Judge throws out Karen Read murder trial after jury says case still unsolved

The judge presiding over Karen Read’s murder trial has declared a mistrial after the jury said it failed to reach a unanimous verdict on a fifth day of deliberations on Monday.

Read was charged with the murder of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, in January 2022.

Prosecutors say she hit O’Keefe with her car and left him for dead in a snowstorm after they argued earlier that day. Read has vehemently denied the allegations, and her lawyers have argued that a fellow officer was involved in O’Keefe’s death and conspired with others to cover it up.

She has pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder, causing death while operating a motor vehicle under the influence and leaving the scene of a fatal accident.

After jurors told the court earlier Monday that they had failed to reach a consensus, Judge Beverly Cannone read them Tuey-Rodriguez’s instructions and ordered them to return to deliberations. Tuey-Rodriguez said the judge would be forced to declare a mistrial if the jury returned undecided.

In a memo sent to the court Monday afternoon, the jury said it failed to reach a unanimous consensus despite an exhaustive deliberation process.

“Despite our rigorous efforts, we are at an impasse,” the note, read aloud by Cannone, said. “The deep division is not due to lack of prudence, but to rigid adherence to our personal convictions and moral compasses. Further deliberation would be futile.”

In response, Cannone stated, “Your tour of duty is terminated. I am declaring a mistrial.”

A status conference is scheduled for July 22.

The Norfolk District Attorney’s Office said it plans to retry the case.

“First, we thank the O’Keefe family for their commitment and dedication throughout this long process,” the district attorney’s office said in a statement. “They kept the true heart of this case in sight — finding justice for John O’Keefe.”

Outside the courthouse in Dedham, Massachusetts, Read’s lawyers said they would not give up the fight.

“People, this is what happens when you make false accusations against an innocent person,” her attorney, Alan Jackson, told reporters. “The commonwealth did what they could. They took the state’s burden on a false charge, on a compromised investigation, on compromised investigators, on compromised witnesses. That’s what happens. And you know what? They failed. They failed miserably, and they will continue to fail.”