Karen Read's verdict could come fast—or not: Here's what other cases show
A former Massachusetts financial analyst accused of killing her Boston cop boyfriend in a drunken hit-and-run is awaiting her fate after a second lengthy trial in a small courthouse in Dedham.
Karen Read, 45, faces murder and other charges in the death of 46-year-old John O'Keefe, who had taken in his orphaned niece and nephew and appeared to want to end the relationship.
Jurors spent just under two hours deliberating Friday and returned Monday for their first full day.
"People are out there wondering why we don't have a verdict yet," said Grace Edwards, a Massachusetts trial attorney who is closely following the case. "I think the jury is working hard to understand the requirements of each count and working through them."
Read's first trial ended in a hung jury last year after jurors went more than 25 hours over four days without reaching an agreement.
Deliberations in other high-profile murder charges range from just hours to several days.
OJ Simpson's 1990s double murder trial in the deaths of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman took nine months to play out.
The two were brutally stabbed to death outside Brown Simpson's luxe condo in Los Angeles.
The former NFL star's legal "Dream Team" prevailed – and jurors found him not guilty in less than four hours.
Simpson was found civilly liable and went to prison for an unrelated robbery more than a decade later. He died last year after a battle with cancer.
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A Florida mom accused of killing her 2-year-old daughter Caylee, Casey Anthony was tried on charges of murder, manslaughter and aggravated child abuse in 2011.
Caylee was missing for a month before her grandparents reported her missing.
Jurors spent about 11 hours deliberating over two days before reaching an agreement on the charges. They found Anthony not guilty of killing or abusing her daughter, but they found her guilty of lying to police.
To this day no one has been convicted of the child's death.
In 2004, jurors convicted Scott Peterson of killing his pregnant wife Laci and dumping her in the San Francisco Bay on Christmas Eve two years earlier.
Their deliberations went on for seven days after a trial that took more than five months.
Jurors initially handed him the death sentence for first-degree murder for Laci's death and second-degree murder for their unborn son, Conner.
Peterson continues to maintain his innocence and is currently appealing his case for the third time. He had his death sentence overturned in 2020 and is serving life without parole.
Formerly a prominent South Carolina attorney and family man, Murdaugh was convicted in 2023 of gunning down his wife and younger son, Maggie and Paul.
After a six-week trial – twice as long as initial estimates – jurors deliberated for less than three hours and found him guilty of both murders plus weapons charges.
Murdaugh is currently serving consecutive life sentences. He is asking for a new trial after the court clerk on his case was charged with multiple felonies, including allegedly lying to a judge about Murdaugh's case.
Although those trials have a wide range of both time and results, New York City defense attorney Louis Gelormino told Fox News Digital that the longer jurors deliberate in Dedham, the better things look for Read.
"My first homicide trial was the longest deliberation in NYC, modern history, 9 days," he told Fox News Digital. "Hung Jury. Three months later, they tried him again, and we got an acquittal."
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