judge rules case invalid due to deadlock in jury

He continued in a note to Cannone: “The deep division is not due to lack of effort or diligence, but rather to a sincere attachment to our individual moral principles and beliefs. Further deliberation would be futile and would only serve to force us to compromise on these deeply held beliefs.”

The jury first reported it was deadlocked Friday, then again Monday morning, after more than 20 hours of deliberations. Cannone initially instructed jurors to keep trying, telling them, “You should consider it desirable that this matter be decided.” But after they reported they were still deadlocked Monday afternoon, she declared a mistrial.

The decision effectively puts the case on hold, forcing defense attorneys and prosecutors to reconsider the course of the two-month trial and the weight of their own evidence as they decide how to proceed. Last year, Cannone similarly declared a mistrial after a jury failed to reach a verdict in the high-profile murder trial of Weymouth police Sergeant Michael Chesna and 77-year-old Vera Adams. The man charged with the killings, Emanuel Lopes, was ultimately convicted in a second trial after Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey’s office retried the case.

After Cannone’s decision Monday, Morrissey immediately promised a retrial for Read. A hearing was scheduled for July 22.

Morrissey’s office in a statement thanked O’Keefe’s family “for their commitment and dedication throughout this long process.”

“They have remained focused on the real heart of this case — bringing justice to John O’Keefe,” Morrissey’s office said in a statement.

At a news conference outside the courthouse after Cannone dismissed the jury, Read’s team struck a victorious tone.

“This is what happens when you make false accusations against an innocent person,” defense attorney Alan Jackson said, as Read stood quietly beside him, smiling. “They failed — they failed miserably, and they will continue to fail.”

Read, a 44-year-old financial analyst and associate professor from Mansfield, faces charges including murder and manslaughter for allegedly hitting her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, with a car after a night of heavy drinking and then leaving him in the cold to die. She maintains her innocence and has suggested that O’Keefe was beaten and left for dead by people who attended a house party in Canton where she dropped him off.

The house belonged to another Boston police officer, Brian Albert. Albert has since retired. Her lawyers argued that she was a scapegoat in a police cover-up. They also sought to show that O’Keefe may have been attacked by the Albert family dog, Chloe.

Read’s trial, which featured conflicting narratives about the officer’s death caused by his drunken girlfriend and accusations of a police cover-up, captured the attention of the Boston area, prompting investigations into some of the officers involved and seemingly endless speculation about what happened.

True-crime bloggers and throngs of supporters, many dressed in pink, gathered at the courthouse each day to proclaim Read’s innocence. After Cannone announced a mistrial, they also declared victory and urged prosecutors not to retry the case.

“The evidence shows there were problems,” said one supporter, who did not want to be identified, citing fears of retaliation in a case she said involves police corruption.

During the trial, the jury heard lengthy and tortuous testimony detailing the events before, during and after O’Keefe’s body was found in the early morning hours of January 29, 2022.

Read and O’Keefe’s relationship was on the brink of collapse, according to testimony. Texts and voicemails presented to the jury showed Read angrily accusing him of infidelity, and she began a flirtatious text relationship with Brian Higgins, an agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

But on Jan. 28, Read and O’Keefe seemed happy, as they both drank heavily, according to testimony. They ended up at a bar — the Waterfall — with a group that included Higgins and his close friend Albert, as well as Albert’s extended family, according to testimony. As midnight approached, the group decided to return to Albert’s house for a nightcap.

According to testimony, they invited Read and O’Keefe to join them, and the pair accepted.

It was there, at 34 Fairview Road, that the prosecution and defense narratives split.

The prosecution’s case was presented this way: Read, in a drunken rage when O’Keefe tried to leave her at a party, drove her Lexus SUV into O’Keefe after dropping him off. State police car-crash reconstruction experts called by prosecutors said the car hit O’Keefe and threw him to the ground, shattering Read’s taillight. She then drove away, Assistant District Attorney Adam Lally told jurors, leaving O’Keefe to die in the falling snow. Read found his body outside her home the next morning after she went looking for him.

O’Keefe was pronounced dead at the hospital that same day from blunt force trauma and hypothermia, medical records show.

Several first responders testified that after Read found the body, she said out loud that she had hit O’Keefe. Lally began his closing argument with that allegation, which the prosecution called one of its most important pieces of evidence.

“I hit him, I hit him, I hit him, I hit him,” Lally said, quoting several paramedics.

Read’s attorneys, including Jackson, a prominent Los Angeles attorney, argued she was the victim of a massive cover-up that involved multiple law enforcement agencies.

Jackson, along with defense attorneys David Yannetti and Elizabeth Little, aggressively questioned nearly every government witness, trying to sow doubt in the jury’s mind. They focused on what they said was a sloppy initial investigation by Canton police, including the officers’ use of red Solo cups given to them by a neighbor to collect O’Keefe’s dried blood for evidence.

The defense also focused on the connections between witnesses and case investigators.

They attacked the state police’s lead investigator for crude text messages he sent about Read, suggesting he didn’t conduct a fair investigation. They also focused on records that showed Albert’s sister-in-law, Jennifer McCabe, had searched Google for “hos (sic) long to die in cold” hours before O’Keefe’s body was found. (The prosecution argued that the time stamp was wrong and the search occurred later.)

“Ladies and gentlemen, you have been lied to — there is no other way to say it,” Jackson told jurors in his closing argument. “Never look away.”

The defense’s narrative in the case has drawn widespread attention and support, helping to fuel speculation, largely because of reports from news blogger Aidan Kearney, who blogs under the pseudonym Turtleboy. He was charged last year with multiple counts of witness intimidation. Prosecutors said he harassed people who were at 34 Fairview, including Albert and McCabe. Kearney argues he questioned them under First Amendment protections. His case is ongoing.

O’Keefe’s family members also regularly attended the trial. O’Keefe, who was 46 when he died, was considered by many to be a good man. The Braintree man took in his young niece and nephew a decade ago after his sister and her husband died unexpectedly of health problems. His family would not comment on the case Monday.

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Sean Cotter can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @cotterreporter. John R. Ellement can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @JREbosglobe.