Second Karen Read trial date could be decided Monday

Karen Read’s second trial will likely receive an official start date at a status conference scheduled for Monday as the defense continues to push to for two of the charges against her dismissed.

The Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office announced a trial assignment conference for July 22 on the same day jurors were unable to reach a verdict in Read’s first trial earlier this month. Judge Beverly Cannone declared a mistrial July 1. 

At Monday’s event, with Cannone presiding, a new trial date is expected to be picked, a spokesperson for the DA said previously. 

Read is accused of drunkenly and intentionally hitting her boyfriend and Boston police officer John O’Keefe with her car in 2022. Read was charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating a motor vehicle under the influence, and leaving the scene of a fatal accident. 

Since the mistrial, Read’s lawyers have tried to get two of the three charges dismissed, claiming the deadlocked jury unanimously reached a “not guilty” decision on both second degree murder and leaving the scene of a fatal accident.

Most recently, the defense attorneys said Friday that a total of five jurors — three directly, two indirectly — told them the jury reached a unanimous acquittal on those charges.

The Commonwealth opposed the proposed dismissal, according to court records filed July 12, and said the jury “explicitly indicated an impasse on all charges.” They called for a retrial, which is not barred by double jeopardy, to include all three indictments.

“The defendant’s unsubstantiated but sensational post-trial claim that the ‘jury reached a unanimous decision to acquit’ lacks any merit or legal foundation,” the state’s 15-page motion said. “There was no verdict that acquits the defendant, no grounds for the court or counsel to inquire into the deliberative process of a discharged jury.”