Karen Read retrial jury selection update: 16 picked, more to go

The judge in Karen Read's second murder trial has opted to continue with jury selection next week, even after reaching the number of jurors she'd been seeking on Thursday, the eighth day of the process.

By the end of the day, three new jurors had been selected, but two dropped out, bringing the number to 16, eight men and eight women. That's what Judge Beverly Cannone had been aiming for, but she's bumped the total to 18.

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Read reacted to it in stride outside of court Thursday afternoon, saying, "I’ve known that. That’s fine. That’s fine. I trust in the jury pool."

NBC10 Boston legal analyst Michael Coyne found the new target prudent: "I would be more cautious when empaneling this jury because of the problems I think we’re going to find, because of the extensive media. I would be more comfortable with 18, maybe 19, even as many as 20."

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16 Karen Read retrial jurors picked, but selection continues | 3rd-party culprit

The judge in Karen Read's retrial had been aiming to seat 16 jurors before beginning opening statements, but with the magic number reached on Thursday, jury selection will continue next week. Here's why, with courtroom insider Sue O'Connell, plus more of our deep dive into Read's third-party defense strategy. Send your questions for the show to Canton.Confidential@nbcuni.com.

All the jurors selected will listen to the testimony, but only 12 will be chosen to deliberate at the end of the trial. The rest will serves as alternates, replacing the regular jurors if any problem pops up, which does tend to happen, according to Coyne.

"They’re just naturally going to lose some in a long trial. You always lose some to medical emergency or employment issues," he said.

Forty-one potential jurors appeared in court Thursday, where they were given a brief overview of the case by Cannone before being asked a series of questions about their possible participation in the case.

Friday is expected to be an off day, but jury selection is expected to resume Monday. Read has said she thinks the trial will start Tuesday.

Read's legal team has asked the Supreme Court to delay the start of the trial after filing a petition to have two of her three charges dropped, continuing their double jeopardy argument, but the court declined Wednesday to stop the trial from getting underway.

The court will still consider her request to overturn two of the three charges against her at a hearing later in April.

Coyne is doubtful that appeal will go anywhere, since it's already been denied by multiple judges.

Karen Read loses Supreme Court bid to halt retrial with 1 juror seat left to fill

The Supreme Court won't stop Karen Read's retrial from going forward as she appeals to have two charges dropped — and the retrial is closing in, with 15 of 16 jurors selected. Here's what happened at Norfolk Superior Court on Wednesday and what courtroom insider Sue O'Connell makes of the jury selection process and people who've been selected so far. Plus, a look at ATF agent Brian Higgins, one of the two people who the defense will be allowed to argue is culpable for John O'Keefe's death through a third-party culprit defense — and expert Michael Coyne shares what that entails.

So far, eight men and seven women have been selected to the jury for Read's retrial -- hundreds of prospective jurors have been screened by the court. Of those, nearly 90% have admitted to knowing about the case, which has been widely publicized.

Despite the popularity impacting these early stages of the case, Read says her team is happy with who has been picked for the jury so far.

"I feel good about all of them, I feel good about all of them. Some I didn't and they're not our jurors, so that's all I can ask for is that I feel good," Read said. "It just takes one bad feeling and you think, 'Ugh god, is my life in this person's hands?' And I don't feel that way."

An alternate juror in trial number one, Victoria George, is helping the defense to select the jury. Chris Dearnborn, a former public defender and professor at Suffolk Law School, said she can bring unique insight to the defense team.

”There’s a perspective that person can bring to this case that is unparalleled. It’s like having somebody who sat on the first jury to tell you what worked, what wasn’t working," Dearborn said.

‘Who is Karen Read?' How all the publicity factors into her retrial

As the Karen Read retrial jury selection continues, with 12 of 16 jurors picked, our courtroom insider Sue O'Connell shares how the process feels different this time around and discusses the intense media attention since the mistrial. Plus, David Richard, a public relations expert at Emerson College, shares what the defense strategy behind the true crime series and other intense media coverage may be: "you have to be living under a rock, without internet service and a cellphone, to not know what's happening in Massachusetts with Karen Read."

Read is accused of killing her boyfriend, John O'Keefe, by backing into him with her SUV at a Canton home during a snowy night in 2022. Her defense team alleges that the true killer is being covered for, and Read is being framed.