Karen Read asks Supreme Court justice for emergency stay of trial
Lawyers representing Karen Read, a murder suspect from Massachusetts, have requested Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to halt her trial until after the Supreme Court reviews her petition to dismiss two of the three charges she is facing. Read recently filed a writ of certiorari after an appellate court denied her request to drop charges of murder and fleeing the scene from her retrial, following a hung jury in her first trial last year.
As of the end of Tuesday, a court spokesperson confirmed that 12 jurors have been selected for the retrial, with four more needed as alternates before opening statements can be made. The decision to petition Justice Jackson was made as she oversees the U.S. District of Massachusetts and has the authority to handle the matter herself or refer it to the entire Supreme Court.
The charges against Read stem from an incident where she allegedly backed her Lexus SUV into her boyfriend, John O’Keefe, a Boston police officer, causing a fatal head injury and leaving him to die in the snow during a blizzard on January 29, 2022. Despite the accusations, Read maintains her innocence and claims that someone else was responsible for O’Keefe’s death.
Read’s legal team contends that during the first trial, multiple jurors privately informed them that they had unanimously found her not guilty of murder and fleeing the scene, although this decision was never announced in court. They argue that failing to disclose this information violates Read’s Fifth Amendment rights and are seeking a post-trial hearing to address the issue.
The defense attorneys are pushing for the Supreme Court to determine whether a unanimous but unannounced decision by the jury triggers double jeopardy protections and if Read should be granted a hearing on the matter. They argue that retrying her on charges that the jury had agreed she was not guilty of would violate her constitutional rights against double jeopardy.
Following the mistrial in the first trial, the retrial began last week, where Read faces the possibility of life in prison if convicted of second-degree murder. Legal experts have expressed surprise at the prosecution’s decision to continue pursuing the murder charge, with some speculating that it may be a tactic to pressure Read into accepting a plea deal.
Despite the challenges ahead, Read remains steadfast in her claim of innocence and is prepared to fight the charges in court. The outcome of her petition to the Supreme Court could have far-reaching implications for her case, as well as the broader legal precedent surrounding double jeopardy protections.
