Karen Read trial takes new shock twist after ‘jury tells team they would never find her guilty of boyfriend’s murder’
KAREN Read’s attorney has revealed a shocking jury revelation following her mistrial.
Read’s lawyers have claimed that the jurors who participated in the monumental trial did not want to convict her of murder after their five-day deliberation, according to court documents.
Read is accused of running over her boyfriend, John O’Keefe, and then leaving him for dead during a snowstorm in Canton, Massachusetts, in January 2022.
Prosecutors claim that the couple was drinking heavily that night, and Read was supposed to drop O’Keefe at the party his friend, Brian Albert, was hosting.
They believe before her police officer boyfriend was able to get inside, she hit him with her SUV and drove away.
However, her attorneys believe that she is the victim and that O’Keefe was murdered inside Albert’s home before he was dragged outside and left for dead.
On Monday, it was announced that there would be a mistrial after the jury sent a note to Judge Beverly Cannone revealing that the group was at an “impasse.”
During the jurors’ five days of deliberation, they had sent three different notes to the judge, stating they couldn’t come to a unanimous decision.
However, recent court documents state that Read’s attorneys received “unsolicited communications” from three different jurors who were involved in the trial.
The unnamed jurors indicated “in no uncertain terms that the jury had a firm 12-0 agreement that Ms. Read was not guilty of two of the three charges against her, including the charge of murder in the second degree,” according to court documents retrieved by local Fox affiliate WFXT.
The filing stated that the jury unanimously believed that Read was not guilty of leaving the scene of a fatal crash.
“It was not guilty on second degree…No on thought she hit him on purpose or even thought she him on purpose,” one juror told the defense team, per court documents.
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Another juror allegedly added that there was “no consideration for murder 2″ and Read “should’ve been acquitted.”
Despite the revelation, the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office announced that they plan to retry Read on the same counts she faced in her first trial.
A spokesperson for District Attorney Michael W. Morrissey’s office said, “The Norfolk DA’s Office is examining the motion in anticipation of filing a response. We look forward to picking a new trial date on July 22.”
Following the news of the mistrial, the prosecutor’s key witness, State Police Trooper, Michael Proctor, was relieved of duty.
During cross-examination, he had previously admitted to sending offensive text messages about Read to his family, friends, and coworkers, during the investigation.
Proctor had called Read a “whackjob” and a “b***h”, as well as talked about how he wanted her to “kill herself.”
Proctor claimed that despite the “juvenile, unprofessional comments” he made, it had no impact on the investigation.
That same day, during the cross-examination he admitted to knowing Albert’s brother Chris, as well as his wife Julie and their son, despite previously telling the Norfolk County District Attorney’s office that he did not know members of the Albert family.
However, he clarified that while he knew them he “didn’t have a relationship with them.”
Neama Rahmani, founder of West Coast Trial Lawyers, told The U.S. Sun that Proctor’s performance was one of the worst he has seen in his 20-year career.
“Proctor lied about his relationship [with the homeowner], he’s not likable, he’s not credible, and that’s your key witness […] I don’t think the prosecution did a good job of fronting the evidence,” Rahmani remarked.
After his time on the stand, there was a separate internal investigation done on the state trooper, according to police.
Proctor was placed on paid leave and he can no longer function as a state trooper.
He now faces an internal hearing on Monday to determine if he can keep his job,the Boston Herald reported.
Since 2022, Read’s innocence has been a hot topic among the residents of Canton.
Some people had placed signs in front of their homes showing support for either Read or O’Keefe.
“Free Karen Read!” read one sign.
Another read: “Remember it’s about justice for John.”
One resident explained that this has been a controversial topic in the town.
“You can’t even go out to eat at a local restaurant without having folks walk in, you know, saying, ‘Oh, John. Oh, Karen. Oh, Kelly.’ I mean, you’re just hearing stuff everywhere you go,” Alex Weingart told a local NBC affiliate WBTS-CD last year.
Weingart said the case has “caused a clear divide in town.”
“I think that we really need to come together,” he said.”
In 2023, protests surrounding the case broke out around downtown.
Protestors stormed the six meetings of the Select Board wearing tape over their mouths that said “Silenced” and “We need to be heard.”
Some people shouted, “Shame on you!” as Canton Select Chair Thomas Theodore tried to ease the mob.
Mary Harnum, a resident of Canton, revealed at the time that everything would have gotten resolved at the first trial.
“I just pray and we all pray that the truth will come out and we just have to let the justice system do their job,” she said.
“Let’s all take a step back and take a deep breath. We all care about this community.”