Karen Read jury begins deliberating after closing arguments, instructions

The Karen Read jury its deliberations in the afternoon, and went home about two hours after receiving the case. Here’s how the day played out in court.

The jury is now deliberating the charges against Karen Read after hearing closing arguments Friday morning and receiving detailed instructions on how they’ll deliberate.

Court got underway around 8:45 a.m., and after a series of sidebars, closing arguments began around 9:45 with defense attorney Alan Jackson. Special prosecutor Hank Brennan was up for the commonwealth around 11:15 a.m.

Each side had 75 minutes to make their final case. After lunch, Judge Beverly Cannone gave jury instructions and sent the jurors off to begin their deliberations. She tapped the juror in seat No. 1 as the foreperson.

The jury was sent home just before 4:30 p.m., without reaching a verdict after having the case for about two hours.

The scene outside of court during lunch

By Asher Klein

Read didn’t speak to reporters as she left court during the lunch break Friday afternoon, between closing arguments and the jury instructions.

But defense lawyer Alan Jackson, escorted by a state trooper, did walk over to a group of her supporters, asking them to support her quietly.

The public was only recently allowed closer to the court during the retrial, and under certain conditions.

Cannone is instructing the jury

By Asher Klein

Cannone began reading the jury instructions, explaining at the beginning that the jury “cannot quarrel” with the law as it’s written, what the threshold “reasonable doubt” means and much more.

The defense and prosecution have already discussed the form of the instructions with Cannone, as is standard trial procedure.

In Read’s first murder trial, it took about an hour for jury instructions to be read.

Here’s more of our coverage from this phase of the last trial:

The jury is now deliberating in the Karen Read murder trial. Our courtroom insider, Sue O’Connell, shares what kind of conversations they may be having after a few hours of discussion, as well as her take on the closing arguments from the prosecution and defense. Plus, how Read appeared Tuesday as she awaited word on her fate.

Credit: https://www.nbcboston.com/