Judge denies defense motion to dismiss 2 charges in Karen Read case

(WJAR) — The judge in the Karen Read case has denied her defense team’s motion to dismiss two charges in her case.

Read is accused of killing her Boston police officer boyfriend John O’Keefe.

The defense team had argued that jurors had acquitted Read on two charges and that she should not be re-prosecuted.

They wanted the second-degree murder and leaving the scene charges dismissed after jurors revealed after the trial they agreed she was not guilty on those two charges.

But the jury was deadlocked on the manslaughter charge.

In court documents filed this week, Judge Beverly Cannone concluded that there was no acquittal of any charges in the first trial, saying “there is no risk of subjecting the defendant to double jeopardy by retrial on all the charges.”

NBC 10's legal analyst Mark Dana said he was surprised by the judge's decision.

"I’m surprised that she simply denied the motion, clearly there’s some confusion here and at the very least, it’s incumbent upon any judge to determine what that confusion is," he said. "They must have found her not guilty on the murder but were deadlocked on what we call the lesser included, which is manslaughter, they could have come back with that they found her not guilty on the murder... But I think the way it came out they were so confused on the jury form, they probably didn’t know they could do that."

Another expert said if the implied acquittal was allowed, the trial would be moving in another direction.

"This particular judge if she had ruled in their favor, she would be setting a particular precedent, so I’m not really surprised that she wanted to leave it up to the appeals court, assuming that the defense team will appeal,"Morjieta Derisier, an attorney at the Bay State Law Group, said.

Now the question is could a plea deal be presented after the discovery of this new information.

"If I had this case, and I knew there was some evidence out there that these jurors would come back not guilty on murder, I would definitely make an offer. The question is if the defense will take it,” Dana said.

Read’s first trial ended in a mistrial after five days of juror deliberations in July.

Legal experts predict that the Read's defense could possibly appeal Friday’s decision.

The new trial is scheduled for Jan. 27.

NBC 10's Kennedy Buck contributed to this report.

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