Attorneys for Karen Read filed a 77-page brief with the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on Wednesday as they try to get two criminal charges dropped, arguing that the state’s continued push to retry her would amount to unconstitutional double jeopardy.
The Bay State’s highest court agreed last week to review the Read murder case after the 44-year-old Mansfield woman’s lawyers filed an appeal challenging Norfolk Superior Court Judge Beverly Cannone’s decision not to dismiss two of three charges against her: second-degree murder and leaving the scene of a deadly crash.
Read’s trial ended in July when hopelessly deadlocked jurors told Cannone they couldn’t come to a unanimous decision, leading to a mistrial.
The SJC set a deadline no later than Sept. 25 for Read’s legal team to file a principal brief on the case. Prosecutors have until Oct. 16 to file their brief.
In the brief, Attorneys Martin Weinberg, Michael Pabian, Alan Jackson, and David Yannetti argue that Read’s double jeopardy protections have been violated because several jurors who came forward after the mistrial indicated that Read was found not guilty of the two charges in question.