Karen Read retrial date set for January with hearing in August
- Karen Read is accused of intentionally hitting husband with car
- Her defense attorneys say Read is victim of police cover-up
- Read's initial trial ended with deadlocked jury
(NewsNation) — A retrial date for the woman charged with killing her Boston police officer boyfriend has been set for Jan. 27, 2025.
Along with the new trial date, Massachusetts Judge Beverly J. Cannone also scheduled an Aug. 9 hearing for a defense motion to dismiss two of the charges against Karen Read.
Read had her initial two-month trial end after jurors became deadlocked. Cannone declared a mistrial on the fifth day of deliberations.
Read is accused of hitting John O’Keefe with her SUV and leaving him for dead during a January 2022 snowstorm. O’Keefe was found unresponsive in a snowbank outside of a fellow police officer’s home in suburban Boston and pronounced dead at a local hospital after suffering from hypothermia and a head injury, according to police.
Prosecutors said Read and O’Keefe were together at two different bars drinking before she dropped him off at the residence. While prosecutors say Read struck him intentionally, her attorneys say she was the victim of a police cover-up.
Read pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence and leaving the scene of a collision causing death.
A second-degree murder conviction could result in life in prison.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.