BOSTON — A choose declared a mistrial Monday after jurors deadlocked within the polarizing and much-watched case of Karen Learn, a girl accused of placing her Boston police officer boyfriend together with her SUV and leaving him to die in a snowstorm.
Prosecutors say they intend to retry the case by which the protection asserted that Learn had been framed by police.
On the fifth day of deliberation, jurors despatched Decide Beverly Cannone a observe saying they remained at an deadlock within the case involving the January 2022 dying 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.
RELATED: Issues to know concerning the Karen Learn homicide case, which has led to a mistrial
“People, that is what it seems to be like once you deliver false prices in opposition to an harmless particular person,” protection legal professional Alan Jackson informed reporters on the steps of the courthouse. “The commonwealth did their worst. They introduced the burden of the state primarily based on spurious prices, 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 a press release “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 prices within the dying of O’Keefe, a 16-year member of the Boston police who was discovered exterior a Canton residence 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 ingesting closely earlier than she dropped him off at a celebration on the residence of Brian Albert, a fellow officer. They mentioned she hit him together 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 attempting
The protection sought to painting Learn because the sufferer, saying O’Keefe was truly killed inside Albert’s residence 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 legislation enforcement officers on the occasion.
On Friday, a jury foreperson informed the choose that they hadn’t reached a unanimous verdict regardless of an “exhaustive overview of the proof.” The choose informed jurors to maintain attempting. 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 will be futile to proceed.
“The deep division is just not because of a scarcity of effort or diligence however reasonably a honest adherence to our particular person ideas 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 kinfolk.
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 buddies, household and fellow troopers through the investigation. He apologized for the language he used however insisted that they had 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 informed 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 resolution to open an inside affairs investigation after getting details about potential critical misconduct. As a part of the disciplinary course of, Proctor will face a listening to at which officers will resolve how you can proceed along with his employment.
Two skilled 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 concept that he was struck and injured by Learn’s 7,000-pound (3,175-kilogram) car.
O’Keefe had a major head harm and different accidents however lacked vital bruising or damaged bones sometimes related to being hit by a car on the pace 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 result wasn’t all they hoped for – and that she may very well be again in court docket once more.
“It is not 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 offered,” 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, recognized 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 is not the 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 take a look at the details 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 buddies they usually discovered the physique.
A number of witnesses testified the couple had a stormy relationship that had begun to bitter. Prosecutors offered 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.”
Copyright © 2024 by The Related Press. All Rights Reserved.