DEDHAM, MASS. (WHDH) - The Norfolk District Attorney’s office in a new court filing Friday said four people who identified themselves as jurors reached out after last month’s mistrial declaration in the Karen Read murder case.
The DA’s office said purported jurors left voicemails and sent emails saying they would have found Read not guilty on several charges.
The DA’s office said several jurors wanted to speak anonymously, though, and stopped communicating when officials said they could not guarantee anonymity. The DA’s office said officials also told purported jurors they could only talk about the evidence in the case.
Read, of Mansfield, faced trial beginning in late April after prosecutors said she hit her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, with her car and left him to die outside the home of a fellow Boston police officer in January 2022.
Read maintained her innocence and her defense claimed she was framed, saying O’Keefe actually died after a fight inside the house.
The prosecution and the defense together called more than 70 witnesses over two months before the case went to the jury in late June.
After several days of deliberations, the jury told Judge Beverly Cannone they remained deadlocked and Cannone declared a mistrial.
Days after the mistrial declaration, defense attorneys said they heard from several jurors who said the jury unanimously agreed Read was not guilty on two of three charges against her, including second degree murder.
The defense said jurors told them they were split on the remaining charge and were confused about the possibility of delivering a partial verdict.
Read’s defense team filed a motion asking Cannone to dismiss the two charges where the jury agreed, arguing re-trying Read on those counts would amount to double jeopardy.
Though prosecutors have now said they also heard from possible jurors, the DA’s office maintained it is ethically prohibited from discussing the deliberations. The DA’s office has opposed the defense’s motion and argued against dismissing any charges.
Read was back in court for a status hearing last week.
A new trial in her case is scheduled for January.
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