A judge in Massachusetts declared a mistrial on Monday in the high-profile murder case against Karen Read, the suburban woman who was accused of killing her boyfriend, a Boston police officer, after a night out drinking.
The circumstances surrounding the death of the boyfriend, John O’Keefe, during a blizzard in 2022 became an obsession for people in the Boston region and a global audience of true-crime fanatics, as well as conspiracy theorists who are certain that Ms. Read has been framed.
The jurors began deliberating early last week, and twice signaled to the court that they were having trouble reaching a unanimous verdict. In a note to Judge Beverly J. Cannone of Norfolk Superior Court on Monday morning, they wrote that they had “fundamental differences in our opinions,” and that “consensus is unattainable.”
The judge then read them last-ditch instructions about the importance of reaching a verdict. But hours later, the 12 jurors declared themselves deadlocked, and Judge Cannone declared a mistrial. Prosecutors said in a statement that they intended to try the case again.
In their final note to the judge on Monday afternoon, the jurors indicated that it was not a matter of a lone holdout.
“Our perspectives on the evidence are starkly divided,” the six men and six women wrote. “The deep division is not due to a lack of effort or diligence, but rather a sincere adherence to our individual principles and moral convictions.”
During the trial, lawyers for Ms. Read, 44, picked apart the prosecution’s assertion that she intentionally struck Mr. O’Keefe after a night out drinking in January 2022, leaving him to die of head injuries and hypothermia as a blizzard raged. They proposed an alternate theory: that after the couple had spent time at a local bar, Ms. Read dropped Mr. O’Keefe off at a late-night party hosted by another Boston police officer in Canton, Mass., where Mr. O’Keefe was fatally beaten and then dumped outside in the snow.
“The incontrovertible fact is, you have been lied to in this courtroom,” Alan Jackson, a lawyer for Ms. Read, said during closing arguments. “One lie begets another, and it’s a malignancy that grows — and that, folks, is how a cover-up is born.”
Ms. Read, who previously worked at an investment firm and taught college finance classes, pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder, vehicular manslaughter, and leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death. She faced penalties ranging from five to 20 years in prison for manslaughter, 10 years for leaving the scene, or life in prison for murder.
Prosecutors asserted that the couple had been fighting and that Mr. O’Keefe, 46, had recently tried to end the relationship. They told jurors that Ms. Read had repeatedly claimed responsibility for her boyfriend’s death in the first moments after his body was discovered, as described by several emergency responders who were called to the scene.
“‘I hit him, I hit him, I hit him, I hit him,’” Adam Lally, an assistant district attorney for Norfolk County, said during closing arguments. “Those are the words of the defendant, and you heard testimony from four witnesses who overheard those statements.”
Outside the courthouse after the mistrial was declared, Mr. Jackson said the defense team would continue to push back against the prosecution’s claims.
“We have no quit,” he told waiting members of the news media and staunch supporters of Ms. Read, who had waited outside for days as the jury deliberated.
Ms. Read embraced members of her family inside the courtroom after the judge told the jury that “your service is complete.” Judge Cannone ordered lawyers in the case to return to court on July 22 to discuss next steps.
In a statement, the office of Michael W. Morrissey, the Norfolk County district attorney, thanked the family of Mr. O’Keefe “for their commitment and dedication to this long process.”
“They maintained sight of the true core of this case — to find justice for John O’Keefe,” the statement read.
Daniel Medwed, a professor of law and criminology at Northeastern University, said he had anticipated that a hung jury might be possible because of the strong feelings about Ms. Read’s guilt or innocence. “Can you imagine prosecutors trying to push this boulder of a case uphill again?” he said. “Won’t it just slide back and crush them?”
The defense’s claim — that law enforcement officers conspired to cover up the true circumstances of Mr. O’Keefe’s death and instead frame Ms. Read for the murder — was embraced by a legion of believers, most with no personal ties to the defendant. They included many local residents, as well as people around the country who watched the trial daily online or on television and then flocked to social media to dissect the testimony.
Members of the Free Karen Read movement rallied outside Norfolk County Superior Court whenever the trial was in session and took their protests on the road on weekends. Their passion was encouraged by a local blogger, Aidan Kearney, known as Turtleboy, who championed Ms. Read’s cause and was charged last year with intimidating witnesses. He is due back in court this month.
Some 200 supporters of Ms. Read gathered near the courthouse on Monday in a driving rain, and cheered loudly when the mistrial was announced. Ms. Read did not speak outside the courthouse, but smiled slightly at the sight of the crowd.
“We love you, Karen!” someone yelled.
On the courthouse steps, one of Ms. Read’s lawyers, David Yannetti, thanked the members of the public who spent months insisting to anyone who would listen that she was innocent. “Your support was invaluable,” he said.
Close followers of the case obsessed over evidence, including shards of red plastic found near Mr. O’Keefe’s body, said to be from Ms. Read’s broken taillight; lacerations on his arm that skeptics said resembled dog bites; and a hotly contested Google search by a woman who was at the house party that night, asking how long it takes to die in the cold.
Experts said that several unusual facets of the case fueled public fascination, including the murder charge against a woman, the police-officer victim, the small-town setting and the elaborate conspiracy theory implicating law enforcement that was advanced by Ms. Read’s lawyers.
The state’s case was not helped by defense witnesses who testified that Mr. O’Keefe’s injuries were not consistent with those resulting from a vehicle strike — or by vulgar and misogynistic text messages sent by the lead investigator in the case, Michael Proctor, a Massachusetts state trooper. In texts sent to friends, the trooper joked about searching for nude photos on Ms. Read’s phone, mocked her health problems, critiqued her appearance and said he hoped she killed herself.
Still, the prosecution reminded jurors in closing arguments, the investigator’s “indefensible” texts did not discuss framing Ms. Read or planting evidence.
“Why? Because it didn’t happen,” Mr. Lally said.
Colleen Cronin contributed reporting from Dedham, Mass.
