“It suggests that at least more than one person was on each side,” said Tracy Miner, a longtime criminal defense lawyer who has handled public corruption and murder cases. “It does not appear to be a one juror holdout for either side.”
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Miner said she didn’t think Read or her supporters “thought they would get anything but a not-guilty verdict” and the outcome of the trial served as “a wake-up call.”
The jury’s note should give the prosecution and Read’s lawyers reason to pause before a retrial and re-examine the decisions they made about what witnesses to call and how to question them, according to Miner and other legal specialists.
“Nobody wants to try such a case again,” said Brian T. Kelly, an attorney and former federal prosecutor, citing the time, energy, and resources already invested in a two-month trial. “It’s like putting on a wet bathing suit.”
Yet, both sides signaled Monday that there won’t be any plea deals or the dropping of charges, setting the stage for a second trial.
Minutes after Judge Beverly Cannone granted a mistrial, Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey issued a statement vowing to retry Read for the 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston police Officer John O’Keefe.
Prosecutors allege an intoxicated Read backed her SUV into O’Keefe in January 2022 outside the Canton home of another Boston police officer, then left him to die in the cold. She is charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence of alcohol, and leaving a scene of personal injury and death.
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Read’s lawyers say she is the victim of a police coverup. They allege O’Keefe was murdered inside the other officer’s home and dumped outside during a snowstorm.
Outside the courthouse Monday, Read’s attorneys said prosecutors brought false charges against an innocent person and “failed miserably.” They vowed to keep fighting until she’s cleared of all charges.
Steven Sack, a longtime Boston criminal defense attorney, said the mistrial ruling largely is “a loss for everyone.”
No one wants to retry a two-month trial, or expend the resources to do it over, he said. On the flip side, Sack said, “any time a person isn’t convicted and doesn’t go to jail, that’s a win for the defense.”
For now, the inability of the jury to render a verdict is, indeed, a victory for Read, said Daniel Conley, former Suffolk district attorney and now a partner at Mintz.
“It’s certainly not a victory for the prosecution,” said Conley, noting that the only victory for prosecutors would have been a conviction. “But both sides will likely learn from this trial.”
Each side will have the benefit of reviewing trial transcripts, analyzing witness testimony, and sharpening their questions for the next trial. No date has been set, but the judge has scheduled a hearing on the case for July 22.
“I really don’t see a big advantage to either side [going into a retrial] except they’re going to be able to really dissect this and think about strategy and what may have persuaded more jurors toward their side,” Conley said.
Kelly said a mistrial usually benefits the defense “because they’ve basically had a dry run against the prosecution’s witnesses so they can use that to their advantage in the second trial.”
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However, he said a new trial also gives the prosecution an opportunity to revise its approach to the case “and if they’ve made mistakes or strategic errors they can avoid them the second time around. They can even decide not to use certain witnesses if they believe those witnesses weren’t helpful.”
Miner, who has represented two clients who were acquitted following a retrial, said the jury’s note should compel both sides to look at the decisions they made during the first trial because “not just one outlier” resulted in a deadlocked jury.
“I think people are very inflamed and they are very divided and they lock into their positions,” Miner said. “Reason and discourse does not prevail.”
Still, she said historically after a mistrial, another jury is able to reach a verdict at a retrial. And, she said, despite the avalanche of publicity, a unanimous decision should be reached in Read’s second trial.
“Maybe it will be less high-profile the next time because everyone has already heard about it,” she said.
Shelley Murphy can be reached at shelley.murphy@globe.com. Follow her @shelleymurph. Sean Cotter can be reached at sean.cotter@globe.com. Follow him @cotterreporter. Tonya Alanez can be reached at tonya.alanez@globe.com. Follow her @talanez.
