Karen Read Files Motion To Dismiss 2 Of 3 Charges, Including Murder Charge

Photo: Suzanne Sausville/WBZ NewsRadio

DEDHAM, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — Karen Read's defense team has filed a motion to dismiss two of the three charges pending against her, including the second-degree murder charge.

Last week, Judge Beverly Cannone declared a mistrial in the weeks-long Karen Read murder trial that took place at Norfolk County Superior Court.

Prosecutors have since said they plan on re-trying the case.

Read was charged with second-degree murder in the January 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe. Prosecutors alleged Read hit O'Keefe with her SUV and left him to die in the snow outside a Canton home after a night out.

Along with murder, she was charged with manslaughter while operating under the influence and leaving the scene of personal injury and death.

Read's defense team argued she was framed for O'Keefe's death and that there was a wider conspiracy involving law enforcement.

Read More: Judge Declares Mistrial In Karen Read Murder Trial

The mistrial on July 1 was declared after the jury was unable to unanimously decide if Read was guilty or not guilty of the charges.

On Monday, however, statements from Read's lawyers allege that communications from jurors say that for two of Read's charges, all 12 of the jurors unanimously agreed she was not guilty.

The court document detailing Read's motion to dismiss says that she is moving to dismiss count 1 (second-degree murder) and count 3 (leaving the scene of personal injury and death) pending against her "on the grounds that the jury reached a unanimous decision to acquit her on those charges."

Read's defense said that they received "unsolicited communications from three of the twelve deliberating jurors" saying that the jury unanimously decided she was not guilty on those two charges.

Read's lawyer Alan Jackson filed an affidavit in support of this motion, where he said that a juror, who remains anonymous, contacted him after the trial ended in a mistrial.

The juror told Read's team that the jury had unanimously come to the conclusion that Read was not guilty of second-degree murder and that she was not guilty of leaving the scene of personal injury and death.

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David Yannetti, another defense lawyer for Read, also submitted an affidavit to the court on Monday.

He described how he received information about jury deliberations after the mistrial from various anonymous informants and intermediaries.

In one of the text messages Yannetti received, a juror said that the jurors agreed Read was not guilty on the murder charge and that they were split on the second charge, manslaughter while operating under the influence.

Read's team argues that because the jury reached unanimous decisions on two counts and found her not guilty, "a retrial on such counts would violate the Double Jeopardy protections of both federal and state constitutions."

Another document submitted to the court on Monday showed the addition of a new lawyer to Read's team, Martin Weinberg, who will serve as her defense in a limited capacity while litigating the motion to dismiss.

This is a developing story that will be updated.

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