The jury for Karen Read’s second trial grew to 16 members on Thursday, the eighth day of selection, but the process will continue next week with a new goal of 18 jurors.
Three new jurors were picked for the panel on Thursday, and two were excused, leaving the total at 16, the initial goal for selection. But the goal has now shifted to 18 jurors and the process will resume on Monday, which will be the ninth day of selection.
The jury is made up of eight men and eight women. Only 12 jurors will be selected to deliberate at the close of the trial, with the remainder serving as alternates in the event that a juror gets sick or has to drop out during the case for some reason.
Read told reporters this week that opening statements were scheduled for Tuesday. They could well be pushed back now that the goal is to seat 18 jurors before the trial gets underway in earnest.
Selection took five full days for Read’s first trial.
In all, 42 potential jurors were questioned by lawyers for both sides and Judge Beverly Cannone at sidebar on Thursday. Across all eight days, 482 people have undergone individual questioning to potentially serve on the jury for the Read case.
How the jury selection process works
Each morning of selection begins the same way, with Cannone reading a statement of the case, laying out what prosecutors say Read did: backing her SUV into her then-boyfriend, Boston Police officer John O’Keefe, outside a Canton home following a night of drinking.
She tells jurors that Read is presumed innocent and has no obligation to prove her innocence during the trial.
Cannone also references the intense publicity that has consumed the Read case, saying, “public comment will likely continue,” but “the rule of law will be upheld.”
Read thanks the potential jurors after each lawyer introduces themselves.
Cannone then reads out the entire witness list, which contains 150 names, before beginning questioning. After the group questioning, jurors are left to complete a three-page questionnaire.
Only after all that are jurors questioned individually.
During individual questioning, both sides can challenge a juror for any reason. Each side gets 16 challenges.
Read, 45, is charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence and leaving the scene of an accident causing injury or death in connection with the death of her boyfriend, Boston Police officer John O’Keefe.
Read’s defense claims she is being framed and others are responsible for O’Keefe’s death.
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