The judge who presided over Karen Read’s murder trial ordered the list of jurors impounded indefinitely, writing that multiple jurors asked the list to be shielded from public view out of fear.
Judge Beverly Cannone extended her order, which was set to expire after 10 days, writing, “there is a risk of immediate and irreparable injury should the list be made available to the public at this time.” While multiple jurors have come forward publicly, others wanted their names shielded from public view, she said.
The list of jurors who served on a trial must be made public following its conclusion.
The order notes that one person — the blogger Aidan Kearney, who is known as Turtleboy — is charged with the intimidation of several witnesses in the Read case.
“This case has garnered significant and divisive attention in Massachusetts and across the nation,” Cannone wrote. “The proceedings continue to be the daily subject of commentary on various social media platforms.”
Following Read’s first trial, which ended with a mistrial, the foreman of the jury was publicly identified on social media, despite the jury list being impounded, Cannone wrote.
A juror from the first trial “avowed that they were in fear for their safety and the safety of their family if the list of jurors were made public,” she wrote.
Given that juror’s concern and the ongoing attention on the Read case, Cannone concluded there is a “‘risk of [personal] harm to the jurors [and] to the integrity of their service.’”
Read, 45, was acquitted of all charges connected to the death of her boyfriend, Boston Police officer John O’Keefe, following about 22 hours of jury deliberations and eight weeks of testimony in her retrial. The seven women and five men selected as deliberating jurors convicted her of a lone misdemeanor charge of operating under the influence, for which she received a year of probation.
A civil suit filed by O’Keefe’s family against Read is ongoing.
