It’s the third day of juror choice within the Karen Learn retrial.
Attorneys have added seven to the ultimate jury pool over the earlier two days. There was a complete of 19 jurors chosen for trial in the primary go-around. That meant seven of them would function alternates, although the alternates wouldn’t be chosen till simply earlier than deliberations start after all of the proof and shutting arguments have been offered.
Learn extra: The Herald has guides on what to know and who to know earlier than this second trial will get began.
Learn, 45, is accused of hanging John O’Keefe, her boyfriend of two years and a 16-year Boston Police officer, along with her automotive and leaving him to die in a serious snowstorm on the entrance garden of 34 Fairview Highway in Canton on Jan. 29, 2022.
Case historical past in short
She was tried final 12 months on costs of second-degree homicide, manslaughter whereas working a motorized vehicle below the affect, and leaving the scene of an accident inflicting loss of life, however that led to mistrial on July 1, 2024, after the jury reached an deadlock.
Learn’s protection staff shortly thereafter filed motions arguing that it wasn’t actually an deadlock and that 5 jurors had come ahead to say that they had been able to acquit Learn of the costs of homicide and leaving the scene of an accident and had been solely held on the manslaughter cost.
That revelation, the protection argued, was tantamount to acquittal and thus to strive Learn once more on these costs can be a violation of her constitutional proper to Double Jeopardy protections.
To this point, the courts have disagreed. The argument failed with trial Decide Beverly Cannone; the Supreme Judicial Court docket, which upheld Cannone’s ruling; and U.S. District Court docket Decide F. Dennis Saylor IV.
The protection then appealed to the federal First Circuit Court docket of Appeals, which upheld Saylor’s ruling.
Filings
There was authorized motion within the background throughout every of the three days of jury choice.
Along with a continued back-and-forth from the edges on the qualification or disqualification of professional witnesses, Wednesday and Thursday introduced practically equivalent motions from the protection for the clerk’s record of jurors for Norfolk County, the place the trial takes place and the domicile of all potential jurors.
“Now comes the defendant, Karen Read (‘Ms. Read’ or ‘Defendant) [sic] in the above captioned matter to request the updated Clerk’s List of Jurors for Norfolk County. Ms. Read asks for this list to be released to her, her lawyers, a jury consultant, and two law clerks who are working with Ms. Read’s legal team,” the Thursday movement states in full.
The motions differ solely within the dates included within the identify, as Wednesday’s is titled “Defendant’s April 2, 2025 Motion Requesting the Clerk’s List of Jurors” whereas the Thursday submitting has “April 3” within the title. Additionally, the protection staff picked up one other clerk within the interim, as the sooner movement references solely “a law clerk.”
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