Norfolk DA to retry murder case against Karen Read. Here's how that might play out

DEDHAM — Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey says his office plans to retry

, a Mansfield woman accused of killing her Boston police officer boyfriend, Braintree native John O'Keefe, after Judge Beverly Cannone declared a mistrial Monday.

"First, we thank the O’Keefe family for their commitment and dedication to this long process. They maintained sight of the true core of this case — to find justice for John O’Keefe," David Traub, a spokesperson for the district attorney, wrote in a statement. "The Commonwealth intends to retry the case."

Cannone declared a mistrial Monday after the jury of six men and six women came back for the third time telling the judge they were deadlocked.

"Our perspectives on the evidence are starkly divided," the note to Cannone read. "Some members of the jury firmly believe that the evidence surpasses the burden of proof, establishing the elements of the charges beyond a reasonable doubt. Conversely, others find the evidence fails to meet this standard and does not sufficiently establish the necessary elements of the charges."

Read charged with second-degree murder

The defense and the prosecution made their closing arguments Tuesday, June 25, in the trial of Read, who was charged with second-degree murder after O'Keefe's body was found in the driveway outside the Canton home of a fellow Boston police officer Jan. 29, 2022, during a snowstorm.

Read is also charged with manslaughter while driving drunk and leaving the scene of personal injury and death.

Prosecutors called more than 65 witnesses in testimony that started April 29.

The defense's list of witnesses was much shorter and included a plow driver who said he did not see anything on the lawn in Canton where O'Keefe's body was found.

The State Police, who drew much public criticism throughout the trial, issued a statement after the mistrial was declared. After offering condolences to O'Keefe's family, the agency said it was transferring Trooper Michael Proctor out of the detective unit of the Norfolk County district attorney's office.

During the trial, it was learned that Proctor had sent inappropriate texts regarding Read.

A statement by State Police Col. John E. Mawn reads: “Upon learning today’s result, the Department took immediate action to relieve Trooper Michael Proctor of duty and formally transfer him out of the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office State Police Detective’s Unit. This follows our previous decision to open an internal affairs investigation after information about serious misconduct emerged in testimony at the trial. This investigation is ongoing."

The case has drawn widespread national attention. Read's defense claims it was a cover-up by law enforcement and that others involved framed Read for O'Keefe's death. Prosecutors say Read and O’Keefe had been drinking at a local bar with friends and acquaintances before they got into an argument. They say she hit him with her SUV outside the home of Brian Albert, who was hosting an after-party, shortly before 12:30 a.m.

But Read's lawyers say Read dropped O'Keefe off at Albert's home where he was fatally beaten inside before his body was planted on the front lawn. They say she was then framed for his death.

Martha Coakley says charges might change for retrial

Former Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley told WCVB, a Patriot Ledger news partner, that the charges against Read could be changed if the district attorney's office follows through on a retrial.

"Right now, the district attorney is totally in charge in terms of the charges," Coakley said. "They can also seek to plea bargain, which is something that I'm guessing they will at least talk about."

Coakley said if the same lawyers remain on the case, they will take the lessons learned in the first trial.

"You would have lessons learned both ways," Coakley said. "The defense knows exactly where the prosecution is going, but the prosecution will too."

Peter Elikann, a Boston criminal defense lawyer who followed the trial, said he was not surprised by the hung jury. He said, given the evidence in the case and Proctor's problematic conduct, he anticipated either a not guilty verdict or a hung jury.

Elikann said in his view, ties between members of Proctor's family and the Albert family that came out at trial created an appearance of possible conflict that should have disqualified him from conducting the investigation.

He noted Proctor on the stand admitted to inappropriate actions and said the investigation itself did not appear to be as rigorous as it should have been.

Lack of search of Canton home raises concerns

Police, as has been noted by many people who have alleged a conspiracy in the case, did not search the Albert home following the discovery of O'Keefe's body.

“Normally, if you found a body on a lawn outside of a house, and had been informed the person was supposed to be going inside that house, you would, at the very least, do an investigation of the area including the house," Elikann said.

Elikann said in his view, there was too much reasonable doubt raised about the propriety of the police investigation to warrant a conviction. However, he added that, while in many trials enough evidence is detailed that gives legal observers a sense of what actually happened, he didn't see that in this case.

"You wish we had that magic video camera in the sky and we don't," he said.

Canton police did not have body cameras in 2022 and one of the more contested issues of facts in the case was whether Read, when O'Keefe was found, said, "I hit him. I hit him," or, as her lawyers argued, only questioned whether she could have hit him.

Body camera footage of that time frame, Elikann agreed, would have helped a jury get closer to the truth.

“We’ve come to a moment in our society where people expect to see videos and hear recordings when it comes to evidence in a criminal case," he said.

Elikann said it would be instructive to know, when assessing the prospects of a retrial, how split the jury was in this case. He said despite their inability to reach a verdict, it seemed jurors were "especially diligent," saying the notes they returned to the judge regarding their deadlock were eloquent and detailed.

Elikann agreed the wording of the last note — in which jurors said, "some" jurors were on either side of the issue — appeared to intimate this was not a situation of a lone holdout juror.

Staff in the Norfolk Superior Court clerk's office told multiple reporters following the verdict that a list of jurors would not be released, saying no such list is required to be made public in the event of a mistrial.

Massachusetts State Police under the microscope

Elikann said he found it hard to believe Proctor could be an effective state trooper in the future, given the questions about his impartiality and credibility that arose during trial.

Asked whether the situation calls for greater systemic scrutiny of the state police — which have weathered a number of scandals in recent years — Elikann said he believes it does.

"It's so crucial (for police) to have the confidence and support of the public," he said. "There are so many good, diligent state troopers, that they very well might welcome the idea that there's an overhaul (needed) to get rid of any problems or issues that would put a black mark on (the organization).”

Elikann said he will be watching to see whether federal prosecutors — who, in a rare move, began investigating the Read matter last year — take any action or make any statements with respect to the probe.

The federal investigation has fueled much of the public and media interest in the case, with many Read supporters this week holding signs pleading for federal action.

A small group of people who showed up to affirm their belief in Read's guilt told the USA Today network Monday they doubt anything will ever come of that probe.

Julie Guinto, one of the group, said she had serious questions about the probe's genesis and noted that no charges have been brought despite a Grand Jury being called last year.

Guinto also noted that, at a March 20 pretrial hearing in Read's case, lawyers for multiple people who have been accused by Read's lawyers as being part of a conspiracy, said their clients were not targets.

A review of that hearing confirms that lawyers for Brian Albert and Brian Higgins, a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent who has been accused of being part of a conspiracy, told Cannone that federal prosecutors had authorized them to state publicly that they were not targets of the federal inquiry.

That has not stopped protesters from predicting imminent federal involvement, with many pointing to the fact that forensic experts hired by the Justice Department were called by the defense at trial and gave testimony about injuries to O'Keefe that conflicted with the state's theory.

'Turtleboy' says dead turtle found outside parents' home

In a video posted to X, formerly Twitter, following the verdict, the Holden blogger Aidan "Turtleboy' Kearney — who wrote extensively about Read's conspiracy allegations — was critical of any member of the jury who did not believe the evidence required a "not guilty" finding and asked jurors to contact him.

Kearney separately Monday posted to social media a photograph of a deceased turtle he said was found hanging outside of his parents' Worcester home and said police are investigating.

A Worcester police spokesman confirmed in an email Tuesday morning that detectives are investigating an "incident of harassment/animal cruelty."

Kearney, who is facing felony witness intimidation charges in connection with outreach he made to witnesses in Read's case, is due for a pre-trial hearing on those charges July 11 in Norfolk Superior Court.