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Karen Read murder retrial day 2 has begun

Flint McColgan, Boston Herald on

Published in News & Features

BOSTON — Day two of the Karen Read murder retrial has begun, with attorneys hoping to add more members to the final jury pool.

On Tuesday, the first day, attorneys agreed to two potential jurors, a man and woman, to add to the final jury pool.

Read, 45, is accused of striking John O’Keefe, her boyfriend of two years and a 16-year Boston Police officer, with her car and leaving him to die in a major snowstorm on the front lawn of 34 Fairview Road in Canton on Jan. 29, 2022.

Norfolk Superior Court Clerk James McDermott opened court at around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday and Judge Beverly Cannone gave the full courtroom of potential jurors at the courthouse in Dedham a basic rundown of the case, including with a full reading of the 150 potential witnesses in the case and the “good faith” estimate that the trial will take six to eight weeks: “We realize it’s a long time and we realize it’s a lot to ask of you folks.”

She also stressed the importance of their service.

“As you know, jury service is probably the biggest civic duty that you have,” Cannone said.

Her messaging was the same as it was on the first day and informed the jurors that the burden of proof rests on the prosecution and that the verdict rests in the jury’s hands alone.

 

She began this with a quote from founding father and early President John Adams, who said that “The law must be deaf to the clamor of the public.”

She said that “while public comment will likely continue” the court must be a reliable and even system of justice.

The words were of particular note as Tuesday night a lawsuit was filed in federal court against Cannone for imposing a “buffer zone” around the courthouse in which case-specific speech is restricted. The argument for such a buffer zone is to limit the effect the extremely vocal and passionate protesters have on the minds of potential and actual jurors.

But those who filed suit argue that their First Amendment rights are being violated by not being closer to the courthouse.

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