Karen Read mistrial puts cops in tough spot, opens door for accused killer of boyfriend officer to walk free

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Attorney thinks new trial for Karen Read will not happen

Defense attorney David Gelman says he doesn’t think Massachusetts prosecutors will be able to re-try Karen Read in the death of her police officer boyfriend, John O’Keefe, after the first trial ended with a hung jury.

It was a cold killing.

Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe died from blunt force trauma to the head and hypothermia during a January snowstorm in Canton, Massachusetts, about 15 miles outside the city proper.

Karen Read, the former finance professional and O’Keefe’s girlfriend at the time, was accused of fatally running him over in a drunken fight and fleeing the scene.

But her trial, once viewed as a “slam dunk” case for the prosecution, ended with a hung jury in July after she claimed the case was an elaborate cover-up and that she had nothing to do with whoever left him out in the cold to die. 

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After the jury was dismissed for the day, Karen Read, right, listens as Canton Police Sgt. Michael Lank is questioned by defense attorney Alan Jackson. (Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

A judge has already cleared the way for a second trial, scheduled for Jan. 27, but both sides have asked the court to push it back to April 1, a spokesman for the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office told Fox News Digital. The judge has not yet decided on that matter, and the state Supreme Court is weighing whether two of the charges should be dismissed if the case does go back to trial – including the top charge of second-degree murder.

If the case does get a new trial as expected in January, it will be led by a special assistant prosecutor, Hank Brennan, who once represented the mobster James “Whitey” Bulger and has already begun trying to obtain unpublished records from Massachusetts reporters who have interviewed Read.

The plans could change again due to a number of risks that would crop up in a new trial, according to criminal defense attorney David Gelman, who has been following the case.

“You already had all these police testify,” Gelman said. “They are now gonna be put in a very unwelcome position. They’re gonna have to testify again, and if they say anything differently, then they’re gonna perjure themselves. I wouldn’t want to be in that position.”

Officer John O’Keefe was found dead outside a Massachusetts home in January 2022. (Boston Police Department)

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Read, in a recent round of interviews, argues that she was framed by the real killers, whom she believes are other members of law enforcement O’Keefe got into a fight with after she dropped him off at the home of fellow Boston Police Officer Brian Albert. 

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Prosecutors, however, charged her with hitting her boyfriend with her SUV after a drunken fight and leaving him to die in a snowstorm.

A lawyer holds a photograph of Karen Read and John O’Keefe in court on June 10, 2022. (John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

His remains were discovered on Albert’s front lawn.

According to Read, when she woke up at 6 a.m. after a night of drinking, she realized O’Keefe wasn’t home and went out to look for him. 

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Autopsy photos also show what appear to be wounds from an animal on O’Keefe’s right arm, which the defense argued were a suspicious detail in what prosecutors alleged was a vehicular homicide.

The defense for Karen Read holds up a poster board containing information they claim exonerates their client in the murder of John O’Keefe. (John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

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Potentially more damning to the case was testimony from Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Proctor.

Jurors were seen shaking their heads in court as Read’s defense team read some of his text messages.

In them, he called Read a “wack job,” a “babe … with no a–” and a “c—.”

Karen Read arrives at Norfolk Superior Court for a hearing to dismiss murder charges against her. (John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

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He wrote that he wished she would kill herself and joked about looking for nude selfies while searching her phone.

His cross-examination already turned off one jury, Gelman said. A second go could do the same thing, and if Proctor changes his story at all, the defense will likely pounce.

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“I cannot possibly think that they are going to put officers on the stand who have already screwed this trial up,” he argued. “They are biased because, obviously, it’s one of theirs who died. I can understand, potentially, that they may have some type of a bias in this.”

Hundreds of Karen Read supporters gather in front of Norfolk County Superior Court before one of her appearances. (Matt Stone/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald via Getty Images)

But that’s not an excuse for botching an investigation with questionable ethics, he said.

“They’re paid to do this job, and they have to do it the correct way,” he said. “But they went about this very unprofessionally.”

Gelman predicts that the most likely outcome is Read agrees to a plea deal. Otherwise, the case gets dismissed. And if it’s dismissed with prejudice, that would be the end of it.

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Brennan, for his part, appears ready to do what he’s been brought in to do.

“I assume full responsibility and all obligations for prosecuting this case and will do so meticulously, ethically and zealously, without compromise,” he told The Associated Press after being named special prosecutor.

“I have two core obligations. The first is to make certain that Karen Read receives a fair trial… The second is to ensure that the facts surrounding John O’Keefe’s death are fully fairly aired in the courtroom without outside influence.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.