Supreme Court Declines Karen Read’s Double Jeopardy Challenge

The US Supreme Court declined on Monday to review an appeal by Karen Read, a Massachusetts woman accused of killing her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, in 2022.

Read filed a petition with the high court, claiming the jury at her first trial had reached a unanimous but unannounced verdict acquitting her on a subset of charges, and arguing that a second trial on those counts ought to be barred by the double jeopardy clause.

The Massachusetts state court judge declared a mistrial after the jury said it was at an impasse. Norfolk Superior Court Judge Beverly Cannone didn’t inquire, but Read’s lawyers say there’s good reason to believe the jury was only hung on one of the three counts presented.

Several jurors reached out to defense counsel following the mistrial, saying the jury unanimously agreed that Read wasn’t guilty of second-degree murder or leaving the scene of a collision resulting in death.

The only count the jurors said they couldn’t agree on was manslaughter while operating under the influence of alcohol, her lawyers said.

Read’s petition asked whether a unanimous, but unannounced finding that the prosecution failed to prove its case, constitutes an acquittal for purposes of double jeopardy.

Read also asked whether a defendant who produces credible evidence of such an unannounced verdict is entitled to a post-trial hearing to substantiate it.

Read is accused of backing her car into O’Keefe with her Lexus SUV during a snowstorm after a night of heavy drinking.

Her lawyers have maintained that someone else was responsible for O’Keefe’s death, alleging a law enforcement cover-up.

Her second trial before Cannone is now in its second week.

Read applied for a stay from the high court, but Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson denied the request on April 9.

Read is represented by Michael Pabian and Martin Weinberg, both of Boston.

The case is Read v. Superior Court of Mass., U.S., No. 24-1048, 4/28/25.