Karen Read suffers fresh blow as judge rules in new murder trial

A Massachusetts judge has ruled that Karen Read will be retried for allegedly killing her police officer boyfriend with her SUV, denying her request to have the case dismissed.

Days after the case was declared a mistrial on July 1, Read’s lawyers alleged that some jurors intended to acquit her of second-degree murder and fleeing the scene.

They further claimed that the jurors had only reached a deadlock on the manslaughter charge, but Norfolk County Judge Beverly Cannone rejected this.

“Because there was no public and unconfirmed verdict in open court in this case, the defendant was not acquitted of any of the charges,” Cannone’s decision said. “The only unanimous act of the jury here was their statement to the court that they were ‘at an impasse’ and could not reach an agreement.”

David Traub, a spokesman for the Norfolk County Prosecutor’s Office, said the new york post that her retrial for the murder of John O’Keefe is expected to begin on January 27.

Karen Read, 44, will be retried on January 27 for the murder of Boston police officer John O’Keefe after her accusers’ first trial ended in a mistrial

Judge Beverly Cannone rejected Read’s attorneys’ arguments to dismiss her second-degree murder charge, stating that the former professor was not acquitted

Cannone added that Read’s attorneys initially had no concerns about having the case dismissed and had multiple opportunities to do so as jurors filed notes indicating their disagreement.

Prosecutors accuse Read, 44, of running over John O’Keefe during a snowstorm in January 2022 in an attempt to escape their toxic relationship.

On the night of O’Keefe’s death, he and Read were drinking with a group of friends at the Waterfall Bar and Grill in Canton, about 14 miles south of Boston. They were invited to an afterparty at his friend Brian Albert’s house.

Read, who prosecutors say had consumed several alcoholic drinks beforehand, decided to drop her boyfriend off at the party and then went to his house to sleep around 1 a.m., a home O’Keefe shared with his orphaned niece and nephew.

Court documents show the couple had been feuding violently for weeks, and on the night O’Keefe died, Read left him a voicemail message calling him a “f****** loser” and saying, “John, I f****** hate you.”

John O’Keefe, 46, was found dead at 6 a.m. on Jan. 29, 2022, outside a home where Read had dropped him off at about 12:45 a.m. for an afterparty.

Read and O’Keefe had been drinking the night of his death, before she drove him to an afterparty while she went home to sleep. He was found dead hours later on the lawn of the afterparty house.

The couple had been dating for two years when O’Keefe died. He had worked for 16 years with the Boston Police Department.

According to Read’s version of events, she woke up at 4 a.m. to find that O’Keefe had never come home, and she decided to rush out to find him.

After finding O’Keefe’s body outside Albert’s home, which partygoers claimed he had never entered, emergency responders at the scene said Read repeatedly told them she had hit him while she was panicking.

Vehicle data also showed Read backing her SUV 62 feet at 24 mph near Albert’s home. O’Keefe’s cause of death was listed as blunt force trauma and hypothermia, with pieces of Read’s taillight found around his body, prosecutors said.

Read, a financial analyst and former professor at Bentley College, has been described as America’s “luckiest murder suspect” for how often she smiled and even winked for the cameras during her trial.

When her trial began, Read received an outpouring of support from true crime fans and locals who camped outside the courthouse with signs reading “Free Karen Read”

Amid intense media attention and large demonstrations surrounding her interrogations, public opinion was divided over Read’s innocence, with some calling for her to be “released” and others accusing her of being a villainous murderess.

Amid intense media attention and large demonstrations surrounding her interrogations, public opinion was divided over Read’s innocence, with some calling for her to be “released,” while others accused her of being a horrific murderess.

Just two weeks after the mistrial was declared, Read decided to put her 2,000-square-foot colonial home in Mansfield up for sale for $849,900.

Her agent told her she has not lived in Mansfield since last year and “would like another family to enjoy the home she has renovated over the years.”

Read has maintained her innocence from the beginning, claiming she was framed by police and people at the party the night of O’Keefe’s death.