Karen Learn’s attorneys are persevering with to push for the homicide cost to be dropped, as a juror reportedly confirmed to her lawyer that the jury had reached a unanimous not-guilty verdict for that depend.
The protection filings on Monday had been the newest in a string of appeals from the homicide defendant’s attorneys, arguing that Learn shouldn’t face the second-degree homicide cost — and the leaving the scene of an accident leading to demise cost — in a brand new trial.
Learn, 44, of Mansfield, is accused of putting Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, her boyfriend of two years, along with her automobile and leaving him to freeze and die on a Canton entrance garden on Jan. 29, 2022. Learn’s first trial led to mistrial final month, and a second trial is scheduled for subsequent 12 months.
The Norfolk DA’s Workplace has charged Learn with second-degree homicide, manslaughter whereas working a motorcar beneath the affect, and leaving the scene of an accident leading to demise.
However Learn’s protection attorneys proceed to name for the brand new trial to solely embody the manslaughter cost as a result of the jury has reportedly indicated that they might not convict on the opposite two. That push from the protection resumed on Monday with a brand new submitting.
“During my phone conversation with Juror B, he/she confirmed for me that the jury reached unanimous Not-Guilty verdicts on indictments (1) and (3),” protection lawyer David Yannetti wrote in an affidavit to dismiss the 2 prices.
“He/she told me that the only charge on which the jury was deadlocked was indictment (2),” Yannetti added.
In the meantime, a listening to on whether or not the fees ought to be dismissed has been scheduled for this Friday.
Yannetti within the new submitting wrote that he acquired an unsolicited cellphone name from the juror just a few days in the past.
“Juror B believes that every member of the jury, if asked, will confirm that the jury reached Not-Guilty verdicts on indictments (1) and (3),” the lawyer wrote. “Juror B believes that even jurors who were leaning toward a conviction on some part of indictment (2) will confirm that the other two indictments were acquittals.
“He/she believes that other jurors have been reluctant to come forward because there is so much public and media attention focused on this case,” Yannetti added.
Learn’s protection workforce is including this dialog to the record of explanation why they are saying two of the fees ought to be tossed.
“… the defense respectfully renews its contention that the jury acquitted Ms. Read on Counts 1 and 3, or, alternatively, there was no manifest necessity for a mistrial as to those counts, and therefore the Double Jeopardy protections of the federal and state Constitutions require that those counts not be retried,” Learn’s attorneys wrote.
Final week, the Norfolk DA prosecutors fired again on the protection, saying, “The defendant’s unsubstantiated but sensational post-trial claim that the ‘jury reached a unanimous decision to acquit’ lacks any merit or legal foundation.”
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