A Massachusetts decide has scheduled the retrial in Karen Learn’s homicide case for early subsequent yr, three weeks after declaring a mistrial within the high-profile case.
Learn was accused of killing her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, in January 2022. Prosecutors allege she hit O’Keefe along with her automotive and left him to die in the course of a snowstorm after the 2 acquired into an argument earlier within the day.
Decide Beverly Cannone declared a mistrial within the case on July 1 after the jury mentioned it was unable to achieve a unanimous consensus on the fifth day of deliberations. The Norfolk District Legal professional’s Workplace mentioned following the mistrial that it deliberate to retry the case.
Throughout a standing listening to on Monday, Cannone proposed Jan. 14, 2025, for a pretrial convention and Jan. 27, 2025, as the brand new trial date.
Each events agreed to the date, though one of many protection attorneys raised a possible concern as a result of that date’s proximity to a different case he has scheduled for trial in January.
Karen Learn seems in courtroom in Dedham, Massachusetts, July 22, 2024.
TVU
Cannone additionally scheduled a listening to on Aug. 9 for oral arguments on the protection’s movement to dismiss a few of the expenses.
“I assume no matter I ended up doing on the movement to dismiss will likely be appealed,” Cannone mentioned, including that she scheduled the trial date in January 2025 “in an effort to ensure we now have loads of time.”
Learn had pleaded not responsible to second-degree homicide, manslaughter whereas working a motorized vehicle below the affect and leaving the scene of a deadly accident. Learn’s attorneys have requested the decide to dismiss the costs of second-degree homicide and leaving the scene of a deadly accident when the case goes to trial once more.
In courtroom paperwork filed within the wake of the mistrial, her attorneys wrote that 4 jurors have come ahead to report the jury discovered Learn not responsible of these two expenses.
“There was no manifest necessity for a mistrial as to these counts, and subsequently the Double Jeopardy protections of the federal and state Constitutions require that these counts not be retried,” Learn’s protection lawyer Alan Jackson wrote in courtroom paperwork.
Karen Learn departs Norfolk Superior Court docket along with her lawyer David Yannetti, proper, following a listening to in Dedham, MA, July 22, 2024.
Charles Krupa/AP
The case has garnered nationwide consideration. Giant crowds, each in assist and towards Learn, had gathered outdoors the courthouse forward of Monday’s listening to.
Learn has strenuously denied the allegations, and her legal professionals alleged {that a} fellow police officer was concerned in O’Keefe’s demise and colluded with others in a cover-up.
Following the preliminary trial, a Massachusetts State Police officer who was speaking with a Canton police officer through the demise investigation was suspended. The Canton police officer — who’s the brother of the person who hosted the occasion on the home the place O’Keefe’s physique was discovered outdoors — was additionally positioned on paid administrative go away, in keeping with Boston ABC affiliate WCVB.