The federal courts took a firm stance this past week, denying Karen Read’s motion to drop two of the charges against her. Read, entangled in a legal battle after the hung jury from last summer's murder trial, had sought to dismiss the charges based on the unverified claims that certain jurors from her first trial had voted to acquit her on two counts, according to details from a CBS News report.
Amidst efforts to clear her name, Read alleged that the mistrial was unnecessary, citing that some jurors have privately voted for her acquittal. A week following her attorneys' failed intervention in the federal court, the appeal was launched with lightning speed. "More than eight months after the conclusion of the trial, the jurors' willingness to speak honestly about their deliberations would surely be compromised," the federal judge is quoted from the WCVB article.
Chief District Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV commented, as stated in the CBS News article, “This Court sees no basis to conclude that the trial judge's decision to declare a mistrial was incorrect or improper.” Still, Read’s defense persists, now attempting to have the state court judge Beverly Cannone dismiss the case as well, a fact reported by WCVB.
Read faces charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence, and leaving the scene of an accident resulting in personal injury and death, stemming from the alleged killing of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O'Keefe, with her SUV in Canton. "I'm here right now because I'm exposing corruption," said Aidan Kearney, a blogger known as Turtleboy and supporter of Read, as stated in the WCVB report. Kearney himself faces accusations of intimidating witnesses, a plot twist in this legal saga.
However, in a silver lining for Read, Judge Saylor granted her a "certificate of appealability," acknowledging that Read made a "substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right," according to CBS News. Details surrounding the appeal have emerged, indicating that she has taken her case to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit with hope still flickering for her case. The Norfolk District Attorney's Office maintained silence on the ruling. As details unfold, jury selection for her second trial remains scheduled for April 1, less than three weeks away.
