Karen Read's legal team has appealed a recent ruling to Massachusetts' highest court, apparently seeking to have two charges brought against her thrown out after the judge who's overseen the case declined to do so.
Wednesday's filing in Massachusetts' Supreme Judicial Court, as recorded in the court's docket, shows three attorneys of Read's, including David Yannetti, filed the appeal over their motion to dismiss charges over their claims Read would face double jeopardy.
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Norfolk Superior Court Judge Beverly Cannone in August denied Read's motion to dismiss the two charges, thereby allowing prosecutors to bring all three charges, including second-degree murder, at the upcoming retrial in the closely watched case.
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The defense had argued that, when Cannone declared a mistrial in the case, the jury would have found Read not guilty on two of the three charges brought against her by the Norfolk District Attorney's Office in the death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe. They cited communications from jurors who reached out after the mistrial and said trying her again on those two charges would amount to double jeopardy.
Prosecutors had urged the judge to dismiss what they called an “unsubstantiated but sensational post-trial claim” based on “hearsay, conjecture and legally inappropriate reliance as to the substance of jury deliberations.”
In her ruling, Cannone wrote, "this Court concludes that because the defendant was not acquitted of any charges and defense counsel consented to the Court's declaration of a mistrial, double jeopardy is not implicated by retrial of the defendant."
NBC10 Boston has reached out to the Norfolk District Attorney's Office and Read's lawyers for comment.
