BOSTON (WWLP) – The Karen Read trial became one of Massachusett’s most closely watched legal sagas in years and Monday’s mistrial means this isn’t over yet.
Karen Read’s deadlocked jury leads to mistrial in Boston police officer boyfriend’s death The judge said she had never seen a note like the one she received on Monday, and it prompted her to read a set of instructions to the jurors known as the Tuey-Rodriguez charge.
“These instructions are sort of last-ditch effort by the judge to encourage the jury to reach a unanimous verdict. Beyond that, you know, those those instructions contain stern reminders,” said Springfield Defense Attorney Jared Olanoff.
The Tuey-Rodriguez text read by the judge sent jurors back to deliberation with a series of reminders, saying that they must decide this case and that there is no reason to believe another set of jurors would be more competent to decide Read’s fate. Despite these reminders, the jury was unable to reach a unanimous decision.
“So when there is a hung jury or a mistrial, the judge will declare that and then it is if the case was, you know, where it was before the trial started and the Commonwealth can elect to retry the defendant, Miss Read if they want to, they don’t have to,” said Olanoff.
Read was charged with second-degree murder, and motor vehicle manslaughter while driving under the influence and leaving the scene of a collision causing death.
This jury heard from 74 witnesses and witnessed 657 exhibits, however, they only deliberated for five days, despite not having any time constraints to come to a decision.
Springfield Defense Attorney Jared Olanoff believes that these complex issues made it difficult for jurors to ultimately decide, “There were so many exhibits, so many witnesses, but you know one thing you know in a case like this, even though there were so much so many witnesses and exhibits, you don’t get a transcript of the witnesses testimony so you can only remember so much when you’re in the deliberation room.”
As for what happens next, the judge set a status hearing for the case later this month. The fate of this case rests in the prosecutor’s hands. It could take several months or even a year to bring this case in front of a jury again.
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