A juror in the Karen Read The retrial now confirms what the defense claimed earlier this week — that the jury voted unanimously to acquit her of second-degree murder — and the juror told the defense team it would be “unfair” to try her again.
According to new legal documents obtained by TMZ, the juror described the final day of the trial as a “whirlwind” and “very confusing.” After the judge declared a mistrial, jurors were put on a bus and the jurors were left wondering, “Is anyone going to know that we acquitted (Karen Read) on counts 1 and 3? No one ever asked about those counts.”
As we initially reported… Read was acquitted on charges of murder and leaving the scene of an accident by a unanimous vote of 12-0 in his favor. But the jury was deadlocked on the last charge – vehicular manslaughter – voting 9-3 in favor of a guilty verdict. For a conviction on the vehicular manslaughter charge, the jury needed to be unanimous.
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TMZ.com
The judge declared a mistrial but never released the vote count. Read’s attorney, Alan Jacksonso he filed a motion arguing that prosecutors should not be allowed to retry the murder case because it would amount to double jeopardy, which by law means you cannot be tried twice for the same crime.
According to the new court filing, the juror says the jury believed they were “required to reach a resolution on all charges before they could or should report verdicts on any of them.”
As for what allegedly happened, prosecutors claimed Read got into an argument with her boyfriend, a police officer. John O’Keefe, in 2022, before running him over with his SUV and fleeing the scene after a night of partying with friends.
But Read’s legal team argued that Read was framed by police after she left O’Keefe at a house full of celebrating officers. During the meeting, the lawyers said that O’Keefe was killed after a fight broke out, and he was dragged outside and left to die in the snow. According to the defense, the officers pinned the crime on Read because they wanted someone else to take the blame.
During the trial, defense attorneys also disparaged the lead investigator in the case, who was removed from his post after it was revealed he sent sexist and offensive messages about Read.
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Prosecutors, however, say it’s not over yet. … They plan to retry the case, though they haven’t detailed how they will do that.