Judge schedules second Karen Read trial for January. Is ruling on dismissal due soon?

DEDHAM − The second trial of Karen Read, a Mansfield woman accused of killing her Boston police officer boyfriend, Braintree native John O'Keefe, has been scheduled for Jan. 27.

Judge Beverly Cannone declared a mistrial in the case earlier this month. She scheduled the second trial during a status hearing on the case Monday in Norfolk County Superior Court.

Following the mistrial, Read's defense attorneys filed motions seeking to dismiss two charges in the case and said the jury had agreed unanimously that Read was not guilty of second-degree murder and leaving the scene of an accident with injury or death.

Attorney Alan Jackson said the defense was denied the chance to request that the court inquire about which counts the jury had deadlocked on after the jurors returned saying they were at an impasse.

In a response filed days later , Norfolk County Assistant District Attorneys Adam Lally and Laura McLaughlin opposed the motion and said it's "premised upon hearsay, conjecture and legally inappropriate reliance as to the substance of jury deliberations."

Lally and McLaughlin said there was no verdict acquitting Read and there are no grounds to "inquire into the deliberative process of a discharged jury."

The defense and the prosecution are scheduled to make oral arguments on the motions in a hearing at 2 p.m. Aug. 9.

Cannone scheduled the second trial for January "in an effort to make sure we have plenty of time." She said she expects her decision on the motions to be appealed.

Read charged with second-degree murder

The defense and the prosecution made their closing arguments 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. Prosecutors say Read was drunk and angry when she purposely hit him.

But defense attorneys for Read say she was framed for O'Keefe's death.

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.

Fallout following the mistrial

The state police, who drew much public criticism throughout the trial, issued a statement after the mistrial was declared stating that Michael Proctor, the lead investigator on the case, was being transferred out of the detective unit of the Norfolk County district attorney's office.

The following week, Interim State Police Superintendent Col. John Mawn accepted the recommendation made by a hearing board to place Proctor, of Canton, on unpaid leave.

During the trial, Proctor was questioned about inappropriate texts he had sent regarding Read during the investigation. He apologized to the jury for his "unprofessional" comments.

Canton police officer Kevin Albert was placed on paid leave in June pending an investigation related to testimony given during the trial.

Kevin Albert is a brother of Canton Select Board member Chris Albert and retired Boston police officer Brian Albert, who owned the house where O'Keefe was found dead outside in January 2022.

While testifying in the case, Proctor acknowledged that he and Kevin Albert texted about coordinating part of the O’Keefe investigation even though the Canton Police Department recused itself.

The texts also revealed that Proctor and Kevin Albert worked on a cold case together and went out drinking together after. Albert later sent Proctor a text asking if he (Albert) had left his badge and gun in Proctor's police cruiser.

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Judge schedules second Karen Read trial for January. Is ruling on dismissal due soon?