Jurors deliberating the decision within the trial of Karen Learn, the Massachusetts lady accused of hitting her boyfriend John O’Keefe with an SUV and leaving him to die in a snowstorm, have once more instructed the choose they’re at an deadlock and unable to succeed in a unanimous choice.For the second time in as many days of their deliberations, the jury of six ladies and 6 males despatched a observe to Decide Beverly Cannone indicating they have been deadlocked. On Friday, the choose requested the jury to proceed deliberating that afternoon earlier than breaking for the weekend. Simply after 10:30 a.m. Monday, the jury despatched the choose a query, saying they’re “deeply divided” and nonetheless deadlocked. Video: Decide provides remaining push for caught Karen Learn jury to succeed in verdict”Decide Cannone,” the choose learn from the observe. “Regardless of our dedication to the obligation entrusted to us, we discover ourselves deeply divided by basic variations in our opinions and way of thinking. The divergence in our views aren’t rooted within the lack of information or effort however deeply held convictions that every of us carry finally main to a degree the place consensus is unattainable. We acknowledge the burden of this admission and the implications it holds.”Prosecutor Adam Lally argued for deliberations to proceed. Protection lawyer David Yanetti pushed again, asking the choose to ship to the jury last-ditch-effort Tuey-Rodriguez deliberation directions. “I feel this has been a rare jury. I’ve by no means seen a observe like this, reporting to be at an deadlock. I do discover that they are now, with the extra time that they went out Friday saying that they have been deadlocked, is due and thorough deliberations, so I’ll give Tuey-Rodriguez,” Cannone stated. In delivering the Tuey-Rodriguez directions, Cannone instructed the jurors they’re the very best hope for reaching a verdict and inspired them to have a look at the arguments from the opposite aspect. If the jury returns once more to say they’re nonetheless deadlocked, the choose should declare a hung jury and dismiss them.”If they arrive again as soon as extra, indicating they’re deadlocked, she has to allow them to go,” former Massachusetts Lawyer Basic Martha Coakley stated. “In different phrases, declare a hung jury, as a result of we do desire a steadiness telling them they’ve a chance to do that if they will carefully, but in addition to not strain them an excessive amount of to succeed in a verdict.”Learn, 44, of Mansfield, is accused of hitting O’Keefe together with her black SUV exterior of a house at 34 Fairview Highway in Canton on Jan. 29, 2022, following an evening of consuming. Her protection contends O’Keefe was dragged exterior after he was overwhelmed up within the basement and bitten by a canine at Boston officer Brian Albert’s residence in Canton.Video: Karen Learn jury tells choose they’re deadlocked throughout 4th day of deliberationsRead, a former adjunct professor at Bentley College, pleaded not responsible to costs of second-degree homicide, which carries a most penalty of life in jail, together with manslaughter whereas working drunk and leaving a scene of non-public harm and demise. The manslaughter cost carries a penalty of 5 to twenty years in jail, and the opposite cost has a most penalty of 10 years.Her case has been surrounded by a media storm, underpinned by a mistrust of police and fanned by crime bloggers. Dwell updates:11:10 a.m.: The jurors file out. No smiles. One lady appears to be barely emotional. The foreman seemed solemn and has loosened his necktie since he arrived two hours in the past.11:03 a.m.: Reminder: After the choose reads the Tuey-Rodriguez instruction, if the jury comes again AGAIN and continues to be deadlocked, she should declare a hung jury and dismiss them.11:02 a.m.: The choose has returned to her chamber. The O’Keefe household arrives. Court docket officer requires the jury to be introduced in. She reads Tuey-Rodriguez instruction.10:51 a.m.: Decide says she’s going to give Tuey-Rodriguez instruction. The directions inform the jurors they’re the very best hope for reaching a verdict and encourage them to have a look at the arguments from the opposite aspect.10:50 a.m.: Decide asks Lally whether or not to argue whether or not he believes jury has carried out due and diligent deliberations. (Sounds as if the jury continues to be deadlocked.)10:42 a.m.: Court docket clerk says the jury has a query.9:07 a.m.: Reminder: The jury has no entry to transcripts of witnesses’ testimony. They have to depend on their reminiscences and private notes. If jurors disagree about what a witness stated, there is not any technique to verify. 9:05 a.m.: The courtroom officers wheel the proof packing containers and luggage by way of the corridor. We will not really see the deliberations room door. It is in part of the courthouse off limits to the general public.9:03 a.m.: For what it is value, a number of jurors appear to be wearing black, and for the primary time, the foreman was carrying a tie.9:01 a.m.: The choose asks her customary questions and sends the jury again into deliberations.8:59 a.m.: The jury enters. The choose is on the bench.8:57 a.m.: We have reassembled within the courtroom with the legal professionals and households. Ready on the jury and the choose. Comply with posts from reporter David BienickRelated hyperlinks:Recap of testimony, proof from every day of the case Proof slideshowWhat to know concerning the case:Karen Learn, 44, of Mansfield, is accused of second-degree homicide and different costs. The prosecution says she hit her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, together with her automobile exterior of a house in Canton throughout a snowstorm on Jan. 29, 2022, following an evening of consuming. She returned hours later to seek out him in a snowbank.Learn has pleaded not responsible.Learn and her protection crew declare she is the sufferer of a cover-up and plan to current a third-party offender protection. They declare O’Keefe was overwhelmed inside the house, bitten by a canine, after which left exterior.In pretrial motions, prosecutors revealed the existence of textual content messages they stated recommended a “romantic entanglement” with a buddy who was current at places Learn and O’Keefe visited on the evening of the incident. Different paperwork have additionally recommended hassle within the relationship between Learn and O’Keefe.Learn can be accused of getting frequent contact with a controversial blogger often known as “Turtleboy,” Aiden Kearney, who now faces costs in associated circumstances.Opening statements have been delivered on April 29 and shutting arguments have been delivered on June 25. The protection, which was allowed to current what is named third-party offender proof, argued that investigators targeted on Learn as a result of she was a “handy outsider” who saved them from having to contemplate different suspects. These they’ve implicated embody Albert, who owned the house in Canton the place O’Keefe died, and Brian Higgins, an ATF agent who was there that evening.Higgins testified a couple of “romantic” encounter and a collection of textual content messages he exchanged with Learn. In these flirty messages, Learn instructed him that O’Keefe had “connected” with one other lady throughout a trip.Trooper Michael Proctor, the lead investigator within the case, acknowledged throughout his testimony that he was buddies with a number of witnesses, together with the brother of the person who hosted the home social gathering the place O’Keefe’s physique was discovered exterior. The protection additionally criticized Proctor for sharing particulars of the investigation with family and friends on textual content exchanges and for texts wherein he appeared to single out Karen Learn as accountable for O’Keefe’s demise lower than 24 hours after his physique was discovered.Proctor acknowledged to the jury that he referred to as Learn a collection of names, together with “wack job” in texts to buddies, household and fellow troopers. Proctor additionally repeatedly apologized for language utilized in textual content exchanges, saying they have been “one thing I’m not happy with and I should not have wrote in non-public or any sort of setting.” However he insisted the feedback had no affect on the investigation. The protection is making an attempt to persuade the jury that O’Keefe was overwhelmed and recommended that Colin Albert had been in a struggle. Albert stated a hand harm got here when he fell in a driveway and that he by no means noticed O’Keefe in the course of the celebration of his cousin’s birthday on the evening in query.He additionally confirmed on cross-examination that he has recognized Proctor since he was a baby. A former Massachusetts police toxicologist, Nicholas Roberts, testified that Learn’s blood alcohol content material at 9 a.m. was between .078% and .083%, proper across the authorized restrict for intoxication in Massachusetts. Based mostly on a police report that recommended her final drink was at 12:45 a.m., her peak blood alcohol degree would have been between .135% and .292%, he stated.O’Keefe had been elevating his niece and nephew, they usually instructed jurors that they heard frequent arguments between him and Learn. Each of the youngsters described an incident wherein O’Keefe requested Learn to depart the home and he or she refused.The trial’s first few days detailed the futile efforts of first responders to avoid wasting O’Keefe. They discovered him face up after they arrived simply earlier than daybreak on Jan. 29. He was pronounced useless on the hospital, and an post-mortem later discovered he died of hypothermia and blunt power trauma. A number of of the primary responders stated they heard Learn make statements, together with, “I hit him,” after O’Keefe was discovered. Protection attorneys confronted a number of of these witnesses by asking why these alleged remarks weren’t included in official stories.Officers additionally testified about uncommon procedures used in the course of the investigation, together with the choice to gather bloody snow in crimson plastic cups and clearing snow from the crime scene.One of many remaining witnesses was a retired forensic pathologist who testified Monday that a few of O’Keefe’s accidents have been inconsistent with being struck by the Lexus SUV.Dr. Frank Sheridan, who labored beforehand as chief health worker for San Bernardino County in California, testified he would’ve anticipated extra bruising if O’Keefe had been hit by such a heavy automobile. He additionally recommended that scratch marks on his arm may’ve come from an animal, presumably a canine, and that different accidents have been per an altercation.Two witnesses from an unbiased consulting agency that conducts forensic engineering additionally recommended a few of the proof doesn’t line up with the prosecution model. “You may’t deny the science and the physics,” Andrew Rentschler from ARCCA, testified at one level. ARCCA was employed by the FBI as a part of a federal investigation into state regulation enforcement’s dealing with of the Learn case.When the closing arguments started, protection lawyer Alan Jackson instructed the jury, “You may have been lied to.” He argued that proof, together with an inverted video of Learn’s SUV within the Canton Police Division’s storage, was deliberately manipulated by an investigation that sought to guard different members of the regulation enforcement group.“Girls and gents, there was a cover-up on this case, plain and easy,” Jackson stated.Lally supplied jurors a timeline, paired with proof numbers, documenting their principle of the case. He additionally opened his presentation by quoting quite a few first responders who testified that they heard Learn say, “I hit him.”“These have been the phrases that got here from the defendant’s mouth,” Lally stated.He additionally pointed to a seething voicemail message Learn left for O’Keefe moments after information from her automotive reveals she reversed at roughly 24 mph after which drove away.“The defendant leaves that voicemail, seething in rage as she’s screaming, ‘John, I (expletive) hate you!’”The protection stated witnesses who claimed to have heard her say she hit O’Keefe had modified their story or could not have heard the feedback because of the chaotic scene. Jackson stated investigators targeted on Learn as a result of she was a “handy outsider” who saved them from having to contemplate different suspects, together with Albert and different regulation enforcement officers who have been on the social gathering. Particularly, they highlighted connections between Albert and the state trooper main the investigation.“Michael Proctor did not draw a skinny blue line; he erected a tall blue wall,” Jackson stated. “A wall you could’t scale, a wall that Karen Learn actually couldn’t recover from. A wall between us and them. A spot you folks aren’t invited. We shield our personal.”Though Learn has stated she was keen to testify, she by no means took the stand in her personal protection.The Related Press contributed to this report.
Jurors deliberating the decision within the trial of Karen Learn, the Massachusetts lady accused of hitting her boyfriend John O’Keefe with an SUV and leaving him to die in a snowstorm, have once more instructed the choose they’re at an deadlock and unable to succeed in a unanimous choice.
For the second time in as many days of their deliberations, the jury of six ladies and 6 males despatched a observe to Decide Beverly Cannone indicating they have been deadlocked. On Friday, the choose requested the jury to proceed deliberating that afternoon earlier than breaking for the weekend.
Simply after 10:30 a.m. Monday, the jury despatched the choose a query, saying they’re “deeply divided” and nonetheless deadlocked.
Video: Decide provides remaining push for caught Karen Learn jury to succeed in verdict
“Decide Cannone,” the choose learn from the observe. “Regardless of our dedication to the obligation entrusted to us, we discover ourselves deeply divided by basic variations in our opinions and way of thinking. The divergence in our views aren’t rooted within the lack of information or effort however deeply held convictions that every of us carry finally main to a degree the place consensus is unattainable. We acknowledge the burden of this admission and the implications it holds.”
Prosecutor Adam Lally argued for deliberations to proceed. Protection lawyer David Yanetti pushed again, asking the choose to ship to the jury last-ditch-effort Tuey-Rodriguez deliberation directions.
“I feel this has been a rare jury. I’ve by no means seen a observe like this, reporting to be at an deadlock. I do discover that they are now, with the extra time that they went out Friday saying that they have been deadlocked, is due and thorough deliberations, so I’ll give Tuey-Rodriguez,” Cannone stated.
In delivering the Tuey-Rodriguez directions, Cannone instructed the jurors they’re the very best hope for reaching a verdict and inspired them to have a look at the arguments from the opposite aspect. If the jury returns once more to say they’re nonetheless deadlocked, the choose should declare a hung jury and dismiss them.
“If they arrive again as soon as extra, indicating they’re deadlocked, she has to allow them to go,” former Massachusetts Lawyer Basic Martha Coakley stated. “In different phrases, declare a hung jury, as a result of we do desire a steadiness telling them they’ve a chance to do that if they will carefully, but in addition to not strain them an excessive amount of to succeed in a verdict.”
Learn, 44, of Mansfield, is accused of hitting O’Keefe together with her black SUV exterior of a house at 34 Fairview Highway in Canton on Jan. 29, 2022, following a night of drinking. Her protection contends O’Keefe was dragged exterior after he was overwhelmed up within the basement and bitten by a canine at Boston officer Brian Albert’s residence in Canton.
Video: Karen Learn jury tells choose they’re deadlocked throughout 4th day of deliberations
Learn, a former adjunct professor at Bentley College, pleaded not responsible to costs of second-degree homicide, which carries a most penalty of life in jail, together with manslaughter whereas working drunk and leaving a scene of non-public harm and demise. The manslaughter cost carries a penalty of 5 to twenty years in jail, and the opposite cost has a most penalty of 10 years.
Her case has been surrounded by a media storm, underpinned by a mistrust of police and fanned by crime bloggers.
Dwell updates:
Associated hyperlinks:
What to know concerning the case:
- Karen Learn, 44, of Mansfield, is accused of second-degree homicide and different costs. The prosecution says she hit her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, together with her automobile exterior of a house in Canton throughout a snowstorm on Jan. 29, 2022, following a night of drinking. She returned hours later to seek out him in a snowbank.
- Learn has pleaded not responsible.
- Learn and her protection crew declare she is the sufferer of a cover-up and plan to current a third-party offender protection. They declare O’Keefe was overwhelmed inside the house, bitten by a canine, after which left exterior.
- In pretrial motions, prosecutors revealed the existence of textual content messages they stated recommended a “romantic entanglement” with a buddy who was current at places Learn and O’Keefe visited on the evening of the incident. Different paperwork have additionally recommended hassle within the relationship between Learn and O’Keefe.
- Learn can be accused of getting frequent contact with a controversial blogger often known as “Turtleboy,” Aiden Kearney, who now faces charges in associated circumstances.
- Opening statements have been delivered on April 29 and shutting arguments have been delivered on June 25.
The protection, which was allowed to current what is named third-party offender proof, argued that investigators targeted on Learn as a result of she was a “handy outsider” who saved them from having to contemplate different suspects. These they’ve implicated embody Albert, who owned the house in Canton the place O’Keefe died, and Brian Higgins, an ATF agent who was there that evening.
Higgins testified a couple of “romantic” encounter and a collection of textual content messages he exchanged with Learn. In these flirty messages, Learn instructed him that O’Keefe had “connected” with one other lady throughout a trip.
Trooper Michael Proctor, the lead investigator within the case, acknowledged throughout his testimony that he was buddies with a number of witnesses, together with the brother of the person who hosted the home social gathering the place O’Keefe’s physique was discovered exterior. The protection additionally criticized Proctor for sharing particulars of the investigation with family and friends on textual content exchanges and for texts wherein he appeared to single out Karen Learn as accountable for O’Keefe’s demise lower than 24 hours after his physique was discovered.
Proctor acknowledged to the jury that he referred to as Learn a collection of names, together with “wack job” in texts to buddies, household and fellow troopers. Proctor additionally repeatedly apologized for language utilized in textual content exchanges, saying they have been “one thing I’m not happy with and I should not have wrote in non-public or any sort of setting.” However he insisted the feedback had no affect on the investigation.
The protection is making an attempt to persuade the jury that O’Keefe was overwhelmed and recommended that Colin Albert had been in a struggle. Albert stated a hand harm got here when he fell in a driveway and that he by no means noticed O’Keefe in the course of the celebration of his cousin’s birthday on the evening in query.
He additionally confirmed on cross-examination that he has recognized Proctor since he was a baby.
A former Massachusetts police toxicologist, Nicholas Roberts, testified that Learn’s blood alcohol content material at 9 a.m. was between .078% and .083%, proper across the authorized restrict for intoxication in Massachusetts. Based mostly on a police report that recommended her final drink was at 12:45 a.m., her peak blood alcohol degree would have been between .135% and .292%, he stated.
O’Keefe had been elevating his niece and nephew, they usually instructed jurors that they heard frequent arguments between him and Learn. Each of the youngsters described an incident wherein O’Keefe requested Learn to depart the home and he or she refused.
The trial’s first few days detailed the futile efforts of first responders to avoid wasting O’Keefe. They discovered him face up after they arrived simply earlier than daybreak on Jan. 29. He was pronounced useless on the hospital, and an post-mortem later discovered he died of hypothermia and blunt power trauma.
A number of of the primary responders stated they heard Learn make statements, together with, “I hit him,” after O’Keefe was discovered. Protection attorneys confronted a number of of these witnesses by asking why these alleged remarks weren’t included in official stories.
Officers additionally testified about uncommon procedures used in the course of the investigation, together with the choice to gather bloody snow in crimson plastic cups and clearing snow from the crime scene.
One of many remaining witnesses was a retired forensic pathologist who testified Monday that a few of O’Keefe’s accidents have been inconsistent with being struck by the Lexus SUV.
Dr. Frank Sheridan, who labored beforehand as chief health worker for San Bernardino County in California, testified he would’ve anticipated extra bruising if O’Keefe had been hit by such a heavy automobile. He additionally recommended that scratch marks on his arm may’ve come from an animal, presumably a canine, and that different accidents have been per an altercation.
Two witnesses from an unbiased consulting agency that conducts forensic engineering additionally recommended a few of the proof doesn’t line up with the prosecution model. “You may’t deny the science and the physics,” Andrew Rentschler from ARCCA, testified at one level. ARCCA was employed by the FBI as a part of a federal investigation into state regulation enforcement’s dealing with of the Learn case.
When the closing arguments started, protection lawyer Alan Jackson instructed the jury, “You may have been lied to.” He argued that proof, together with an inverted video of Learn’s SUV within the Canton Police Division’s storage, was deliberately manipulated by an investigation that sought to guard different members of the regulation enforcement group.
“Girls and gents, there was a cover-up on this case, plain and easy,” Jackson stated.
Lally offered jurors a timeline, paired with proof numbers, documenting their principle of the case. He additionally opened his presentation by quoting quite a few first responders who testified that they heard Learn say, “I hit him.”
“These have been the phrases that got here from the defendant’s mouth,” Lally stated.
He additionally pointed to a seething voicemail message Learn left for O’Keefe moments after information from her automotive reveals she reversed at roughly 24 mph after which drove away.
“The defendant leaves that voicemail, seething in rage as she’s screaming, ‘John, I (expletive) hate you!’”
The protection stated witnesses who claimed to have heard her say she hit O’Keefe had modified their story or could not have heard the feedback because of the chaotic scene. Jackson stated investigators targeted on Learn as a result of she was a “handy outsider” who saved them from having to contemplate different suspects, together with Albert and different regulation enforcement officers who have been on the social gathering. Particularly, they highlighted connections between Albert and the state trooper main the investigation.
“Michael Proctor did not draw a skinny blue line; he erected a tall blue wall,” Jackson stated. “A wall you could’t scale, a wall that Karen Learn actually couldn’t recover from. A wall between us and them. A spot you folks aren’t invited. We shield our personal.”
Though Learn has said she was willing to testify, she by no means took the stand in her personal protection.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
