Dozens more potential jurors will be questioned Wednesday as jury selection continues for the second Karen Read trial, a day after just two people were picked to sit on what will be a 16-person panel.
More than 100 people received summons to Norfolk Superior Court for the Read case specifically each day this week. Not all 130 potential jurors summoned will show — 92 did on Tuesday. Of those 92, roughly 30 will return to the Dedham courthouse Wednesday after being dismissed around lunchtime.
The selection process, where dozens of jurors complete questionnaires and are then called for individual questioning, led to just two people being seated for the jury on Tuesday. The presiding judge and lawyers for both sides questioned 62 potential jurors Tuesday.
So many jurors were called for potential service in the case on Tuesday that rows of folding chairs were added to the main courtroom in Norfolk Superior Court.
Before she questioned potential jurors, Cannone read 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 told jurors that Read is presumed innocent and has no obligation to prove her innocence during the trial.
Cannone also referenced the intense publicity that has consumed the Read case, saying, “public comment will likely continue,” but “the rule of law will be upheld.”
After reading the witness list containing 150 names, Cannone asked jurors a series of questions.
When asked if they had any “personal dealings” with witnesses, seven jurors raised their hands. Then, in a moment reflecting the unique nature of Read’s case, more than three-quarters of the assembled jurors raised their hands when asked if they had heard about the case — 78 of the 91. (One of the 92 potential jurors was dismissed before questioning began).
When Cannone asked if they had formed an opinion about the case, 40 of the 91 raised their hands.
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. She maintains she is being framed and that others are responsible for O’Keefe’s death.
