Karen Read federal appeal ruling: Read the double jeopardy denial

Karen Read's attempt to have a federal court intervene in her closely watched Massachusetts murder case before her upcoming retrial was denied on Thursday.

A federal judge denied her request to throw out two charges brought against her in the death of her boyfriend, John O'Keefe, because some of the jurors have come forward to say the group unanimously agreed to acquit Read on counts of second-degree murder and leaving the scene of an accident.

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Judge Dennis Saylor's 28-page denial backs Judge Beverly Cannone's decision-making in declaring a mistrial last summer and denies that comments from jurors after the trial's end count as a verdict, meaning, "as a matter of federal constitutional law, [Read] was not actually acquitted of any of the relevant offenses," and retrying her does not amount to double jeopardy.

Read's legal team had also requested that the federal court at least bring in the jurors to question them about whether they had in fact acquitted her, in a hearing referred to with the Latin words "voir dire." But Saylor called such a hearing "probably unlawful and certainly ill-advised," and said that, even if one were held, since it wouldn't amount to an acquittal under state law.

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Read the ruling here:

A hearing was held on the double jeopardy issue in federal court last week. Read through updates as the lawyers made their arguments here.

2 major hearings a month before Karen Read's retrial | Recap, analysis

Karen Read had big hearings in both federal and state court Wednesday, less than a month before her retrial over the killing of John O'Keefe. Here's what happened in both hearings, plus analysis from Michael Coyne and Sue O'Connell — and the second part of our interview with a juror from the first trial, who shares advice on what the sides should do in the retrial. Follow NBC10 Boston: https://instagram.com/nbc10boston https://tiktok.com/@nbc10boston https://facebook.com/NBC10Boston https://twitter.com/NBC10Boston https://bsky.app/profile/nbcboston.com

Thursday's ruling is the latest denial of Read's legal team's claim that a retrial — set to begin in April — would constitute double jeopardy. It wasn't immediately clear if they would appeal the decision to a higher federal court. NBC10 Boston is reaching out for comment.

The Norfolk District Attorney’s Office, which is prosecuting the murder trial in state court, had no comment Thursday.