A judge declared a mistrial Monday after jurors said they were at an impasse in the murder trial of Karen Read, the Massachusetts woman accused of killing her police officer boyfriend in 2022.
The decision came on the fifth day of deliberations and after a nine-week trial in a courthouse outside Boston where Read’s lawyers described the killing of John O’Keefe, 46, as a cover-up carried out by law enforcement officers.
Prosecutors had argued that Read, 44, and O’Keefe had a tumultuous relationship that culminated with the financial analyst backing her Lexus SUV into her boyfriend and leaving him for dead Jan. 29, 2022.
Read was charged with second-degree murder, motor vehicle manslaughter while driving under the influence and leaving the scene of a collision causing death.
In a note sent Monday afternoon to Norfolk County Superior Court Judge Beverly Cannone, the jury foreman said that despite rigorous efforts, the panel of six men and six women remained deadlocked. Some believed the evidence surpassed the standard of proof needed to convict Read, the note said, while others found that prosecutors had not established their case.
In an earlier note, the jurors told the judge, “Despite our commitment to the duty entrusted in us, we find ourselves deeply divided by fundamental differences in our opinions and state of mind.”
