Federal grand juror in Karen Learn case to plead responsible to leak
Crime
A Dracut lady has agreed to plead responsible to leaking details about secretive federal grand jury proceedings, prosecutors stated.
A Dracut lady charged with leaking data from a federal grand jury investigation was reportedly one of many jurors who probed the state’s dealing with of the Karen Learn case.
Jessica M. Leslie, 34, was charged Friday with one depend of felony contempt after federal prosecutors accused her of leaking details about the secretive proceedings, the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace stated Tuesday. She has agreed to plead responsible, and a plea settlement filed in federal courtroom proposes she be sentenced to “someday, deemed served,” that means she is going to keep away from jail time if a choose accepts the advice.
Federal prosecutors allege Leslie disclosed sealed details about the grand jury proceedings between Aug. 11, 2022, and March 4, 2024, “together with the names of assorted witnesses showing earlier than a federal grand jury,” the substance of their testimony, and different proof.
Whereas prosecutors haven’t publicly specified the grand jury proceedings in query, The Boston Globe reported that two individuals “conversant in the allegations” confirmed Leslie was accused of leaking data in reference to Learn’s case. ABC Information individually confirmed Leslie was a federal grand juror within the Learn matter, additionally citing unnamed sources.
Neither Leslie’s protection lawyer nor the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace responded to requests for remark Wednesday. Leslie is scheduled to make an preliminary look in federal courtroom in Boston July 22, information present. A plea listening to has not but been scheduled.
Per the federal courtroom system, grand jurors take into account a number of circumstances over the course of their service, which typically lasts as much as 18 months. In Massachusetts, in line with the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace, jurors usually meet in secrecy for a full day every week “to listen to proof regarding crimes towards the legal guidelines of the USA.”
Learn, 45, was acquitted of homicide and manslaughter expenses final month within the January 2022 loss of life of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe. Prosecutors accused Learn of drunkenly backing her SUV into O’Keefe, however her legal professionals maintained she was framed in a regulation enforcement conspiracy.
Following a 2024 mistrial and a retrial this spring, Learn was convicted solely of drunk driving — a misdemeanor for which she obtained a yr of probation.
However in a weird twist, federal prosecutors started investigating the state’s dealing with of the homicide case earlier than Learn’s felony expenses had been even resolved. In 2023 letters between federal authorities and the Norfolk County District Lawyer’s Workplace, DA Michael Morrissey known as the probe a “extremely uncommon and probably abusive train of energy” and requested or not it’s transferred out of the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace in Massachusetts. He famous a number of witnesses in Learn’s case had been known as earlier than a federal grand jury that spring.
The U.S. Division of Justice denied Morrissey’s request for a switch, and the federal investigation formally ended earlier this yr with no expenses or arrests introduced.
Nonetheless, the probe left an indelible mark on Learn’s case. Two ARCCA Inc. crash reconstruction specialists employed by federal authorities to look into O’Keefe’s loss of life later turned key witnesses for Learn’s protection, testifying that O’Keefe’s accidents had been inconsistent with having been struck by Learn’s SUV, whereas injury to the car was inconsistent with hanging an arm.
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