BOSTON — A choose declared a mistrial Monday after jurors deadlocked within the polarizing and much-watched case of Karen Learn, a girl accused of hanging her Boston police officer boyfriend along with her SUV and leaving him to die in a snowstorm.
Prosecutors say they intend to retry the case wherein the protection asserted that Learn had been framed by police.
On the fifth day of deliberation, jurors despatched Choose Beverly Cannone a observe saying they remained at an deadlock within the case involving the January 2022 loss of life of John O’Keefe. Inside moments, a trial that had lasted two months and featured over 600 items of proof and greater than 70 witnesses was over.
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“People, that is what it appears to be like like if you carry false fees in opposition to an harmless individual,” protection lawyer Alan Jackson instructed reporters on the steps of the courthouse. “The commonwealth did their worst. They introduced the load of the state primarily based on spurious fees, primarily based on compromised investigation and investigators and compromised witnesses. Guess what, they failed.”
Norfolk District Legal professional Michael Morrissey thanked the O’Keefe household in an announcement “for his or her dedication and dedication to this lengthy course of.”
“They maintained sight of the true core of this case – to seek out justice for John O’Keefe,” Morrissey mentioned.
Learn, a former adjunct professor at Bentley Faculty, confronted second-degree homicide and different fees within the loss of life of O’Keefe, a 16-year member of the Boston police who was discovered exterior a Canton house of one other Boston police officer. An post-mortem discovered O’Keefe died of hypothermia and blunt power trauma.
Prosecutors mentioned Learn and O’Keefe had been consuming closely earlier than she dropped him off at a celebration on the house of Brian Albert, a fellow officer. They mentioned she hit him along with her SUV earlier than driving away.
RELATED: Jury says they can not agree on whether or not Karen Learn was a assassin; choose tells them to maintain making an attempt
The protection sought to painting Learn because the sufferer, saying O’Keefe was really killed inside Albert’s house after which dragged exterior. They argued that investigators centered on Learn as a result of she was a “handy outsider” who saved them from having to think about different suspects, together with Albert and different regulation enforcement officers on the celebration.
On Friday, a jury foreperson instructed the choose that they hadn’t reached a unanimous verdict regardless of an “exhaustive overview of the proof.” The choose instructed jurors to maintain making an attempt. On Monday morning, jurors mentioned they have been at an deadlock, however the choose requested them to proceed deliberating. Within the afternoon, they mentioned it could be futile to proceed.
“The deep division just isn’t as a consequence of an absence of effort or diligence however moderately a honest adherence to our particular person rules or ethical convictions,” the jury mentioned in a observe learn by the choose in court docket.
O’Keefe’s mom cried after the mistrial was declared, whereas Learn hugged her father and different family members.
The decision is a win for the protection, which hammered prosecution witnesses over shoddy police work and conflicts of curiosity involving investigators and witnesses. Police acknowledged utilizing crimson plastic cups to gather blood proof and a leaf blower to attempt to clear away snow to disclose proof. The lead investigator acknowledged making crude statements about Learn in texts from his private cellphone.
A turning level within the case got here when State Trooper Michael Proctor, the lead investigator on the case, took the stand. He acknowledged sending offensive texts about Learn to mates, household and fellow troopers in the course of the investigation. He apologized for the language he used however insisted they’d no affect on the investigation.
In his texts, he referred to as Learn a number of names, together with “whack job.” At one level, he texted his sister that he wished Learn would “kill herself,” which he instructed jurors was a determine of speech. And regardless of having relationships with a number of witnesses, he remained on the case.
On Monday, Massachusetts State Police relieved Proctor of responsibility, saying the transfer adopted the company’s earlier determination to open an inside affairs investigation after getting details about potential severe misconduct. As a part of the disciplinary course of, Proctor will face a listening to at which officers will determine the way to proceed together with his employment.
Two professional witnesses employed by the U.S. Division of Justice throughout an investigation of police dealing with of the case testified for the protection, offering a scientific evaluation for his or her conclusion that O’Keefe’s accidents and the bodily proof did not sync with the prosecution principle that he was struck and injured by Learn’s 7,000-pound (3,175-kilogram) car.
O’Keefe had a major head damage and different accidents however lacked vital bruising or damaged bones usually related to being hit by a car on the velocity indicated by GPS and the SUV’s onboard laptop.
Whereas the drama performed out in a courtroom, dozens of Learn’s supporters wearing pink gathered every day exterior, carrying “Free Karen Learn” indicators and mobbing her when she arrived every day. A smaller group of people that wished Learn convicted additionally turned up.
Learn supporters cheered after phrase obtained out of the mistrial, however they acknowledged that the end result wasn’t all they hoped for – and that she might be again in court docket once more.
“It isn’t the decision we have been hoping for, we have been hoping for a not responsible verdict. That’s what this jury ought to have returned with the proof that was introduced,” Rita Lombardi, a Canton resident who has described herself as being a part of the “sidewalk jury.” “However we settle for the hung jury, we settle for the mistrial.”
Aidan Timothy Kearney, identified on-line as Turtleboy and whose web site and social media posts have attacked the prosecution’s case for months, referred to as the ruling “bittersweet.”
“It isn’t the end result that we wished. I wished full vindication,” he mentioned. “However in my thoughts, the truth that so many individuals in that jury clearly are conscious, the bulk clearly is with Karen Learn. It is a small minority that’s simply cussed and will not have a look at the information and will not be neutral and it is simply judging her primarily based on not liking her.”
Prosecutors relied on a number of first responders who testified that Learn admitted that she hit O’Keefe – saying “I hit him” – in addition to proof that Learn was legally intoxicated or near it eight hours later, after she returned to the home with mates they usually discovered the physique.
A number of witnesses testified the couple had a stormy relationship that had begun to bitter. Prosecutors introduced offended texts between the couple hours earlier than O’Keefe died. In addition they performed voice messages from Learn to O’Keefe that have been left after she allegedly struck him, together with one left minutes afterward saying, “John I (expletive) hate you.”
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