Karen Read murder case: Judge sets 2025 date for retrial

(BOSTON) — A Massachusetts judge has scheduled the retrial in Karen Read’s murder case for early next year, three weeks after declaring a mistrial in the high-profile case.

Read was accused of killing her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, in January 2022. Prosecutors allege she hit O’Keefe with her car and left him to die in the middle of a snowstorm after the two got into an argument earlier in the day.

Judge Beverly Cannone declared a mistrial in the case on July 1 after the jury said it was unable to reach a unanimous consensus on the fifth day of deliberations. The Norfolk District Attorney’s Office said following the mistrial that it planned to retry the case.

During a status hearing on Monday, Cannone proposed Jan. 14, 2025, for a pretrial conference and Jan. 27, 2025, as the new trial date.

Both parties agreed to the date, although one of the defense attorneys raised a potential concern due to that date’s proximity to another case he has scheduled for trial in January.

Cannone also scheduled a hearing on Aug. 9 for oral arguments on the defense’s motion to dismiss some of the charges.

“I assume whatever I ended up doing on the motion to dismiss will be appealed,” Cannone said, adding that she scheduled the trial date in January 2025 “in an effort to make sure we have plenty of time.”

Read had pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating a motor vehicle under the influence and leaving the scene of a fatal accident. Read’s attorneys have asked the judge to dismiss the charges of second-degree murder and leaving the scene of a fatal accident when the case goes to trial again.

In court documents filed in the wake of the mistrial, her attorneys wrote that four jurors have come forward to report the jury found Read not guilty of those two charges.

“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,” Read’s defense attorney Alan Jackson wrote in court documents.

The case has garnered national attention. Large crowds, both in support and against Read, had gathered outside the courthouse ahead of Monday’s hearing.

Read has strenuously denied the allegations, and her lawyers alleged that a fellow police officer was involved in O’Keefe’s death and colluded with others in a cover-up.

Following the initial trial, a Massachusetts State Police officer who was communicating with a Canton police officer during the death investigation was suspended. The Canton police officer — who is the brother of the man who hosted the party at the house where O’Keefe’s body was found outside — was also placed on paid administrative leave, according to Boston ABC affiliate WCVB.