VERDICT WATCH MA - Professor Karen Read, 43, charged with murdering police officer boyfriend John O'Keefe by hitting him with car, Canton, 14 Apr 2023 #15

[jepop]

Losing my mind over here. What was the point of 4:15??
IMO

So odd!

 

[Warwick7]

@PaulaEbben

NEW: #KarenReadTrial will go in to a 10th Week….

4:27 PM · Jun 28, 2024



@_kbenoit

#now Still no verdict in the #KarenReadTrial.


Jury going home for weekend.


4:20 PM · Jun 28, 2024

It's ok with me.
My sister called me and told me she was charged with second degree murder, then I refuse to look at anything on the media. So the fact that she was wrong, again! I'm glad they're still deliberating!

 

[fluffypaste]

I feel like this is the worst outcome for everyone involved. Well, for KR personally, it is still better than being convicted of murder, but it still means she's going to have to go through this whole trial again. What a nightmare.

 

[LaineyJ]

So odd!

Maybe a last attempt to get out of there for good, maybe conferring with the jurors with opposing verdict seemed to be getting somewhere. But, apparently that didn’t work out if that was the case

 

[Chelly]

Losing my mind over here. What was the point of 4:15??
IMO

The jury was hoping to change the mind(s) of one or two holdout jurors.

 

[fluffypaste]

If there is a mistrial by hung jury (which now strongly appears to be the most probable outcome), then how long will we have to wait for the second trial?

Are they allowed to just go right into it, or is there some kind of delay?

 

[Moonstrawbs]

If there is a mistrial by hung jury (which now strongly appears to be the most probable outcome), then how long will we have to wait for trial number 2?

Are they allowed to just go right into it, or is there some kind of delay?

I'd assume some sort of delay. A trial in the UK was hung this month, the new trial will be March 2025...

 

[Misy]

I missed the judge's instructions but assume she covered reasonable doubt ?Agree that maybe it should be re read to them with that assumption in mind. moo

I have a sneaking suspicion she doesn’t want to do that. JMO

 

[fluffypaste]

All we can do is hope that the 2 holdouts are more pliable after the weekend has subsided.

 

[kittythehare]

live

All we can do is hope that the 2 holdouts are more pliable after the weekend has subsided.

for all we know, there could be 6 holdouts

 

[LaineyJ]

Again this never should’ve gone to trial. Absolutely everybody loses here.

KR & fam are supposedly broke, and she lost her job(s). Her reputation is just done forever, even if acquitted. Realistically, findings by a jury don’t always change our ideas of a person.

JO family is never getting him back. Seeing KR acquitted will likely cause more emotional damage. Especially because the trial was so long, so public..

The CW looks terrible. I have never been more confused by a case presented by a state. They made themselves look bad. The trial was a mess, completely on their end. Why bring this case when the FBI has even gotten involved…and their hired experts refute your claims!

Police/MSP: do I need to explain? The entire nation and beyond is judging them and likely with pure disgust. The fact that Michael Proctor has investigated other crimes just sucks, I mean, how many convictions or cases like Ana Walshe, not yet tried, may need to be re-examined? Multiple people messed up in this “investigation”.. can’t expect respect from anyone imo after what they’ve shown us.

Judge: well, imo, I feel like any verdict can cause trouble for her from the powers that be or corruption if it reaches her.

Don’t know who else I’m missing. But I just think this was all done for absolutely nothing and John O’Keefe has become nothing but a side note in this mockery of a trial. Even if I thought KR was guilty and she was convicted, is it really justice if the cops played dirty to make it happen? I dunno.

I sincerely hope that when this ends, we see heads start to roll. I want to hear that Proctor is fired, stripped of any benefits, may face criminal charges if possible, etc among other people - of course . This is the most ridiculous trial I’ve ever seen. And I’ve seen some wild clips from other trials.

ETA a word

 

[fluffypaste]

live

for all we know, there could be 6 holdouts

I know, I shouldn't have said that without stronger confirmation. I just kept seeing "two holdouts" on various websites and forgot that it is just speculation.

 

[Wishbone]

If there is a mistrial by hung jury (which now strongly appears to be the most probable outcome), then how long will we have to wait for the second trial?

Are they allowed to just go right into it, or is there some kind of delay?

There may not even be another trial. Especially if there were only one or two jurors that voted guilty.

 

[Warwick7]

The jury was hoping to change the mind(s) of one or two holdout jurors.

If I was on that jury and there were one or two wanting to go with guilty, I would dig my heels in and not budge. If someone is not guilty, I can not vote they are guilty just to get out of that room. My conscience would never never allow it

 

[Yemelyan]

If there is a mistrial by hung jury (which now strongly appears to be the most probable outcome), then how long will we have to wait for the second trial?

Are they allowed to just go right into it, or is there some kind of delay?

In the other Norfolk Superior Court case that Judge Cannone presided over that ended in a mistrial, the first jury hung in July of 2023 and the case was retried in February of 2024. The second jury also hung but eventually came to a decision after she sent them back.

Edited to add...I don't know about the second trial, but in the first trial there was just one hold-out who held firm to an insanity defense no matter what, so it was hopelessly deadlocked.

 

[OldCop]

That's the scenario I would prefer in terms of keeping faith with modern humanity. And for sure I can imagine the ng minority refusing to budge, it seems to be the nature of irrational conviction just in my opinion.

We just have to look around this thread to see how divided this jury may be. And why is this? In most cases the jury tends to favor the prosecution - the defendant must be guilty or we wouldn’t be here.
From the beginning of this trial the prosecution acted like the defense; defending their charges instead of proving them. Weeks were spent talking about the weather and butt dials and other minutiae. If the prosecution’s case were strong, they would have come out swinging, and they would have proved that KR killed JOK with her vehicle. It would have, should have, taken days to prove it. Lally would have given us facts supported by strong evidence. He would tell us how those wounds on JOK’s arm were made. He would show us how a vehicle could cause the lethal wound on the back of John’s head. He would explain why investigators violated virtually every tenet of crime scene investigation, evidence collection, and witness interviews but were still able to arrest and charge the real perpetrator. He would tell us how magical pieces of tail light appeared days after the crime scene search, some of which weren’t even from the defendant’s vehicle and explain away missing videos and text messages. He wouldn’t have a trooper telling us it just is. But he didn’t do that because he didn’t have the proof and he knew it.
So, since the defense does show us proof that JOK did not die from being struck by a motor vehicle through science, medicine, forensic science, kinetics and physics, why do some jurors not see it? Because, the fact is that some people can not clear their minds of biases, past experiences, of their dislike of defense lawyers, their trust in law enforcement officers, of the way the defendant looks or comports himself, or they hate science and think that cellphone data is a bunch of mumbo jumbo. They can not disassociate themselves from their personal feelings or beliefs and make a compartment in their minds into which they put the EVIDENCE in the case to the exclusion of all other things. They literally do not have the ability to parse out the facts. MOO

Exactly. There's no proof at all that he died from being hit by ANY car. Case closed. I don't get what this jury is not seeing (or at least one of them). Crazy!

 

[JerseyWasHome2]

Stupid question here because I really have not watched many trials. What are the defense and prosecution teams doing all day while the jury deliberates? What are family and friends on both sides doing? Are they all literally in the courtroom together whispering and just trying to be patient for hours and days?

 

[Yemelyan]

Stupid question here because I really have not watched many trials. What are the defense and prosecution teams doing all day while the jury deliberates? What are family and friends on both sides doing? Are they all literally in the courtroom together whispering and just trying to be patient for hours and days?

It was said that the O'Keefe family went to a nearby VFW function room to await any movement in the case. And I believe the Read group was at a church hall nearby. They have to be close enough to get back to the courtroom within five minutes.

 

[turaj]

If I was on that jury and there were one or two wanting to go with guilty, I would dig my heels in and not budge. If someone is not guilty, I can not vote they are guilty just to get out of that room. My conscience would never never allow it

and conversely if I really thought she was guilty I would not go to NG and let her walk. My conscience would not allow that....that note left little question they were not feeling like things will change but Judge seemed like no option just keep trying.

 

[fluffypaste]

There may not even be another trial. Especially if there were only one or two jurors that voted guilty.

You say that, but I'm aware of a case (Hassan Bennett) where a jury had a 11-1 deadlock in favor of acquittal, and the prosecution STILL chose to keep retrying him until he got acquitted. Because of that, I fully expect that KR will be retried forever until she's either convicted or acquitted.