DEDHAM, Mass. (AP) — A choose declared a mistrial Monday after jurors deadlocked within the polarizing and much-watched case of Karen Read, a girl accused of placing her Boston police officer boyfriend along with her SUV and leaving him to die in a snowstorm.
Prosecutors say they intend to retry the case through which the protection asserted that Learn had been framed by police.
On the fifth day of deliberation, jurors despatched Choose Beverly Cannone a word saying they remained at an deadlock within the case involving the January 2022 loss of life of John O’Keefe. Inside moments, a trial that had lasted two months and featured over 600 items of proof and greater than 70 witnesses was over.
“Of us, that is what it seems like whenever you deliver false prices in opposition to an harmless particular person,” protection legal professional Alan Jackson instructed reporters on the steps of the courthouse. “The commonwealth did their worst. They introduced the load of the state primarily based on spurious prices, primarily based on compromised investigation and investigators and compromised witnesses. Guess what, they failed.”
Norfolk District Lawyer Michael Morrisey thanked the O’Keefe household in an announcement “for his or her dedication and dedication to his lengthy course of.”
“They maintained sight of the true core of this case — to seek out justice for John O’Keefe,” Morrisey mentioned.
Learn, a former adjunct professor at Bentley Faculty, confronted second-degree murder and other charges within the loss of life of O’Keefe, a 16-year member of the Boston police who was discovered exterior a Canton dwelling of one other Boston police officer. An post-mortem discovered O’Keefe died of hypothermia and blunt power trauma.
Prosecutors mentioned Learn and O’Keefe had been consuming closely earlier than she dropped him off at a celebration on the dwelling of Brian Albert, a fellow officer. They mentioned she hit him along with her SUV earlier than driving away.
The protection sought to painting Learn because the sufferer, saying O’Keefe was truly killed inside Albert’s dwelling after which dragged exterior. They argued that 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 on the occasion.
On Friday, a jury foreperson instructed the choose that they hadn’t reached a unanimous verdict regardless of an “exhaustive evaluation of the proof.” The choose instructed jurors to maintain making an attempt. On Monday morning, jurors mentioned they have been at an deadlock, however the choose requested them to proceed deliberating. Within the afternoon, they mentioned it might be futile to proceed.
“The deep division shouldn’t be as a result of an absence of effort or diligence however relatively a honest adherence to our particular person rules or ethical convictions,” the jury mentioned in a word learn by the choose in court docket.
O’Keefe’s mom cried after the mistrial was declared, whereas Learn hugged her father and different family.
The decision is a win for the protection, which hammered prosecution witnesses over shoddy police work and conflicts of curiosity involving investigators and witnesses. Police acknowledged utilizing pink plastic cups to gather blood proof and a leaf blower to attempt to clear away snow to disclose proof. The lead investigator acknowledged making crude statements about Learn in texts from his private cellphone.
A turning level within the case got here when State Trooper Michael Proctor, the lead investigator on the case, took the stand. He acknowledged sending offensive texts about Learn to buddies, household and fellow troopers throughout the investigation. He apologized for the language he used however insisted that they had no affect on the investigation.
In his texts, he referred to as Learn a number of names, together with “whack job.” At one level, he texted his sister that he wished Learn would “kill herself,” which he instructed jurors was a determine of speech. And regardless of having relationships with a number of witnesses, he remained on the case.
AP correspondent Jackie Quinn stories a mistrial is said within the homicide case in opposition to a Boston police officer’s girlfriend.
On Monday, Massachusetts State Police relieved Proctor of responsibility and transferred him, saying the transfer adopted the company’s earlier resolution to open an inner affairs investigation after getting details about potential critical misconduct.
Two knowledgeable witnesses employed by the U.S. Division of Justice throughout an investigation of police dealing with of the case testified for the protection, offering a scientific evaluation for his or her conclusion that O’Keefe’s accidents and the bodily proof didn’t sync with the prosecution principle that he was struck and injured by Learn’s 7,000-pound (3,175-kilogram) automobile.
O’Keefe had a big head harm and different accidents however lacked important bruising or damaged bones usually related to being hit by a automobile on the pace indicated by GPS and the SUV’s onboard pc.
Whereas the drama performed out in a courtroom, dozens of Learn’s supporters wearing pink gathered every day exterior, carrying “Free Karen Learn” indicators and mobbing her when she arrived every day. A smaller group of people that wished Learn convicted additionally turned up.
Learn supporters cheered after phrase received out of the mistrial, however they acknowledged that the end result wasn’t all they hoped for — and that she may very well be again in court docket once more.
“It’s not the decision we have been hoping for, we have been hoping for a not responsible verdict. That’s what this jury ought to have returned with the proof that was offered,” Rita Lombardi, a Canton resident who has described herself as being a part of the “sidewalk jury.” “However we settle for the hung jury, we settle for the mistrial.”
Aidan Timothy Kearney, identified on-line as Turtleboy and whose web site and social media posts have attacked the prosecution’s case for months, referred to as the ruling “bittersweet.”
“It’s not the end result that we wished. I wished full vindication,” he mentioned. “However in my thoughts, the truth that so many individuals in that jury clearly are conscious, the bulk clearly is with Karen Learn. It’s a small minority that’s simply cussed and gained’t take a look at the details and gained’t be neutral and it’s simply judging her primarily based on not liking her.”
Prosecutors relied on several first responders who testified that Learn admitted that she hit O’Keefe — saying “I hit him” — in addition to proof that Learn was legally intoxicated or near it eight hours later, after she returned to the home with buddies and so they discovered the physique.
A number of witnesses testified the couple had a stormy relationship that had begun to bitter. Prosecutors offered indignant texts between the couple hours earlier than O’Keefe died. Additionally they performed voice messages from Learn to O’Keefe that have been left after she allegedly struck him, together with one left minutes afterward saying, “John I (expletive) hate you.”
