Accused murderer Karen Read suffered a devastating blow in her effort to get charges against her dropped when a federal judge ruled on Thursday that retrying her for her police officer boyfriend’s death would not amount to double jeopardy.
Read, 45, had petitioned a federal court to toss charges of second-degree murder and leaving the scene of an accident for the January 29, 2022 death of her boyfriend John O’Keefe.
She had claimed that jurors’ comments that they unanimously agreed to acquit her on the charges meant she was ‘actually acquitted’ of the two charges and Norfolk Superior Court Judge Beverly Cannone improperly declared a mistrial, according to the Boston Herald.
At the very least, her attorneys asked that the federal court bring in the jurors who have made such comments for questioning – to find out whether they had, in fact, acquitted her, NBC Boston reports.
But Judge Dennis Saylor disagreed, ruling that comments the jurors have made since the trial’s end in July do not qualify as a verdict, meaning ‘as a matter of federal constitutional law, [Read] was not actually acquitted of any of the relevant offenses’ and therefore retrying her would not amount to double jeopardy.
He went on to call any hearing of the former jurors ‘probably unlawful and certainly ill-advised,’ noting that even if it were to be held, their comments would not qualify as an acquittal under state law.
The ruling comes just weeks before Read is set to face a second murder trial.
Karen Read, 44, had petitioned a federal court to toss charges of second-degree murder and leaving the scene of an accident for the January 29, 2022 death of her boyfriend John O’Keefe
She has been accused of murdering O’Keefe after a night out, but she instead claimed he was beaten by those inside the house his body was found on the front lawn of
Read stands accused of ramming her O’Keefe with her SUV while drunk in January 2022 before leaving him to die in a snowstorm in the driveway of retired officer Brian Alpert’s home after a heavy night of drinking.
O’Keefe ultimately died from hypothermia and blunt force trauma, according to autopsy results.
Read’s attorneys have portrayed her as the victim, saying O’Keefe was actually killed inside Alpert’s home and then dragged outside.
They argued that investigators focused on Read because she was a ‘convenient outsider’ who saved them from having to consider law enforcement officers as suspects.
Read’s defense said their theory that she was framed in a vast police conspiracy was supported by texts Trooper Michael Proctor – who led the investigation into O’Keefe’s death – wrote about Read, which he was forced to read aloud in court last summer.
In the messages, Proctor called Read a ‘whack job’ and a ‘c**t’ and referred to her as a ‘babe’ with ‘no a**,’ while also making light of her ‘Fall River accent’.
In other messages, he joked about rummaging through her phone for nude photos during the investigation.
Proctor claimed that ‘these juvenile, unprofessional comments had zero impact on the facts, the evidence and the integrity of the investigation’.
Read faces a second murder trial starting April 1 for O’Keefe’s death
Read’s attorneys have portrayed her as the victim, saying O’Keefe was actually killed inside Albert’s home and then dragged outside
Thursday’s ruling is just the latest victory for prosecutors in her case, after Cannone agreed last week to issue a gag order to limit what Read’s lawyers could say outside of the courthouse.
Special prosecutor Hank Brennan had asked for the gag order, arguing that Read’s lawyers were disparaging witnesses and improperly undermining his case.
He took specific issue with Read, herself, being allowed to disclose what happened during grand jury proceedings, which are secret.
Brennan said ‘the ongoing, deliberate, purposeful poisoning of the potential jury pool is not only wrong and unfair, it needs to be stopped’.
Cannone agreed.
‘Based, on these interviews and defense counsel’s consistent, publicly-reported interactions with reporters and bloggers throughout the first trial, the court agrees with the Commonwealth,’ she ruled.
‘An order limiting extrajudicial statements of counsel is both appropriate and necessary to ensure a fair and impartial trial and finds that no reasonable, less restrictive alternative to the order is available.’
Yet Read hinted that the public is not done hearing from her, saying: ‘I like talking. I like to reveal the truth.’
Special prosecutor Hank Brennan asked for the gag order to limit what Read’s lawyers said outside court after complaining they were disparaging witnesses and improperly undermining his case
Read has said she is ready for her second trial and isn’t worried about who’s on the prosecution team
But a bombshell in the case came last month when special prosecutor Hank Brennan revealed in court that Read’s defense team had communicated with accident reconstruction experts from ARCCA Inc., who were hired by the FBI about their testimony, ahead of Read’s first trial last year.
Brennan read what appeared to be emails between the defense and ARCCA and pointed out a $23,925 bill that he said the ARCCA sent to the defense.
‘The commonwealth, as I understand it, was not aware of any promised rewards or inducements or payments,’ Brennan said. ‘They relied on a reciprocal discovery order of this court for that information.’
Calling out the bombshell payment request, Cannone, who was visibly trembling as she spoke, said: ‘The commonwealth just provided the court with information that causes me grave concern.’
Still, Read says ready for her second trial and isn’t worried about who’s on the prosecution team.
‘I don’t care who I face,’ she told Boston 25 News. ‘I have the truth. I have the best attorneys. Do your worst.’
Read could end up in prison — a fate she said she ‘thinks about that every day,’ but she said, ‘It doesn’t frighten me the way it did three years ago.’