Supreme Court Declines to Slow Karen Read Trial

UPDATE Apr 10, 2025 5:15 PM CDT

The US Supreme Court will not grant an emergency request by Karen Read's lawyers to hold up her second murder trial until it can review her appeal. The defense contends the new trial would violate the constitutional protection against double jeopardy, per ABC News. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson denied the request, without explanation, Thursday on behalf of the court, per Boston.com. Jury selection was proceeding in Massachusetts, and the trial could begin next week, per the AP.

Apr 1, 2025 8:37 AM CDT

As she prepares to stand trial for murder for a second time, Karen Read has made a surprise change to her legal team: adding an alternate juror from her first trial. Victoria George, a licensed civil attorney in Massachusetts, tells Vanity Fair that the lead investigator during Read's first trial, which ended in a mistrial, "had a pretty strong personal bias" against the woman accused of killing her police officer boyfriend, so "how do you ever trust the evidence coming from his investigation?" More:

• New prosecutor: Since the first trial, Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Proctor has been fired for violating agency rules. (Read's team said he was biased and manipulated evidence.) He could still appear as a witness in the retrial, but the new lead investigator is Hank Brennan, a longtime criminal defense attorney who once represented gangster James "Whitey" Bulger, per NBC News.

• The case: Read, accused of striking John O'Keefe with her car outside the home of another police officer in January 2022, will be tried on three charges: second-degree murder, leaving a scene of personal injury and death, and manslaughter while operating a motor vehicle under the influence.
• The discrepancy: Read's team fought to dismiss the first two charges. At least four jurors in the first trial said the jury decided Read was not guilty and only deadlocked on the third charge. But a judge refused as jurors did not announce any verdict in court.
• What she says: Read claims she and O'Keefe visited a couple bars with friends before driving to the home of Brian Albert, a now-retired Boston police sergeant, per ABC News. Read says she dropped O'Keefe outside the home around midnight, then drove to his place and fell asleep. After awaking and finding O'Keefe had not come home, Read says she drove in the dark through a blizzard to find him.

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• The discovery: Read was with friends when she ultimately found O'Keefe motionless on a snowbank outside Albert's home with blood on his face. An autopsy found he died of hypothermia and blunt force trauma to the head, per ABC.
• The theories: Read has claimed O'Keefe was killed at the home of the police officer and that she was framed as part of a cover-up. But during the first trial, prosecutors claimed Read struck O'Keefe with her SUV and drove off, leaving him to die. They said O'Keefe's hair and bits of his drink were on Read's bumper and that his DNA was on her cracked tail light, per NBC.
• The jury: Selection begins Tuesday and could last weeks. More than 200 potential jurors will be called in and asked to complete a three-page questionnaire, reports WPRI.
• The judge: Norfolk Superior Court Judge Beverly Cannone, the same judge who declared a mistrial, will hear the case again. She presided over another high-profile retrial in the case of Emmanuel Lopes, who was ultimately found guilty of murdering a police officer and an innocent bystander in 2018, per WHDH.

(More Karen Read stories.)