(WASHINGTON) — Karen Read has filed an emergency petition with the Supreme Court seeking an immediate stay of her retrial — which has begun jury selection — pending review by the high court on her claims of constitutional violation.
“Read’s Petition contends that her scheduled retrial on two of the three counts pending against her, including a charge of second-degree murder, will violate the Double Jeopardy Clause because the jury in her first trial reached a final and unanimous, but unannounced, decision that she is not guilty of those charges.”
Read is accused of killing her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, in January 2022. Prosecutors alleged Read hit O’Keefe with her vehicle and left him to die as Boston was hit with a major blizzard. Read has denied the allegations and maintained her innocence.
She was charged with first-degree murder, manslaughter while operating a motor vehicle under the influence and leaving the scene of a fatal accident. She pleaded not guilty.
Read’s first trial ended in a mistrial last July after the jury deadlocked following five days of deliberations.
“Despite our rigorous efforts we find ourselves at an impasse,” Judge Beverly Cannone said, reading a note from the jury. “The deep division is not due to lack of consideration but to a severe adherence to our personal beliefs and moral compasses. To continue to deliberate would be futile.”
In response, Cannone stated, “Your service is complete. I am declaring a mistrial.”
Read’s attorneys have asked multiple appeals courts — and now the Supreme Court — to dismiss the charges of second-degree murder and leaving the scene of a fatal accident in the retrial. They argued in court filings that retrying her on the charges would violate double jeopardy protections because, based on subsequent statements from four jurors, the jury had reached a unanimous decision to acquit Read on the charges.
All of those requests have been rejected by judges.
The case has drawn national attention. “A Body in the Snow: The Trial of Karen Read,” a documentary about the case, premiered last month on Netflix.
There’s no timetable for the Supreme Court to rule on the emergency petition.
“Petitioner respectfully urges the Court to stay jury selection or, alternatively, the swearing of the jury in this matter until this Court has ruled on Read’s Petition,” the lawyers wrote in her filing.
Jury selection has been slow going. The process was expected to take weeks. On Monday, no new jurors were added after bringing in 45 candidates. Ten jurors were seated on the first week of jury selection, which started a week ago.
ABC News’ Meghan Mariani contributed to this report.
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