetts. Read, 44, was accused of running into her Boston police officer boyfriend with her SUV in the middle of a nor’easter and leaving him for dead after a night of heavy drinking. (David McGlynn/New York Post via AP, Pool)
Shortly before the trial started, Kearney was arrested after he allegedly was “showing up” at sporting events of witnesses’ children and “made scenes,” harassed and photographed witnesses at their homes and jobs and instructed followers of his blog to do the same.
He pleaded not guilty to all charges, including witness intimidation. That case is ongoing.
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Another salacious piece of the trial involved the texts of Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Proctor, an investigator on the case whose vulgar, sexist texts were revealed during testimony.
The jurors noticeably shook their heads as he read the texts while on the stand during a brutal cross-examination.
In the personal texts, he called Read a “wack job,” a “babe … with no a–” and a “c—;” wished she would kill herself; and joked about looking for nude images on her phone, among other things.
GO HERE FOR MORE TRUE CRIME FROM FOX NEWS DIGITAL
Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Proctor testifies during Karen Read’s trial on Wednesday, June 12, 2024 in Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Massachusetts. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)
Karen Read speaks with lawyers in court during jury selection at Norfolk County Superior Court on Thursday, April 18, 2024 in Dedham, Massachusetts. Read, 44, was accused of running into her Boston police officer boyfriend with her SUV in the middle of a nor’easter and leaving him for dead after a night of heavy drinking. (David McGlynn/New York Post via AP, Pool)
The embattled state trooper admitted his messages were “unprofessional and regrettable,” as he was being pummeled by the defense’s cross-examination, but he stood by the integrity of the investigation.
Many law experts believe Proctor’s testimony sank the prosecution’s case.
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Boston, MA
Pols & Politics: Boston’s $325M White Stadium deal could be killed with booze ban
Plans to serve booze at White Stadium’s professional soccer matches in Boston have encountered pushback by critics of the city’s public-private rehab plan, but a ban on alcohol would effectively kill the $325 million project.
Buried in the city’s 321-page lease agreement with Boston Legacy FC, the National Women’s Soccer League team set to play home games at the rebuilt stadium, is a provision that allows the team to walk away from the deal should the city’s Licensing Board choose not to grant its application for a liquor license.
“If … both the Boston Licensing Board and the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission issue a final non-appealable decision in which the applicable entity refuses to grant such a liquor license (for White Stadium) … then the tenant may terminate both this lease and the stadium usage agreement,” the lease states.
“Upon delivery of such termination notice, the parties’ rights, responsibilities, and the obligations under this lease and the stadium usage agreement shall be null and void, and without recourse to either party,” the lease states.
Boston Legacy FC has signed a 10-year lease agreement with the city to share use of Franklin Park’s White Stadium with Boston Public Schools student-athletes.
The team is paying more than $190 million for its half of the stadium renovations, with the city’s $135 million half of the costs paid for by taxpayers.
The Boston City Council defeated a resolution last month, by a 9-3 vote, that sponsors Ed Flynn and Julia Mejia said sought to uphold state law restricting alcohol at public school facilities.
Mejia and Flynn argued that booze should not be sold during professional soccer matches and other private events held at Franklin Park’s White Stadium, given that it is a city-owned public school facility.
“The Boston Public School policy is clear and the state law is clear,” Mejia said last month. “Alcohol is not permitted on public school premises, except under very limited circumstances, which this situation does not meet.”
Most councilors disagreed, including Gabriela Coletta Zapata, who called the rule “antiquated” and said it was not applicable in this instance.
“I think generally this is an antiquated viewpoint of how we regulate alcohol,” Coletta Zapata said last month. “It ignores how Boston responsibly balances public use, economic opportunity and community activation. We can’t pretend that a blanket prohibition is the only pathway forward, especially in a shared-use facility like White Stadium.”
The Emerald Necklace Conservancy and a group of park neighbors suing the city to try to block the project have also argued that alcohol should be banned at the facility. The lawsuit, which alleges the professional soccer stadium use would illegally privatize public parkland, is under consideration by the state Supreme Judicial Court.
— Gayla Cawley
No boos this time
Not sure what to make of Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll tossing out the ceremonial first pitch the other night at Fenway Park while the governor was away in California. The stands were still filling up, but nobody seemed to be voicing their political feelings. Is that good? As the saying goes, any publicity is good publicity.

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