Murder suspect Karen Read asks SCOTUS justice to put trial on hold as jury selection underway — here’s why

Legal representatives for Massachusetts murder suspect Karen Read are asking Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to place her trial on hold up until after the nation’s greatest court considers her petition to examine a lower court’s choice not to toss out two of the 3 costs she is facing.

Read filed a writ of certiorari this week after an appellate court rejected her demand to have charges of murder and fleeing the scene went down from her 2nd test after the very first ended with an installed court last year.

Read’s lawyers suggest they were informed by multiple jurors after the July 1 mistrial that the court had with one voice discovered her not guilty of those 2 costs yet can not get to a contract on the 3rd, manslaughter.

“I would’ve thought that [special prosecutor Hank] Brennan would certainly’ve entered at the start and stated, ‘I’m not mosting likely to do the murder cost,'” said Grace Edwards, a Massachusetts defense attorney who is adhering to the case.

“Typically retrials do not work out, that’s why a put up court is a win for defendants,” said David Gelman, a Philadelphia-area defense attorney that has actually been following the issue. “Given that the last case, you have a police officer included that has actually been terminated for poor conduct, evidence will certainly be reduced that would certainly benefit the prosecutor, and there is even more limelights that makes Read look better.”

After a mistrial, a retrial can usually continue, however Read’s attorneys say the distinct scenarios in her case place her under dual risk on the two charges jurors settled on but did not reveal.

So Read’s team is asking the Supreme Court to rule on whether a “unannounced yet unanimous” decision is sufficient to trigger Fifth Change protections and whether Read need to obtain a post-trial hearing on the issue.