Emotional Karen Read Hugs Her Parents as Judge Declares Mistrial in Murder Case Due to Hung Jury

A Massachusetts judge declared a mistrial in the Karen Read case on Monday.

Jurors in the case said they were at an impasse for the first time on Friday and then twice on Monday.

In their second note on Monday, the jury foreman wrote: "The deep division is not due to a lack of effort or diligence, but rather a sincere adherence to our individual principles and moral convictions, to continue to deliberate will be futile and only serve to force us to compromise these deeply held beliefs."

Judge Beverly Cannone then told the six men and six women:"I'm not going to do that to you folks, I'm going to declare this a mistrial."

An emotional Read listened as the judge spoke and then as soon as Cannone left the room made her way over to her parents for a hug.

Read had been facing charges ofsecond-degree murder, vehicular manslaughter while driving under the influence, and leaving the scene of a collision causing injury or death. Read has entered a plea of not guilty to all three counts.

Prosecutors allege that Read, 44, drunkenly backed into her boyfriend, John O’Keefe, 46, with her car outside the home of Brian Albert and then fled the scene, leaving him for dead.

The defense attorneys representing Read claim that O'Keefe, a Boston cop, was actually killed in a fight inside Albert's home and his body was then planted outside to frame Read in a cover-up involving Albert, local police and multiple members of law enforcement.

Albert has not been charged with any crime and testified that O'Keefe never entered his Canton home on the night in question.

O'Keefe's mother was also in court on Monday and burst into tears upon hearing the verdict.

The jury heard from 74 witnesses over the past two months and had been deliberating since Tuesday afternoon.

O'Keefehad been raising his niece and nephew for eight years at the time of his death, gaining custody of the two in 2014 after they lost their mother, O'Keefe's sister, to a brain tumor, and their father to a heart attack over the span of just a few months.

Both testified at the trial, including O'Keefe's niece who told the court that Read said to her on the night of O’Keefe’s death, “What if I hit him?” That comes after multiple witnesses at the scene of O'Keefe's death testified that Read admitted to hitting O'Keefe with her car.

“She was just pacing down the hallway, asking what could’ve happened,” the niece testified. “She said, ‘Maybe I did something.’ Later, she said, ‘Maybe a snowplow hit him.’”

The niece also said on the stand that she saw Read when she came to pick up some things after O’Keefe’s body had been discovered. The niece testified that Read said "she was living a nightmare." Read then left the home and has not contacted the nephew or niece again, both testified on Tuesday.

A spokesperson for the Norfolk County District Attorney's Office told Inside Edition Digital that they plan to retry the case, and a status hearing is already set for late July.

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