New trial date set for Karen Read weeks after jury couldn't reach verdict in murder case

A new trial date has been set for Karen Read weeks after a judge declared a mistrial in the murder case because the jury insisted they couldn't reach a unanimous verdict.

Read is accused of drunkenly running over her Boston police officer boyfriend, John O'Keefe, with her SUV and leaving him for dead in a January 2022 snowstorm. After a two-month trial and five days of jury deliberations, a judge declared a mistrial on July 1.

For the first time since the mistrial was declared, Read appeared in court briefly on Monday, when the judge set a new trial date for Jan. 27, 2025.

The judge also set a hearing date for Aug. 9 regarding the defense's motion to drop two of three charges against Read: second-degree murder and leaving the scene of a deadly accident. She also faces a charge of motor vehicle manslaughter while driving under the influence.

In a filing two weeks ago, the defense argued that the jury had unanimously voted to acquit Read of the two most serious charges she faced before telling the judge they were deadlocked. They claim that since the judge failed to ask the jury on which charges it was deadlocked, Read cannot face retrial for the two charges because she's protected by the double jeopardy clause in the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits anyone from being prosecuted twice for the same crime after a verdict is reached.

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Prosecutors on Friday then filed a motion arguing the defense's request to drop the charges was "an unsubstantiated but sensational post-trial claim" based on hearsay and conjecture. They also claimed in the motion that the jury did not "reach any verdicts partial or otherwise."

The day prior, the judge extended an order sealing jurors' names after one filed a motion saying they "fear of my personal safety and the personal safety of my family."

O'Keefe was found dead outside of a fellow Boston police officer's home in Canton, Massachusetts, on Jan. 29, 2022, and an autopsy later confirmed he died of blunt force trauma and hypothermia.

Read claims she and O'Keefe had been out on the night of Jan. 28, 2022, before the owner of the Canton home invited them back to his home. She said she dropped O'Keefe off there and left because she wasn't feeling well, and after she hadn't heard from him the next morning, she and two other women returned to the home, where they found O'Keefe lying unresponsive in the snowy yard.

Read and her defense allege O'Keefe was beaten inside the home and that officers framed her as a "convenient outsider." They also argue the lead investigator in the case, Trooper Michael Proctor, ran a biased investigation. Massachusetts State Police said earlier this month that Proctor has been relieved of duty.