BOSTON (AP) — Attorneys for Karen Read filed a motion to the state’s highest court Thursday in an attempt to bolster earlier arguments that two of her charges in the death of her Boston police officer boyfriend should be dismissed.
Their brief was in response to one filed by prosecutors earlier this month to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, arguing against dropping the charges of second-degree murder and leaving the scene — leaving only a manslaughter charge.
Read is accused of ramming into John O’Keefe with her SUV and leaving him to die in a snowstorm in January 2022. Read’s attorneys argue she is being framed and that other law enforcement officers are responsible for O’Keefe’s death. A judge declared a mistrial in June after finding that jurors couldn’t reach an agreement. A retrial on the same charges is set to begin in January.
The defense brief argues that trying Read again on charges of second-degree murder and leaving the scene would be unconstitutional double jeopardy.