How the jury is being chosen in Read trial
11 of 16 members have been seated
DEDHAM — Do you conduct “regular business” in Canton? Have you ever donated money to an organization that opposes drunken driving? Would you be able to handle viewing graphic autopsy photos?
These are among the questions the court is asking potential jurors in the murder case against Karen Read, according to a sample juror questionnaire filed in Norfolk Superior Court on Wednesday. The document contains 29 questions and serves as a starting point for how the judge and attorneys in the case seek to sort through hundreds of potential jurors to pick the 16 who will sit for the high-profile trial to determine whether Read murdered her boyfriend, John O’Keefe.
The attorneys in the case and Judge Beverly J. Cannone trundled through more than four hours of jury selection on Wednesday, seating seven more jurors for a total of 11 so far, according to defense attorneys. Selection began Tuesday, when the court sat four jurors out of a pool of around 90, with 16 needed in total.
Jury selection will pick back up Thursday morning, though the pool of potential jurors will be much smaller, Cannone said.
Read, who has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and other charges, is staring down a trial that could take two months. Prosecutors say she drunkenly and intentionally backed her SUV over O’Keefe after dropping him off at a house party in Canton in the middle of a blizzard after a night of barhopping on Jan. 29, 2022. The couple’s relationship had been falling apart, prosecutors say, amid allegations of cheating.
Read, 44, of Mansfield, maintains she’s being framed as part of a massive police coverup and that O’Keefe was actually beaten by people at the party and left for dead. His body was discovered the following morning in the snowy front lawn of the home, which is owned by a fellow Boston police officer.
Jury selection has been ongoing since Tuesday. Each day, approximately 90 new jurors file in and hear the same patter from Cannone: “Our system of justice simply doesn’t work without you,” the judge intones as part of a lengthy soliloquy, walking the jurors through the facts of the case and telling them that despite the intense media focus, it will be decided in the courtroom.
Prosecutors and defense lawyers then introduce themselves to the jury pool. On Wednesday, Read did too, saying, “Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.”
Then, each day, Cannone has some questions, to which jurors are told to raise their individually numbered white card if the answer is yes. When asked if they’ve heard of the case, a ma
jority of hands fly up — about 70 of 90 on Tuesday and then just under 60 on Wednesday. The court officers read the juror numbers out loud to be recorded. Then the next questions: Has anyone formed an opinion about the case? And does anyone believe they have a bias against one side or the other?
Those questions draw fewer raised cards — about two dozen each day saying they have an opinion, and a dozen that they have a bias.
Next, they fill out the 29question form. Many of the questions are boilerplate of jury questionnaires, including whether the potential juror can be fair and impartial, whether they believe the defendant has to prove their innocence, and whether they have any religious or philosophical beliefs that could make it difficult to follow the law.
Multiple questions focus on attitudes around drunken driving, law enforcement, and domestic violence, as well as the fact that this is a sensational and controversial case that will continue to have significant media attention.
The survey asks if people have ever taken part in demonstrations that were either supportive or critical of law enforcement. It also asks if people have witnessed a car crash, have been in a relationship that included domestic violence, or if they’ve donated money to an antidrunk-driving organization such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
Another question reads, “Do you, any family members, or any close friends, reside in or conduct regular business in Canton, MA?” The town, residents have told the Globe, has been torn apart by the case.
People are meant to select “yes,” “no,” or “not sure” in response to each question. Both the prosecution and defense had submitted questions to the judge to build out the questionnaire, including many that were agreed upon, according to previous court filings.
After they have filled out the questionnaire, each is interviewed in sidebar, a quiet conversation between the prospective juror, Cannone, prosecutors Adam Lally and Laura McLaughlin, and defense attorneys Alan Jackson, David Yannetti, and Elizabeth Little. The court turns on a dull, steady white noise to help mask what they’re saying.
The only generally audible lines are sometimes after Cannone has sent a potential juror to go sit down while the attorneys discuss further, when she calls out informing them that they are excused from sitting on this jury.
And then they head out the back door of the courtroom, to be assembled into a group of about 10 for court staff and state troopers to walk back to the parking lot.
After the full jury — who are going to be randomly sorted into 12 jurors and four alternates — are impaneled, arguments will begin with opening statements.
The case has drawn heavy media coverage and become a topic of intense speculation.
Acting US Attorney Joshua S. Levy’s office convened a grand jury to investigate law enforcement’s handling of the case, and federal authorities have provided thousands of pages of sealed materials to prosecutors and Read’s defense team.
Protesters, pushed back from the courthouse by a “buffer” order from Cannone, continue to advocate that Read is innocent, all wearing pink in a show of support. There was not a large crowd outside the courthouse on Wednesday, though police barricades remained up.
Before prospective jurors entered the courtroom Tuesday, Cannone said from the bench that lawyers for Read won’t be permitted to raise a third-party culprit theory — the argument that someone else committed the crime — during opening statements but will have a chance “to develop it through relevant, competent, admissible evidence” as the trial progresses.
During a hearing on Friday, Read’s attorneys named three potential suspects who were in the Canton home on the night in question: the now-retired police officer who owned the home, his nephew, and a federal law enforcement agent who her attorneys say had a romantic interest in Read.
Lawyers for the men have said that they are not targets of the federal investigation, and none have been charged in connection with the case.