Thursday marked a third day of jury deliberations in the Karen Read murder trial without a verdict.
Read is charged with second-degree murder in the January 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe. She’s accused of dropping him off at another officer’s house party in Canton, Massachusetts, after a night of drinking, and then hitting him with her SUV and leaving him to die in a snowstorm.
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Her defense team argues she was framed, and that the evidence shows O’Keefe was beaten up by someone else inside the house, bitten by a dog and left outside.
It was a tense day inside the courtroom Wednesday as the defense also went head-to-head with the judge over the charges jurors are considering.
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There was a very contentious exchange over the verdict slips between the defense team and Judge Beverly Cannone.
"Alright, so why are we out here?" Cannone asked defense attorney Alan Jackson.
"Your honor, I just saw the verdict form and as we discussed yesterday, the amendments that the court indicated — you didn’t make them," said Jackson.
"Oh, no, no. OK I didn't say I would make it. I said I would think about it. I said I was tired, and I needed to think about it," said Cannone. "Alright, excuse me, this is funny, Ms. Read? Alright, we're done."
Cannone admonished Read for apparently laughing during this exchange.
Jackson was upset that there was not a "not guilty" box for jurors to check on two of the lesser included charges Read is facing — motor vehicle homicide and involuntary manslaughter.
They eventually resolved the issue and sent the updated form back to the jury.
Throughout the day, the jury had a couple of questions, including asking to see the "SERT" report from when Massachusetts State Police searched the property at 34 Fairview Road, where O'Keefe's body was found.
Cannone told them simply that all evidence has been provided.
International jury consultant David Davis says in a case like this, it can be hard to predict how long deliberations may take.
"In a long trial, jurors are often very conscience and feel like they should take their time and go through the questions they have to answer and look through the instructions and review the evidence and that can make the deliberations last longer," said Davis.
The jury began its third day of deliberations around 9 a.m. Thursday.
