Karen Read wants murder charges dismissed before retrial

Karen Read has filed an appeal with the Massachusetts Supreme Court to have the murder charge dropped before her retrial.

Read, 44, was tried in the spring for the premeditated murder of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O'Keefe. The case ended in a mistrial because the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict on any of the charges.

In the days and weeks following the mistrial, both the defense and the prosecution were contacted by purported jurors who said they had actually agreed on two counts. Those jurors said they had only disagreed on the manslaughter charge, but wanted to acquit Read of premeditated murder and leaving the scene of a fatal accident.

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A motion filed after Read's trial to dismiss both charges on the grounds of double jeopardy was denied by Judge Beverley Cannone, who ruled that no verdict had been entered and ordered that Read be tried in January.

On Wednesday afternoon, Read's lawyers filed a petition with the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC), the highest court in Massachusetts, asking that Judge Cannone overturn the decision and dismiss both charges. Court TV reviewed the petition, which reiterates Read's position that retrial would be tantamount to double jeopardy.

The documents also note that after Read's attorney, Alan Jackson, initially filed a motion to dismiss the charges, he was contacted by two additional jurors to corroborate the others' statements, bringing the total number of jurors who contacted the defense to five.

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Read's lawyers have cited the Alex Murdaugh murder trial and his appeals alleging jury tampering by Clerk of Court Becky Hill as another reason why their motion should be granted: “A defendant who presents credible evidence of a serious violation of the Constitution after trial is entitled to an opportunity to prove those allegations.”

Read is represented on appeal by Jackson and David Yannetti, who represented her in the first trial, and is now joined by Martin Weinberg, who joined her team for the appeal.

The SJC consists of a presiding judge and six associate judges who hold weekly single judge meetings on a rotating basis.

This story was originally published by Lauren Silver at ^ “CourtTV.com”.