The latest on the Karen Read murder case
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Karen Read trial verdict slips: These are the choices before jurors
Judge Beverly Cannone denied a defense motion to amend the verdict slips after Read’s lawyers argued one form was “unclear and otherwise confusing.”
As jurors continue to deliberate Karen Read’s guilt or innocence, they have several choices ahead of them.
Read, 45, has pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating a motor vehicle under the influence, and leaving the scene of a fatal collision in the January 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe. Her lawyers have said she was framed in a coverup, the victim of a botched and biased investigation.
More on Karen Read:
Read’s OUI manslaughter charge also carries lesser included offenses of involuntary manslaughter, motor vehicle homicide, and operating under the influence of liquor. Her lawyers had asked Judge Beverly Cannone to amend the verdict slip for the OUI manslaughter charge, noting the form has four “guilty” options and only one “not guilty” option.
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“This imbalanced presentation visually favors the guilty options and risks creating bias towards a guilty verdict in degradation of Ms. Read’s rights, in addition to creating the risks of confusion and errors,” the defense wrote, also calling the verdict slip “unclear and otherwise confusing.”
Cannone disagreed Monday, ruling that the verdict slip is consistent with Massachusetts law and was provided to jurors Friday alongside a copy of the judge’s thorough jury instructions. Following Read’s mistrial last year, the defense reported hearing from several jurors that the supposedly deadlocked jury had informally agreed to acquit her of the murder and leaving-the-scene charges before reaching an impasse on the OUI manslaughter count.
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Read and her team said they hoped to avoid any possible confusion this time around.
“I think what happened last year with the same verdict form explains that the jurors themselves found it confusing, and they said as much,” Read told reporters Monday, per video from WCVB’s David Bienick. “So we just wanted to avoid that again, and apparently the court is not concerned.”
However, Cannone ultimately supplied jurors with an amended verdict slip for Read’s OUI manslaughter count Tuesday in her answer to the jury’s question about whether convicting Read of a lesser included offense also convicts her of the main charge.
The updated verdict slip should be “a little bit easier for you to follow,” Cannone told jurors, instructing them to work through the form from the top down.
Read the original verdict slips:
Read the amended verdict slip for OUI manslaughter:
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