After no new jurors were added today, Karen Read and her defense team filed an emergency petition with the Supreme Court. In said petition, she asks that her retrial be delayed, so they can review the charges against her. They claim two charges risk double jeopardy, violating her constitutional rights. They have tried numerous times to have the two dismissed, but all attempts have failed.
Emergency Petition
ABC News reported, “Read’s Petition contends that her scheduled retrial on two of the three counts pending against her, including a charge of second-degree murder, will violate the Double Jeopardy Clause because the jury in her first trial reached a final and unanimous, but unannounced, decision that she is not guilty of those charges.”
In the filing, Karen Read’s defense attorneys wrote, “Petitioner respectfully urges the Court to stay jury selection or, alternatively, the swearing of the jury in this matter until this Court has ruled on Read’s Petition.” There is no deadline for the Supreme Court to decide, and the retrial will continue whether they do or not.
The First Trial
Karen Read is accused of murdering her boyfriend, John O’Keefe, after a night of drinking. It is alleged she hit him with her SUV and left him to die in the middle of a blizzard. A medical examiner determined the cause of death to be blunt force trauma and hypothermia. Although she is facing a second-degree murder charge, manslaughter while operating a motor vehicle under the influence, and leaving the scene of a fatal accident, she maintains her innocence.
Her first trial ended in a mistrial after the jury failed to reach a unanimous decision. Jurors came forward after the trial ended and admitted they deemed Karen Read not guilty of second-degree murder and leaving the scene, but could not agree on the manslaughter charge. Judge Beverly Cannone declared a mistrial was appropriate since the jurors did not communicate their decisions.
Jury Selection
Now the second trial has started, but it is off to a rocky start. It is the beginning of week two of jury selection, and there are only 10 jurors seated. 45 potential jurors were called to court, and all but four of them claimed to have heard of the case. The prosecution and defense are looking for six more jurors, but their efforts are becoming exhausted. Considering the pace jury selection process is moving, it is expected to take weeks.
However, Karen Read views it differently. Due to the gag order placed on the defense, only Read can speak to the press. She told Boston 25 Investigative Reporter Ted Daniel, “It’s going at the same pace as last year despite more publicity, so I’m not disappointed.” Between the publicity surrounding her retrial and the new Netflix documentary that has aired, she seems to be loving the attention.
