Karen Read to Be Retried on All 3 Charges

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled Tuesday that Karen Read can be retried on all three charges connected to the 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O'Keefe. The ruling from the state's top court clears the way for an April trial for Read on charges of second-degree murder, leaving the scene of a crash, and manslaughter, Boston 25 reports.

• A mistrial was declared in July, with the jury's foreman saying opinions were "starkly divided." Read's attorney Martin Weinberg said the jury was deadlocked only on the manslaughter charge and they had agreed she was not guilty on the other two charges, the AP reports. They did not, however, inform the judge.

• "The jury clearly stated during deliberations that they had not reached a unanimous verdict on any of the charges and could not do so. Only after being discharged did some individual jurors communicate a different supposed outcome, contradicting their prior notes," the judges wrote in their Tuesday decision. "Such posttrial disclosures cannot retroactively alter the trial's outcome—either to acquit or to convict."
• Weinberg said Read's legal team is considering options including taking the case to federal court, Boston 25 reports. "While we have great respect for the Commonwealth's highest court, Double Jeopardy is a federal constitutional right," he said in a statement. "We are strongly considering whether to seek federal habeas relief from what we continue to contend are violations of Ms. Read's federally guaranteed constitutional rights."
• Prosecutors say Read killed O'Keefe by hitting him with her vehicle outside a party at the home of another officer. Defense lawyers say O'Keefe was killed in a fight with another officer and Read was framed.

(More Karen Read stories.)