Deliberations in Karen Read's second murder trial continued Tuesday, but jurors were unable to reach a verdict and were dismissed shortly before 4 p.m.
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WATCH HERE"It's been a long day for everybody," Judge Beverly Cannone said before dismissing the jury.
It was an eventful day too, with jurors sending the judge four questions about the case.
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SIGN UP The first three questions were received just before 11 a.m. Cannone told attorneys she would read them and then have a quick recess before attorneys made arguments concerning them.
The questions, which Cannone said were written on notecards, were:
- 1 - What is the timeframe for the OUI charge? Offense 002 Section 5 — OUI at 12:45 or OUI at 5 a.m.?
- 2 - Are video clips of Karen's interviews evidence? How can we consider them?
- 3 - Does convicting guilty on a subcharge — example Offense 2 #5 — convict the overall charge?
Cannone proposed some action, and gave the attorneys time to discuss.
Regarding question 1, Cannone and the attorneys determined there was no specific time listed in the indictment, so they would instruct the jurors that they are the "fact finders" in the case.
Regarding question 2, Cannone and the attorneys agreed the video clips are evidence. They debated the second half of how to consider the evidence. Cannone decided she would tell them, “Yes, the videos are evidence. You should weigh the defendant's statements as you would any other piece of evidence and give them whatever weight you deem appropriate.” She will also provide digital communications and humane practice instructions.
Defense attorney Alan Jackson had an objection — he wanted the jurors to be instructed to "give them whatever weight, if any, you deem appropriate." He argued this was because it was concerned about how much gravity the jurors might give the clips, compared to other evidence.
On question 3, the defense had suggestions for tweaking the verdict slip — a point that has been discussed previously. After debating the specific changes, Cannone agreed to the amended verdict slip. Jurors are being presented the amended slip, then walked through it to ensure clarity.
Jurors were brought back into the courtroom around noon and Cannone answered their questions before sending them back out to continue deliberating around 12:30 p.m.
After about an hour break, Cannone and the lawyers returned to the courtroom, with the judge saying jurors had asked another question — If we find not guilty on two charges but can’t agree on one charge is it a hung jury on all three charges or just one charge?
"I'm not going to have a back and forth with them," she said. "I'm just going to say that this is not a question I can answer."
Jackson, however, objected to this wording, saying he was concerned that not answering the question would leave the jury in the same position as the jury in Read's first trial last year.
Cannone agreed to add language saying it is a theoretical question, and not a question she can answer.
Photos: Scenes from outside the courtroom at the Karen Read trial
Court got underway at 9 a.m. Tuesday, with Cannone asking the jurors if they had been able to avoid discussing, reading about or doing any investigation into the case. Jurors were then sent off to continue deliberating.
Meanwhile, the crowd of Read's supporters has grown, and it's only expected to continue to do so on now that the jury has deliberated for two days. There is no court on Thursday due to the holiday, so many are expecting to learn something soon.
Dozens of Read supporters, dressed mostly in pink, are camped out waiting for the verdict. They gather behind barricades and across the courthouse each morning to catch a glimpse of Read. Once she has passed, the crowd retires to beach chairs where they swap stories and details about the case.
The crowd, some of whom come waving American flags or posters supporting Read or denigrating the prosecution, say they are here because Read could have been one of them. The tight-knit group of mostly women argues the Read case woke them up to a corrupt justice system, and they hope their movement can reform it.
Outside of court on Monday morning, Read told news media that she was feeling confident, but added that she felt frustrated over the format of the verdict slip, particularly the second charge, manslaughter while operating a motor vehicle under the influence of liquor.
Her team argued that the wording on the slip may cause confusion amongst the jury. It's similar to the verdict slip in the first trial, which ended in a mistrial.
Cannone on Monday denied the defense's motion regarding the slip, saying that the slip is currently consistent with Massachusetts law.
Read is accused of backing her SUV into and killing her boyfriend John O'Keefe, a Boston police officer, three years ago.
NBC10 Boston chief legal analyst Michael Coyne weighed in Monday on the amount of time that has passed since deliberations began.
"Timing doesn't mean as much as we might think," Coyne said. "When you look at verdicts generally, but especially high profile verdicts... the only thing you really can be certain about here is the longer the jury is out, the more likely you're going to have yet again, potentially a hung jury."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
