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BOSTON (WHDH) - Criminal Defense Attorney David Yannetti, who represented Karen Read in her high-profile murder case last year, reacted to the events of the sixth day of jury deliberations in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial.
On Thursday, the 12 jurors still had not come to a unanimous verdict. The court learned one juror may not be following the judge’s instructions, which prompted Clancy’s Defense Attorney Kevin Reddington to ask for that one juror to be removed. The judge responded by reiterating his instructions about reasonable doubt.
“It’s a rollercoaster for the attorneys who are involved,” Yannetti said. “It’s always a little bit of a blow to the ego when they don’t come back in five minutes, nevermind five days.”
Yannetti had his own experience with a mistrial while representing Read. She was accused of murdering her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe in 2022. While her first trial ended in a mistrial, she was found not guilty of murder in her second trial. She was convicted of operating under the influence.
“All I learned is that it’s excruciating to go through. You know, I put myself in Kevin Reddington’s shoes, he’s shouldering all the burden alone, all the stress and the uncertainty. It’s a terrible time to be a trial lawyer,” Yannetti said.
Yannetti said if Clancy’s case were to end in a mistrial, the next decision to be made is whether to try her again. He said from the criminal defense standpoint, a second trial could add more challenges.
“The one advantage the defense has in any trial is they can keep their defense a secret, keep the theory of the case from the view of the eyes and ears and the prosecution. And once you’ve already gone through the trial once, you’ve now revealed it and the sides are unequal footing in that regard,” Yannetti said.
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