Jury selection process begins for Karen Read's second murder trial
Apr 01, 2025
Karen Read’s second trial is about to get underway, with the jury selection process set to begin on Tuesday.
Read arrived at court shortly before 9 a.m., giving a thumbs up as she entered the building.
A lot of what happens in this trial is expected to look familiar from her first trial that
ended with a hung jury in 2024. However, there will be a few key differences that will set this retrial apart.
One of those differences will be in how Read’s team of attorneys can go about defending her.
She is charged with backing into her boyfriend, John O’Keefe — a Boston police officer — and leaving him to die in the snow outside of a Canton, Massachusetts, home in 2022. Her defense claims she is the target of a coverup at the hands of a group of corrupt police officers and their families.
During the first trial, a major element to her defense was a third party defense. Her attorneys tried pinning O’Keefe’s death on three others — Brian Albert, Colin Albert and Brian Higgins.
On Monday, however, presiding judge Beverly Cannone ruled that there is not enough evidence for the defense to try and blame Colin Albert. She added that if the defense wants to use third party defense against Brian Albert and Brian Higgins, they will need to provide additional evidence than what was presented during the first trial.
Ultimately, a jury will decide whether or not Read is guilty of killing O’Keefe, and the process of selecting those 12 individuals begins Tuesday.
“A lot of people say that they’re looking for a fair impartial to be able to put them on the panel,” NBC10 Boston legal analyst Michael Coyne said. “Ultimately, neither side is truly looking for a fair and impartial juror, what they’re really looking for are jurors that are likely able to agree with their version of the events.”
Supporters and opponents of Read will need to abide by a larger buffer zone surrounding Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, in an effort to ensure jurors can’t hear chanting or honking while inside the courtroom.
Jury selection begins at 9:30 a.m. ET. ...read more read less
