Legal professionals in Karen Learn homicide trial discussing language of jury directions
Decide Beverly Cannone and legal professionals within the Karen Learn retrial are assembly Thursday to debate the language of the jury directions after testimony got here to an finish. Learn, 45, of Mansfield, a former adjunct professor at Bentley College, has pleaded not responsible to second-degree homicide and different expenses in reference to the demise of John O’Keefe, her boyfriend and a Boston police officer. Prosecutors allege that Learn hit O’Keefe together with her SUV throughout a snowstorm on Jan. 29, 2022, following an evening of ingesting. Her first trial ended with a hung jury.Video: Karen Learn protection rests case after ultimate witness testimonyCannone and attorneys labored via the ultimate language of jury directions, with the decide emphasizing a “extra sturdy” description of the presumption of innocence. She additionally confirmed that an instruction concerning Learn’s choice to not testify could be included.Protection lawyer David Yannetti renewed a movement for a discovering of not responsible, arguing that the prosecution’s case lacked proof and had been undermined by protection witnesses. He highlighted testimony from specialists who attributed O’Keefe’s accidents to an animal somewhat than a automobile collision, asserting, “If there is not any collision, there is not any case.” Assistant District Lawyer Adam Lally countered, claiming protection witnesses confirmed bias. The decide in the end denied the movement to dismiss.The courtroom additionally addressed the protection’s request to current a third-party perpetrator principle and a Bowden protection, which critiques the adequacy of the police investigation.Whereas the decide disallowed the third-party perpetrator argument, she permitted the Bowden protection, disagreeing with the prosecution’s opposition. Moreover, the protection withdrew its movement for a “lacking witness” jury instruction.After the 31 days of testimony, Learn mentioned her case this time was stronger than her first trial, which resulted in a mistrial.Exterior the courthouse, Learn spoke to reporters, saying she is feeling anxious and has butterflies at this stage of the trial. “I believed it was sturdy final 12 months. It is stronger, sure,” Learn mentioned. “We simply pulled extra witnesses and laid out extra of the case.”The protection’s ultimate witness was biomechanical engineer Andrew Rentschler. He testified that if Learn’s SUV hit O’Keefe with sufficient pressure to interrupt the taillight, O’Keefe’s accidents must be extra extreme.However throughout one of the crucial contentious cross-examinations of the trial, Rentschler conceded the crash-dummy testing his firm did had too many variables to be dependable. What to know in regards to the case:Karen Learn, 45, of Mansfield, pleaded not responsible to second-degree homicide and different expenses. The prosecution says she hit her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, together with her automobile exterior of a house in Canton throughout a snowstorm on Jan. 29, 2022, following an evening of ingesting.The protection centered on allegations of a cover-up involving members of a number of regulation enforcement companies. They are saying O’Keefe was crushed inside the house, bitten by a canine after which left exterior.Testimony in Learn’s first trial started on April 29, 2024, following opening statements. It ended on July 1 when jurors reported being hopelessly deadlocked, and a mistrial was declared.Learn’s workforce vowed to maintain combating, and her protection has waged a substantial battle throughout a number of courts, trying to get expenses dropped or have the case thrown out totally. In the meantime, a federal investigation into the case concluded with none expenses being filed in opposition to police.In the end, jury choice for Learn’s retrial started on April 1 and continued via April 15. Eighteen jurors had been chosen, and 12 of them will deliberate on the verdicts. Alternates can be chosen and separated from the deliberating jurors earlier than deliberations start.Video: Prosecution’s opening statementVideo: Protection’s opening assertion
Decide Beverly Cannone and legal professionals within the Karen Learn retrial are assembly Thursday to debate the language of the jury directions after testimony got here to an finish.
Learn, 45, of Mansfield, a former adjunct professor at Bentley College, has pleaded not responsible to second-degree homicide and different expenses in reference to the demise of John O’Keefe, her boyfriend and a Boston police officer. Prosecutors allege that Learn hit O’Keefe together with her SUV throughout a snowstorm on Jan. 29, 2022, following a night time of ingesting. Her first trial ended with a hung jury.
Video: Karen Learn protection rests case after ultimate witness testimony
Cannone and attorneys labored via the ultimate language of jury directions, with the decide emphasizing a “extra sturdy” description of the presumption of innocence. She additionally confirmed that an instruction concerning Learn’s choice to not testify could be included.
Protection lawyer David Yannetti renewed a movement for a discovering of not responsible, arguing that the prosecution’s case lacked proof and had been undermined by protection witnesses. He highlighted testimony from specialists who attributed O’Keefe’s accidents to an animal somewhat than a automobile collision, asserting, “If there is not any collision, there is not any case.”
Assistant District Lawyer Adam Lally countered, claiming protection witnesses confirmed bias. The decide in the end denied the movement to dismiss.
The courtroom additionally addressed the protection’s request to current a third-party perpetrator principle and a Bowden protection, which critiques the adequacy of the police investigation.
Whereas the decide disallowed the third-party perpetrator argument, she permitted the Bowden protection, disagreeing with the prosecution’s opposition. Moreover, the protection withdrew its movement for a “lacking witness” jury instruction.
After the 31 days of testimony, Learn mentioned her case this time was stronger than her first trial, which resulted in a mistrial.
Exterior the courthouse, Learn spoke to reporters, saying she is feeling anxious and has butterflies at this stage of the trial.
“I believed it was sturdy final 12 months. It is stronger, sure,” Learn mentioned. “We simply pulled extra witnesses and laid out extra of the case.”
The protection’s ultimate witness was biomechanical engineer Andrew Rentschler. He testified that if Learn’s SUV hit O’Keefe with sufficient pressure to interrupt the taillight, O’Keefe’s accidents must be extra extreme.
However throughout one of the crucial contentious cross-examinations of the trial, Rentschler conceded the crash-dummy testing his firm did had too many variables to be dependable.
What to know in regards to the case:
Karen Learn, 45, of Mansfield, pleaded not responsible to second-degree homicide and different expenses. The prosecution says she hit her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, together with her automobile exterior of a house in Canton throughout a snowstorm on Jan. 29, 2022, following a night time of ingesting.
The protection centered on allegations of a cover-up involving members of a number of regulation enforcement companies. They are saying O’Keefe was crushed inside the house, bitten by a canine after which left exterior.
Testimony in Learn’s first trial started on April 29, 2024, following opening statements. It ended on July 1 when jurors reported being hopelessly deadlocked, and a mistrial was declared.
Learn’s workforce vowed to maintain combating, and her protection has waged a substantial battle throughout a number of courts, trying to get expenses dropped or have the case thrown out totally. In the meantime, a federal investigation into the case concluded with none expenses being filed in opposition to police.
In the end, jury choice for Learn’s retrial started on April 1 and continued via April 15. Eighteen jurors had been chosen, and 12 of them will deliberate on the verdicts. Alternates can be chosen and separated from the deliberating jurors earlier than deliberations start.
Video: Prosecution’s opening assertion
Video: Protection’s opening assertion
