Judge denies motion to dismiss two of the charges

The judge presiding over the Karen Read murder case has denied a defense motion to dismiss two of the three charges Read faces in the death of Boston police officer John O’Keefe, including second-degree murder.

Lawyers for Mansfield’s victim said the jury, which apparently deadlocked in Read’s first trial, had internally agreed she was not guilty of murder and leaving the scene of a fatal accident. The defense said the jury deadlocked only on the charge of involuntary manslaughter while operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol, which involved lesser offenses such as involuntary manslaughter and vehicular homicide.

Read is accused of drunkenly and intentionally backing her SUV into O’Keefe, her boyfriend, after a night at a bar in Canton in January 2022. The high-profile case ended in a mistrial on July 1, and Read’s retrial is scheduled to begin in January.

While Read’s attorneys argued that retrying her on second-degree murder and leaving the scene of a fatal accident would violate double jeopardy rules, Judge Beverly Cannone disagreed in a memorandum filed Friday in Norfolk Superior Court.

“This Court recognizes that the prohibition on retrials following acquittals is “[p]“This is perhaps the most fundamental rule in the history of double jeopardy jurisprudence,” Cannone wrote, citing legal precedent. “However, where there was no acquittal on any count at the defendant’s first trial, there is no risk of subjecting the defendant to double jeopardy by a new trial on all counts. Accordingly, the defendant’s motion to dismiss is denied.”

Read Cannone’s memorandum and order: