Karen Read asks U.S. Supreme Court to delay Massachusetts trial

Karen Read’s attorneys are asking the United States Supreme Court to delay her Massachusetts trial until the country’s highest court decides if it will take up her recently filed appeal.

“To quote Shawshank Redemption, ‘Hope is a great thing sometimes, the best of things.’ So I’ll take any chance with the Supreme Court,” Karen Read said outside of court on Monday.

Prosecutors allege that Read killed her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, with her SUV following a night of heavy drinking in 2022 then left him to die in the snow outside a Canton home. Read accuses multiple people, including law enforcement, of trying to frame her.

Read is charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence of alcohol, and leaving the scene of personal injury and death.  She has pleaded not guilty.

Jury selection got underway last week for Read’s second trial in Norfolk Superior Court.  

Karen Read Supreme Court appeal

In 2024, Read’s first trial ended with a mistrial due to a hung jury.

On Thursday, Read’s attorneys appealed her case to the Supreme Court, seeking to drop two charges on grounds of double jeopardy. They are asking the Supreme Court to drop the murder and leaving the scene charges, leaving only manslaughter remaining.

Read’s attorneys made the appeal on claims that jurors in her first trial agreed unanimously behind closed doors to acquit her on those two charges and were only undecided on manslaughter. Jurors never revealed those deliberations in open court before Judge Beverly Cannone declared a mistrial.

Lower level appeals have been rejected, leaving the Supreme Court as Read’s final attempt.

So far 10 jurors have been seated in Read’s trial.

Kristina Rex

Kristina Rex is a reporter for WBZ-TV News.