Karen Read, a former Bentley University finance lecturer, is facing a new trial for allegedly hitting her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, with her car and leaving him to die in a snowstorm. Read was charged with second-degree murder, vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, and leaving the scene of a collision resulting in death. After a mistrial was declared during her first trial, her defense attorney, Martin Weinberg, argued for the dismissal of two of the charges based on claims that jurors found her not guilty of murder and leaving the scene. However, the assistant district attorney, Adam Lally, argued against dropping the charges. Weinberg proposed a closed hearing with the jurors to clarify their verdicts, but Lally argued that this would be coercive and prohibited by law.
Read, who is currently working at Fidelity Investments, has denied the charges and offered her own version of events in an interview. O’Keefe, a 16-year veteran of the Boston Police Department, was remembered as a kind and dedicated person by his colleagues. He was raising his niece and nephew in Canton following his sister and brother-in-law’s death. Meanwhile, Read’s legal team continues to fight the charges, questioning the validity of a retrial on the charges in which she was found not guilty.
Judge Beverly Cannone did not make a ruling on the defense’s motion to dismiss two charges but said she would consider the arguments. The new trial for Karen Read is scheduled to begin on January 27, 2025, as the legal battle surrounding O’Keefe’s death continues.
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