Karen Learn acquitted in 2nd homicide trial : NPR

[ad_1] <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/8211x5474+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc8%2Fba%2Fe44ea2e344d4baeb46961908fde9%2Fap25164699725746.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/8211x5474+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc8%2Fba%2Fe44ea2e344d4baeb46961908fde9%2Fap25164699725746.jpg" class="img" alt="Karen Read is surrounded by reporters as she and her legal team leave the courthouse." fetchpriority="high"/> Karen Learn is surrounded by reporters as she and her authorized crew depart the Dedham, Mass., courthouse on Friday, when the jury started deliberations. Josh Reynolds/AP conceal caption

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Josh Reynolds/AP A Massachusetts jury has discovered Karen Learn not responsible within the demise of her police officer boyfriend, three years and two high-profile trials later.

The jury delivered their verdict on Wednesday, discovering Learn responsible just one cost: working a car underneath the affect. As she was cleared of probably the most critical fees, Learn hugged her legal professionals — as booming cheers may very well be heard from the gang gathered exterior.

Learn, 45, was accused of killing John O'Keefe in January 2022 by hitting him along with her Lexus SUV and leaving him to die within the snow after an evening of heavy ingesting. Her protection crew blamed O'Keefe's fellow regulation enforcement officers for killing him in a home combat and dragging his physique exterior, then tampering with proof as a way to body Learn.

Learn had pleaded not responsible to all three fees: second-degree homicide, manslaughter whereas working underneath the affect and leaving the scene of a collision leading to demise.

Learn's first trial led to a mistrial in July 2024 after jurors have been unable to succeed in a unanimous verdict. Her second trial, which started in April, included 31 days of testimony, a mixed 49 witnesses and loads of dramatic moments earlier than jurors started deliberations on Friday.

The second time round, Learn's legal professionals argued that the police investigation was so flawed and biased that prosecutors could not even show Learn had hit O'Keefe along with her automobile. Protection legal professional Alan Jackson kicked off his closing argument by saying: "There was no collision. There was no collision. There was no collision."

Prosecutors did not attempt to persuade jurors that Learn supposed to homicide O'Keefe, simply that she deliberately reversed her automobile regardless of realizing it might kill him.

"She would not even must know she hit him, however she did," prosecutor Hank Brennan stated in his closing argument. "She did, and he or she left a person who was type and beneficiant and considerate, she left him alone. She left him alone to die."

Essentially the most critical of the costs dealing with Learn, second-degree homicide, carries a sentence of life imprisonment.

A refresher on the case Some information of the case are undisputed: O'Keefe, 46, was a 16-year veteran of the Boston Police Division who was elevating his niece and nephew. Learn, now 45, had labored as an fairness analyst and adjunct professor at her alma mater, Bentley College.

The pair had been courting for about two years on the evening of Jan. 28, 2022, once they went out ingesting within the Boston suburb of Canton.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/1440x863+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F29%2Fc4%2F49521e4342959bff69c3004d032d%2Fap25125680114378.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/1440x863+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F29%2Fc4%2F49521e4342959bff69c3004d032d%2Fap25125680114378.jpg" class="img" alt="A photograph of John O'Keefe is displayed during questioning in Karen Read's trial in May." loading="lazy"/> {A photograph} of John O'Keefe is displayed throughout questioning in Karen Learn's trial in Could. Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe through AP conceal caption

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Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe through AP Shortly after midnight, Learn dropped O'Keefe off at a gathering on the dwelling of Brian Albert, a now-retired Boston police officer. Round 6 a.m. the subsequent morning, after O'Keefe did not return dwelling or reply to calls, Learn and two different girls discovered him mendacity unresponsive within the snow exterior Albert's home.

O'Keefe was pronounced useless at a neighborhood hospital two hours later, together with his reason behind demise later dominated blunt affect accidents to the pinnacle and hypothermia. Police stated later that they'd discovered drops of blood, a damaged cocktail glass and shards from Learn's automobile's taillight on the scene.

Over the course of each trials, either side sought to fill within the gaps with their competing narratives.

Prosecutors alleged that Learn and O'Keefe's relationship had grown strained, and that they'd been preventing that evening. They stated she hit him whereas making a three-point end up of Albert's driveway and left him for useless in the midst of a blizzard.

They pointed to offended voicemails Learn left O'Keefe after dropping him off, and her feedback on the scene the subsequent morning. An emergency responder testified that upon discovering O'Keefe's physique, Learn repeatedly stated: "I hit him." Learn has since stated in interviews that she was phrasing it as a query and couldn't have hit him, even unintentionally.

Learn's legal professionals alleged that after she dropped O'Keefe off, a number of cops beat him up throughout a combat inside Albert's dwelling, then dumped him exterior.

They cited forensic consultants who stated O'Keefe's accidents — and the injury to Learn's automobile — have been inconsistent with a collision. Additionally they argued O'Keefe had been attacked by Albert's German shepherd, citing accidents on his arm that consultants testified have been indicative of canine bites.

They stated both Learn broke her taillight by hitting O'Keefe's parked automobile whereas exiting the driveway at his home as she left to search for him, or state police tampered with it after seizing her automobile as a way to plant proof on the crime scene.

Learn's legal professionals cited examples of sloppy, if not suspicious, policing within the rapid aftermath, from officers scooping up blood samples in borrowed plastic cups to not looking inside Albert's home. They are saying the following investigation was equally unsound, leading to no bodily or medical proof to show O'Keefe was even hit by a automobile.

Each side agree that one of many folks on the gathering — Jennifer McCabe, Albert's sister-in-law and O'Keefe's buddy — searched on-line for "hos [sic] lengthy to die in chilly" that morning, however disagreed on precisely when that occurred.

The protection argued that the search was time-stamped 2:27 a.m., hours earlier than O'Keefe was discovered useless. However the prosecution argued that the search was truly made round 6:24 a.m., after his physique was found. Two consultants for the prosecution corroborated that in the course of the second trial, and famous that the search was made in a browser that had been opened at 2:27 a.m.

Highlights from the second trial <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/2000x1298+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F5a%2F0c%2F371acc134f2ea3922181e373b8f8%2Fap25162711352664.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/2000x1298+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F5a%2F0c%2F371acc134f2ea3922181e373b8f8%2Fap25162711352664.jpg" class="img" alt="Still images from a reconstruction test show the shattering of an SUV taillight displayed during the Karen Read retrial in Norfolk Superior Court in June." loading="lazy"/> Nonetheless pictures from a reconstruction take a look at present the shattering of an SUV taillight, displayed in the course of the Karen Learn retrial in Norfolk Superior Court docket in June. Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger through AP conceal caption

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Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger through AP Learn's second trial examined a lot of the identical proof, witnesses and questions as the primary, with some exceptions.

Learn herself by no means took the stand, although prosecutors within the second trial often performed video clips from interviews she had completed for the reason that first. The intervening months noticed rising nationwide curiosity in Learn's case, fueled partially by intensive media protection and an HBO docuseries.

The second trial featured dozens of witnesses, from regulation enforcement to forensic consultants to O'Keefe's family members — together with his mother, in addition to a number of pals who have been with him that evening.

It was equally full of notable storylines, from dueling demonstrations exterior the courthouse (forcing the decide to increase the buffer zone) to an air con debacle (it was too loud, so warmth delayed the proceedings) to the protection's two unsuccessful motions for a mistrial (extra on that under).

One of the crucial notable variations between the 2 trials was who didn't seem on the second: Michael Proctor, the previous Massachusetts state trooper who was the lead investigator within the case and the commonwealth's star witness the primary time round.

Within the first trial, Proctor admitted from the stand that he had despatched sexist and crude texts about Learn to pals, household and coworkers — together with mocking her medical situation, joking about discovering nude pictures and wishing she would "kill herself." Nevertheless, he insisted they'd "zero affect on the information and proof and integrity of the investigation." He stated the identical was true about his friendships with members of the Albert household, which Learn's legal professionals argued was a battle of curiosity.

Proctor was suspended with out pay days later. In March 2025 — simply weeks earlier than the second trial started — he was dishonorably discharged after the State Police Trial Board discovered him responsible of unsatisfactory efficiency and consumption of alcohol on obligation, a call his lawyer has stated they're interesting. Whereas he wasn't within the room in the course of the second trial, Proctor was referenced repeatedly.

"This case was corrupted from the beginning," Jackson, the protection lawyer, stated in closing arguments. "It was corrupted by biases and conflicts and private loyalties that you just heard about, and most fatally, it was corrupted by a lead investigator whose misconduct contaminated each single a part of this case from the highest to the underside."

The specter of one other mistrial <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/1440x955+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fd1%2F3d%2F2798032545d48252d984582a6aca%2Fap25160569443300.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/1440x955+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fd1%2F3d%2F2798032545d48252d984582a6aca%2Fap25160569443300.jpg" class="img" alt="Karen Read sits in her retrial in Norfolk Superior Court on June 9." loading="lazy"/> Karen Learn sits in her retrial in Norfolk Superior Court docket on June 9. Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe through AP conceal caption

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Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe through AP Learn's first trial led to a hung jury, forcing Choose Beverly Cannone to declare a mistrial. The jury of six males and 6 girls declared themselves at an deadlock after a number of days of deliberation, unable to succeed in a unanimous verdict on all three fees.

"The divergence in our views will not be rooted in a lack of expertise or effort however deeply held convictions that every of us carry, finally main to some extent the place consensus is unattainable," they wrote in a letter to Cannone.

After the trial ended, nonetheless, a number of jurors got here ahead to say they'd all agreed that Learn was not responsible of homicide or leaving the scene, however had been confused about methods to ship a partial verdict.

Learn's legal professionals then filed a number of appeals — all the best way to the Supreme Court docket — arguing that double jeopardy ought to stop Learn from being retried on the costs the jury had allegedly agreed on. Their efforts have been unsuccessful, paving the best way for Learn's retrial this spring.

Even because the second trial performed out, Learn's crew tried twice to get Cannone to declare a mistrial, motions that she rejected.

The primary request, in early June, adopted the second day of questioning of a protection skilled witness about whether or not there was proof of canine DNA on O'Keefe's sweatshirt — which had not been offered to the jury till that time.

The next week, Learn's attorneys accused Brennan, the prosecutor, of pulling a "stunt" by asking a witness if holes at the back of that sweatshirt might have been brought on by a backwards fall. Brennan later instructed the courtroom he had made a mistake, and the decide confirmed to jurors that the holes had been made by a criminologist who had examined the proof after the actual fact.

After the protection rested its case on June 11, Learn instructed reporters exterior the courthouse that she felt her case was robust however nonetheless anxious about attainable confusion on the a part of the jury, saying it might be necessary to have an "even keener eye" on the directions and verdict type given to them.

On Friday afternoon, shortly after the jury started deliberations, Learn's crew filed a movement to vary the decision slip for the manslaughter cost, arguing in favor of including particular person "not responsible" bins for every of the 4 counts, versus a single "not responsible" field. Cannone denied the movement with no listening to, in accordance with CBS Information, writing that the slip "is according to Massachusetts regulation."