What does length of jury deliberations mean for verdict in Karen Read murder trial?

DEDHAM, Mass. — All eyes continue to be on Dedham’s Norfolk Superior Court on Friday as a jury of six women and six men resume deliberations in the murder trial of Karen Read.

Read, 44, of Mansfield, is accused of hitting her Boston police officer boyfriend John O’Keefe with her car and leaving him for dead in the snow in Canton in January 2022, but the defense has made a case that she is being framed.

Deliberations started Tuesday afternoon after the defense and prosecution delivered closing arguments.

On Wednesday, jurors asked Judge Beverly Cannone to see a Massachusetts State Police SERT team report on the search of 34 Fairview Road in Canton, where O’Keefe’s body was found. Defense attorney Alan Jackson also feuded with Cannone over the verdict slip that was given to the jurors.

The jury deliberated through the day Thursday without any interruption, but they ultimately left for the day without reaching a verdict.

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Officer Killed Girlfriend Trial Karen Read speaks with her lawyer as the jury deliberates in her murder trail, Wednesday June 26, 2024, at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Mass. Read is charged with second-degree murder in the January 2022 death of her boyfriend Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool) (Greg Derr/AP)

As deliberations enter a fourth day, the questions now are: Has it been too long and how long will it take the jury to find a verdict?

“It’s not really this long. I think some people don’t understand how the system works,” criminal defense attorney Peter Elikann told Boston 25 News. “There were 70-something witnesses and hundreds and hundreds of exhibits. I think that they’re doing a diligent job here and really hasn’t been like three days. The first day was like two-and-a-half hours and the next two days weren’t full days either.”

Elikann added, “Actually, this is kind of standard.”

Jurors have had few questions for the judge after a deluge of evidence was presented during the trial. Is this unusual?

“Kind of...Sometimes they’re back all the time, sometimes they ask nothing. There’s really no rule of thumb. It’s kind of a wild card what goes on in jury deliberations,” Elikann said. “Right now, I don’t if everybody’s just in lockstep and they’re all in agreement or if there’s some big battle going on.”

Elikann added, “As outsiders looking in, we can only just speculate. We’re clueless as to what’s going on in there. As is in every jury deliberation.”

Earlier this week, the defense asked for an amendment to the jury’s verdict slip. How unusual is something like that?

“I think it was a really good request. It also protects, if she is found guilty of anything, it protects them from an appeal,” Elikann said. “It just made things clearer. A jury shouldn’t be confused by anything.”

At what point should there be concern for the possibility of a hung jury?

“It could be a week-and-a-half or two weeks or something if they come to the judge and say, ‘We’re just deadlocked and we can’t seem to make any progress,’” Elikann explained. “She will then send them back once or twice and just say, ‘Please go back and try again, try harder.’”

Elikann added, “I think everybody’s in the same mindset here after these nine weeks. If we had to start all over again from scratch, everybody’s going to be throwing their hands up and asking, ‘We have to do this again?’”

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