Karen Read’s lawyers argue motion to dismiss charges

Live stream on NBC10 Boston.

Karen Read must return to court on Friday to attend a hearing that could significantly change the course of her upcoming second trial.

Lawyers for both sides will argue a defense motion to dismiss two of the three charges against Read, including second-degree murder and driving from the scene of a fatal crash. Read’s lawyers contend that the allegedly deadlocked jury in Read’s first trial, which ended in a miscarriage of justice on July 1, unanimously decided she was “not guilty” on both counts.

Defense attorneys say they received information from five jurors that the jury was deadlocked only on the charge of intoxication manslaughter, which also included the less serious offenses of manslaughter and homicide with a motor vehicle. The Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office has said prosecutors heard similar information from at least one alleged juror.

Prosecutors allege that in January 2022, after a night out with friends in Canton, Read drunkenly and intentionally drove her SUV into her boyfriend of two years, Boston police officer John O’Keefe. The defense insists Read was a “convenient outsider” caught up in a large-scale cover-up between law enforcement and witnesses.

The main question of Friday’s hearing is whether the jury’s alleged consensus on two of the counts – in the absence of a formal verdict – is enough to trigger double jeopardy and prevent prosecutors from retrying Read on those counts. The defense hired prominent Boston attorney Martin G. Weinberg, who has extensive appellate experience, to lead the motion to dismiss.

Read’s second trial is scheduled to begin on January 27, 2025.