Karen Read will be back in court on Friday for her motion to dismiss the case

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Read’s lawyers are asking Judge Beverly Cannone to drop two of the charges, including second-degree murder.

The high-profile Karen Read murder case continues to dominate headlines even after last month’s wrongful verdict, with some reports suggesting that jurors may be closer to a verdict than initially thought.

As Read returns to court for a hearing on Friday afternoon, the saga continues.

The 44-year-old Mansfield woman is accused of drunkenly and intentionally driving her SUV into her boyfriend, a Boston police officer, John O’Keefe, in January 2022. Read’s lawyers suspect a massive cover-up and accuse investigators of biased and sloppy police work.

Judge Beverly Cannone declared a mistrial on July 1 after the jury said it was “completely divided” on the evidence in the case.

The defense now wants to dismiss two of the three charges, claiming that the jury internally agreed that Read was “not guilty” of first-degree murder and leaving the scene of an accident. In fact, Read’s attorneys have heard from five jurors that the jury was deadlocked only on the charge of manslaughter while under the influence of alcohol.

Attorneys for both sides will argue the motion to dismiss in Norfolk Superior Court at 2 p.m. Friday.

What Karen Read’s lawyers said

In a series of court filings, Read’s lawyers laid out the information they received from five alleged jurors.

While the jury reported “deep disagreement” after days of deliberations, several jurors reportedly told the defense that they were only at an impasse on the charge of intoxication manslaughter and the less serious crimes under it: manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter.

In an affidavit filed Monday, defense attorney David Yannetti said one of the jurors – referred to in court documents as “Juror B” – “believes that any member of the jury, if asked, will confirm that the jury returned a verdict of not guilty on two of the counts.” According to Yannetti, Juror B went on to say, “No one believed that she (Read) hit him intentionally or even knew that she hit him.”

Another juror, identified as “Juror D,” reportedly told defense attorney Alan Jackson that he was “uncomfortable” with the outcome of the trial and that the final day of deliberations had been a “whirlwind.”

“Juror D said that the jury actually discussed telling the judge that they had unanimously agreed to NOT GUILTY on counts 1 and 3, but they were unsure if they were allowed to say so,” Jackson wrote in a July affidavit.

Read’s lawyers argue that the jury reportedly reached a unanimous verdict on two counts and that retrial of Read on those counts would violate the Double Jeopardy Law. A second trial is scheduled to begin on January 27, 2025.

What the prosecutors said

In its initial response to Read’s attorneys’ motion, the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office said the motion to dismiss was based “on hearsay, conjecture and a legally inappropriate reliance on the content of the jury’s deliberations.”

Prosecutors claimed that the jury’s notes to Cannone indicated an impasse on all counts, adding: “The defendant’s unproven but sensational post-trial claim that the ‘jury unanimously voted to acquit’ is without foundation and has no legal basis.”

But in a subsequent document last week, prosecutors said they had received numerous voicemails and emails from alleged jurors suggesting there was more to the story.

According to court documents, Assistant District Attorney Adam Lally received an unsolicited voicemail on July 21 from someone claiming to be a juror who stated, “It is true what has recently come out that the jury is unanimous on counts 1 and 3.”

In a second voicemail dated July 26, the alleged juror claimed that the jury voted “9 to 3 on the manslaughter counts … guilty on the lesser counts” on the “final vote,” the filing said.

Prosecutors did not respond to voicemails, saying they were “ethically prohibited from engaging in discussions about the jury deliberation process,” the court document said.

Read’s supporters defended her vociferously until Friday’s hearing. Last Sunday, the “Free Karen Read” movement organized demonstrations in 32 locations, NBC10 Boston reported. Read herself was spotted mingling with her supporters in Dighton, where her parents live.