State’s highest court schedules dismissal arguments

The state’s highest court will hear arguments next month whether to dismiss two of the three charges against Karen Read, who is accused of hitting and killing her Boston police officer boyfriend after a night of drinking in Canton.

The Supreme Judicial Court scheduled the argument for Nov. 6, the day after Election Day, according to the court’s docket. Read’s defense team filed the petition brief on Sept. 23, and the Commonwealth has yet to respond with their own brief.

Read is accused of drunkenly and intentionally hitting John O’Keefe, her boyfriend of two years, with her SUV outside a home in Canton in January 2022. She was then charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence of alcohol, and leaving the scene of a collision resulting in death during trial earlier this year. 

The jurors reached an impasse, which resulted in a mistrial on July 1. Read’s retrial is scheduled for January.

Read’s defense argues that according to five of the 12 jurors, the jury reached a final, unanimous decision to acquit her of murder and leaving the scene of a fatal accident. Reportedly, the jury only disagreed about the manslaughter charge, which carries lesser included offenses of involuntary manslaughter and motor vehicle homicide. 

According to the brief filed with the SJC, her defense team argues that retrying Read on all three charges would violate double jeopardy.  

In August, Judge Beverly Cannone denied Read’s defense their motion to dismiss those charges. Cannone said double jeopardy isn’t triggered because the “the only unanimous act of the jury here was their representation to the Court that they were ‘at an impasse.’”

The highly publicized murder trial has resulted in a wrongful death suit and discipline for some investigators, including Trooper Michael Proctor who who called Read a “a wack job c**t” and “retarded” in text messages. Proctor was relieved of duties by Massachusetts State Police the day the mistrial was declared.

The Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office did not return a request for comment.