The decision happened on the fifth day of jury discussions after a nine-week trial near Boston. Read's lawyers argued that John O'Keefe, 46, was killed in a cover-up by law enforcement officers.
Prosecutors claimed that Read, 44, had a rocky relationship with O'Keefe, and that it ended with her hitting him with her Lexus SUV and leaving him to die on January 29, 2022.
Read was charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter with a vehicle while driving drunk, and leaving the scene of a crash that caused a death.
On Monday afternoon, the jury foreman sent a note to Judge Beverly Cannone of Norfolk County Superior Court, stating that despite their hard work, the jury of six men and six women couldn't reach a unanimous decision. Some jurors thought the evidence was enough to convict Read, while others felt the prosecutors hadn't proven their case.
In an earlier note, the jurors told the judge that, despite their dedication to their duty, they were strongly divided by major differences in their opinions and perspectives.
After declaring a mistrial, Judge Cannone scheduled a status hearing for the case later this month.
In a statement, the district attorney's office thanked O'Keefe's family and said they plan to retry the case.
Outside the courthouse, Read's lawyer, Alan Jackson, told reporters that the prosecutors had used investigators and an investigation that were not trustworthy.
He stated, "We will continue to fight."
O'Keefe was discovered unconscious that morning and was later declared deceased. The medical examiner determined that his death was caused by head injuries from blunt force trauma and hypothermia.
Her lawyers claimed that police officers conspired to falsely incriminate her, suggesting they were trying to cover up a beating O'Keefe allegedly endured at a gathering in the home where he was found dead.
The defense claimed that Massachusetts state Trooper Michael Proctor, the main investigator in the case, tampered with evidence, did not conduct a thorough investigation into O'Keefe's death, and sent derogatory and offensive messages about Read to his acquaintances, family, and supervisors.
During his closing argument last Tuesday, Norfolk County Assistant District Attorney Adam Lally admitted that Proctor's text messages were "indefensible," but he argued that they did not affect the integrity of the agency's investigation.
Lally rejected the defense's accusation of a cover-up as unfounded speculation.
According to Lally, Read consistently informed first responders that she had struck O'Keefe. Vehicle data also indicated that her SUV had reversed for 62 feet at 24 mph near the residence of another officer, Brian Albert, shortly after midnight on January 29th.
Lally stated that there was physical evidence supporting the claim that Read hit O'Keefe, such as a broken taillight that authorities said occurred during the collision, as well as hair and DNA from O'Keefe found on the back part of the vehicle.
Lally mentioned that no one who was present at the gathering remembered seeing O'Keefe inside Albert's house.
Defense lawyer Alan Jackson argued that the taillight was damaged after Read dropped off O'Keefe at Albert's house, went back home, and then panicked hours later upon realizing her boyfriend hadn't come back.
According to Jackson, the defense showed security footage from O'Keefe's home depicting Read reversing her SUV into her boyfriend's vehicle as she left to search for him. Data from O'Keefe's iPhone indicated that the device had recorded several steps around the time prosecutors claimed he was hit, implying that these steps might have been towards the basement of Albert's residence.
Read's lawyers were permitted to propose an alternative explanation for O'Keefe's death, different from the prosecution's theory. They suggested that an agent from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, who had exchanged flirtatious texts with Read, could be a potential suspect in O'Keefe's death.
Jackson proposed that the agent, Brian Higgins, became upset after Read ignored him at a bar before the gathering at Albert's home. Jackson suggested that at Albert's house, there might have been a confrontation between Higgins and O'Keefe regarding Read, which could have resulted in O'Keefe falling and hitting his head.
Higgins stated in his testimony that he did not see O'Keefe inside Albert's home and clarified that he was not upset about being ignored by Read.
As reported by The Associated Press, a forensic engineer who assessed how law enforcement handled the case for the Department of Justice testified that O'Keefe's injuries would have been more serious if he had been hit by a vehicle traveling faster than 20 mph.
According to the AP, the expert Andrew Rentschler stated, "We lack sufficient evidence in this case to pinpoint the exact cause of that injury."
SOURCE: NBC News