ACLU Supports Karen Read's Appeal in Murder Case

The ACLU has filed an amicus brief supporting Karen Read's appeal to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, arguing that she should not be retried on charges from which she was allegedly acquitted. Read is accused of killing her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, in a snowstorm in January 2022, with her first trial resulting in a mistrial due to jury deadlock. Several jurors have since claimed they reached a consensus to acquit her on two charges: second-degree murder and leaving the scene of an accident, only being deadlocked on the manslaughter charge. The ACLU contends that retrying Read would violate her constitutional rights under the Fifth Amendment's double jeopardy clause. They criticized Judge Beverly Cannone's handling of the mistrial, asserting she should have polled the jurors before declaring it. The Supreme Judicial Court is scheduled to hear arguments on November 6, ahead of Read's retrial set for January.