DEDHAM, Mass. (Court TV) — Attorneys representing Karen Read pointed to Alex Murdaugh’s murder appeal as part of their arguments as they urged a judge to dismiss murder charges against the controversial defendant.
Karen Read appeared in court on Aug. 9, 2024, as her attorneys argued for charges against her to be dismissed. (Court TV)
Read stood trial on charges of second-degree murder in the death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, who was found dead in the snow outside of a friend’s house in 2022. Judge Beverly Cannone declared a mistrial in the case when the jury sent a note saying they were at an impasse and could not agree on a verdict.
In the weeks since the July 1 mistrial, Read’s defense has said that it has heard from four jurors who served on the panel who said that they had unanimously decided to acquit the defendant of the most serious charges. Even the prosecution filed a notice with the court saying that people presenting themselves as jurors had told them the same thing.
Martin Weinberg, Read’s newest attorney, argued for those charges to be dismissed against his client on Friday, saying that retrying the case after learning that the jury was ready to acquit would constitute double jeopardy.
“There is strong and uncontradicted evidence that the jury reached a unanimous decision, even if it wasn’t formalized,” Weinberg told the judge.
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To remedy the issue, Weinberg asked Cannone to conduct an inquiry and cited the Alex Murdaugh case in North Carolina as an example of how the situation should be approached. Murdaugh, an attorney from a prominent family in the Low Country, was convicted of murdering his wife and son . After the verdict, his attorneys raised questions about whether the clerk of court, Becky Hill , had made comments to the jury before their deliberations to influence their verdict. A special hearing was held, where jurors were questioned about their interactions with Hill before Justice Jean Toal denied Murdaugh’s motion for a new trial.
Prosecutor Adam Lally argued against holding a hearing, saying the proposal simply isn’t legal.
“What counsel is proposing as far as what the court should do is prohibited by the rules, it’s prohibited by the law,” Lally said. “There was no verdict returned by this jury.”
Weinsberg argued a verdict was returned, albeit not formally. “We’re asking the court not to close the door to this new evidence and really adopt the fiction that the impasse was on all three counts when we now know with strong, corroborated, trustworthy evidence it was not,” he told the judge.
Judge Beverly Cannone said she would take the matter under advisement, but did not offer any guidance as to when she might issue a ruling.
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