Karen Read: Court Schedules Trial 2, Jury Says NOT GUILTY of Second Degree

this is the about the law Channel I'm attorney Andrew Meyers with me Yolie how are you Yoli I'm fine I'm kind of nervous about this live but we'll see what happens you're nervous I was just like yelling it in turn red and so she won't go on with us that's how nervous I am she said you should appreciate me even if we have um just one viewer that's fine Teresa thank you for joining us Teresa call all your friends yeah uh Laney couldn't be with us let's be serious now we're we're uh following the Karen Reed case as we did for the entire trial starting in April and going right to the couple of days before the Fourth of July uh there was a mistrial and so they uh all had to get together and set a date to set a date for the new trial so this is the date upon which they were going to get together and talk about a new trial well as people that are following the case no A lot's happened since then attorneys Yanti and Jackson have uh filed a motion to dismiss and a flurry of other um documents saying the jury was unanimous on counts one and three most notably the um second agree murder uh charge and so everybody's wondering is this hearing today going to involve arguments on those motions or are they just going to set another date so there's a lot of drama here and the hearing is set for two o'clock in the afternoon in case you're watching this later on um you know it's it's Monday July 22nd 2024 at two o'clock did I State all that right um Yoli I'm nervous too so what did you say I'm sorry I typed in uh hello oh okay um what were you saying that to today is the 22nd yes uh today's the big day today's the day they were going to initially uh decide when the case would be retried but then uh you know since then attorneys Jackson and Yanti um have filed some motions motion to dismiss the case based on juror first there were there was there were three jurors then there were four then there were five jurors a b c d and e and um you know those jurors comprising I did my math 41% of the 12 member uh panel that did deliberate in the case uh said we were unanimous on counts one and three leaving the only one that they were deadlocked on was count two count two was the motor vehicle manslaughter while driving Under the Influence that was the one that they could not um reach a decision on so a little bit of drama today uh in norfol County Court in Dam little bit of drama here in YouTube world now I wonder if Alan Jackson is coming out for this hearing I wonder if he's coming out for the hearing or if they would enable him to since it is probably relatively short hearing and he is in Los Angeles you're neck of the woods would they allow him to appear uh by Zoom yeah that's what I'm Wonder PA oh he is doing Zoom I hear Teresa is saying he is doing Zoom oh thank you Teresa and uh so yeah I would I would imagine that I mean a lot of times in court especially since the pan before the pandemic if you asked a judge if you could appear you know telephonically they would look at you like you had three heads or like you were asking for their first born but now you'd have to get permission and all that yeah oh yeah now it's um now it's common place I mean now for status hearing you just go in by Zoom yeah yeah I remember there was one judge here in Massachusetts uh he was out in walam and he realized you know we attorneys drove from all over the place we drove for hours uh you know burning up a lot of gas for a pre-trial which often in District Court a pre-trial is often two minutes three minutes five minutes some now there are issues but if you're trying a motor vehicle negligence case or a slip and fall case and I've done a lot of those you know the pre-trial is as long as the attorneys are prepared you have your witness list your exhibit list you know you've condensed down you know what the case is about your pre-trial is only going to be a couple of minutes right and so this one judge in the walham district court which is right on Route 128 not that far from dead um you know said all right we'll do it telephonically and you know but most of the judges said oh no I want to see the faces of so and it used to be that we would want to go into court so the judge could get to know us that kind of thing you know um put a face to the attorney but now you can do that through Zoom so you know it's okay you're right it was kind of a social thing I remember um back when the 2 o'clock afternoon motion sessions were seen as a a time to see and be seen and as you say network with other attorneys I remember doing that but um not really so much anymore um they I don't know what they do in California but in massach since we have a procedure called Superior Court rule 9A through which most um documents are done in paper and you send in a package to the court and then the court either acts on it or rarely schedules a hearing so interesting yeah you know the courts are clo LA court is closed today because of that whole uh crowd strike outage really yeah uh La uh La uh court is closed I just just received an email this morning so you know people who have to file things I hope they told the statute of limitations if today is the last day to file something I remember part of the emergency declarations in my States I'm licensed in Massachusetts in New Hampshire and I remember as part of the emergency declarations they did toll the statutes of limitation for a brief time I think for a month in March of 2022 they told the statute which which means that if you had a statute running and you needed to file a complaint during a certain period of time they extended it so right well the hearing is starting I hear they had a full minute of just staring at Karen I guess well that's what they run in the evening news when they write a they'll write a 45 second story on the news and that'll be their b-roll that's what they call it in the news Biz when you when you write a piece of copy you know for TV you can't just like sit there and go I'm Joe newscaster and here's this no no no they have what they call Boll uh which is video that they Ed to cover the reading of the story and the reason for that was in the old days okay we got it goodno good afternoon afterno M good afternoon Miss read all right so the case is scheduled today for trial assignment and what I'd like to do is to get three dates uh I'm aware that a motion to dismiss has been filed I'd like to get a quick date on that and I'm glad you're here Mr Weinberg because I'd like it to be with your schedule then we need a trial date and we need a final trial so I was thinking on the motion to dismiss can we do it a week from Friday it would be for oral argument only right I think that's AUST I'm going to be out of state um I I return on August 3rd August 9 are you Avail 2 o'cl are you available Mr Weinberg on August 9 Mr L is available on August 9 uh yes SE all right so that's for oral a okay 2 p.m. 2 p.m. all right so given the schedule and I assume whatever I end up doing on the motion to dismiss will be appealed um and an effort to make sure we have plenty of time I would like to schedule the jury trial on January 27 but she was going to schedule three dates the motion to dismiss August 9th trial January 27th 7 for [Music] trial let's do the final trial conference the week of the 13th or even the week of the six do you have the calendar Mr CLK or any of those just about the nth of the 16th but all the days the only uh caveat I I don't have anything on the 27th I'm clear for that day but for the fact that I have a superior court trial scheduled to begin in Essex County on January 13th um there are multiple how long do you expect that's what I was getting to I that could take longer than two weeks um I'm I'm happy to have this case TI priority over that but that's no we'll hold it for you day to day if need be and I can contact the S6 Superior Court Judge want you know who here she is yeah that's that's not ideal um you know in terms of preparing for trial I I can't do a two or three weeks superior court trial and then jump into this case I can't do that yeah that's tough for a trial attorney to be trying one case and have the other one hanging over his head that's untenable no well okay why don't we do this let's put it on to the 27th let me see if I I can make peace in Essex County and then on the next date when we come back to or I if I can readdress the court on that issue okay I'm happy to talk to judge McCarthy who's the rage up there about this it's yeah okay that's great all right so let's set it for the 27th and why don't we do the 14th for at the 14th at nine or two two two if it turns out that we have you know an excess of 35 whatever motions elimination that point let us know we will try and [Music] get all right I'm going to pull a plug on this I I I turned my headphone volume up so that I could um hear it uh but I'm going to pull the plug on it Lenny can we get rid of this great thank you thank you thank you okay um Yolie did you hear all of that I took notes I heard yes um I what I guess she's doing is she's setting the Motions um to dism the motion to dismiss in August August y I got I got the dates right here the motion to dismiss oral arguments will be held on August 9th at 2 pm the trial she is dead set on scheduling it for January 27th and when David un say he has another trial in Essex County which for those of you not in Massachusetts that's North of Boston um deam in norfol County are South and actually more to the West deam being more to the west of Boston uh and then uh so the trial datee the the judge was really dead set on scheduling this for January 27th and the final trial conference I I I call it a pre-trial conference but it's been pre-trial trial conference is set up for January 14th of two o'clock so you're a trial attorney do you want this hanging over your head over the holidays it's just you know and she said she said that most likely well she said that her whatever she decides on the motion to dismiss that they're going to appeal it so she wanted to give enough time for the trial to start um I don't know if she meant an interlocutory appeal like we talked before where they appeal right after you know while the case is pending meaning the trial date's pending um it just seems so so so sad um and she seems dead set on it it this it I mean I guess she's just going through the motions but you know with the evidence that they have that I've seen and I haven't seen everything just just doesn't seem right no it it really doesn't and um the other thing is in Massachusetts an appeal takes longer than that I mean if the motion to dismiss is heard on August 9th even if she decides in August September October November December January appeals don't happen that quickly although you know I do know in the cober case they kind of pushed it they pushed it and in other cases they do push these things but I mean um that's awful fast especially since there are two levels of appeal Beyond The Superior Court from Superior Court in appeal is taken to the Massachusetts court of appeals in that building behind us uh actually to the right of us uh and then uh after the Massachusetts court of appeals is the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in the same building next door up in one of the top floors and so um to see that it would happen within that short period of time I'm not saying it can't happen but it's it's unusual it's very unusual I've done appeals and you know you know you need time to brief right you need time to brief yeah and Daria is asking what are the compelling pieces of evidence for you that you see and the the I don't see any compelling evidence that she intended to un alive him but I I at least from what I saw what I saw was just barely enough to meet more likely than not which is not the burden the burden of proof is beyond a reasonable doubt and I barely saw you know it like when they were saying consistent with I barely saw evidence that was you know more likely than not but even that I don't know I mean we had bias with Proctor and his texts calling her a psycho we had you know blood and in those solo Red Cups we don't forget the leaf blower don't forget the leaf blower I mean we had I mean we had a guy throwing away his phone when he was told not to Higgins we I mean I just and we had those texts those bizarre texts between Karen Reed and Brian Higgins oh I think you're hot oh the feeling's mutual that was so bizarre and then her fight with him in Aruba like where the what is that well the Commonwealth was making an attempt there they were making an attempt to show Motive that apparently and and it was played up a lot more in the Press than uh the way it came across at trial if you're just going by the trial testimony you know John was uh having a few drinks we'll say and he bumped into this girl and she steadied him and guided him to the bar now whether you believe that or not I'm just telling you the story because the way it was kind of played up if you read the local media was that um he was making out with the woman and again this alleged was in the Press comment all you want but the media was trying to say that um uh uh John o'keef was making out with this girl and Karen saw it and so she was outraged just totally outraged so um yeah the tri the trial um you know had a lot of ins and outs and remember we did that episode with Susan Constantine the jury consultant and she said you know they've really got to hone down the evidence they've got to hone it down and what is relevant what isn't relevant what are the elements there are three charges there's second deegree murder there's motor vehicle man slaughter and there's leaving the scene of a collision there are three indictments and they've got to look at what the elements are of each break them down determine what evidence is absolutely positively required to fill all of the buckets that um make up those elements and just do that but this Witnesses I mean 74 Witnesses 600 pieces of evidence 74 Witnesses I mean to prove I mean come on 74 Witnesses I mean that's like Overkill to and this isn't even a complicated case it's they're trying to say she backed into him and intended to un alive him and look Teresa is telling us we forgot something we forgot about the Stop and Shop bags oh thank you for reminding us Teresa the Stop Shop bags into which they placed the Solo cups which it's funny I think about this case every I do my own grocery shopping and every week I go down the aisle where the Solo cups are I just the FBI investigation is going on into Proctor and I I don't know it I mean when the outcome of that comes out I don't know if that will have any effect on the charges being dismissed uh I I don't know um I think it should but I I don't know for sure not with this court I'll make a prediction and I'll put money on not a lot I'll make a prediction that just by the way uh the court was addressing uh the substantive uh matter uh about the um August 9th hearing when the motion to dismiss I will make a prediction that she will deny the motion to dismiss do you want to take me up on that bet no I think I think she's gonna deny it and I think she I think I mean I don't want to say anything bad but I think she made may have already made up her mind because she's had a chance to look at everything you know the the the affidavits from the juror and the affidavits from the attorneys about the contact and I think that um she doesn't seem concerned at all no I think she is going to go with the language that the norfol county assistant district attorney Allan La placed in his motion uh when he opposed the Motions to dismiss and I quote from the motion uh L's contention is that it is premised upon hearsay conjecture and legally inappropriate reliance as to the substance of jury deliberations so that was the um norick County District Attorney's position she will go with that the uh defense will take it up on appeal and we will see whether the two levels of appeals will go ahead and um you know reverse her decision um yeah and it just seems so seems so lengthy and I mean it's one of these things where if if maybe things had been done you know it's always hindsight if maybe she had just asked for them to give their findings on each count you know maybe things could have been different but it didn't happen that way and you know hindsight's 2020 and I don't want to think that this judge just you know completely just ignored her rights but at the same time you know I'm I'm going to be interested in what this appeal or what this the motion to dismiss hearing I'm going to see if I can make time to to watch that or be on live with that yeah now there's something that's a little bit new although it was in the background before um Netflix says it is going to do a three-part documentary on this case uh Netflix has announced that it is currently in production with sandpaper films with co-director Danielle Johnson and Rob Miller uh they uh issued a release that says the team feels immensely privileged to be bringing this important series to a Netflix Global audience Johnson and Miller um told Netflix it's a case well we knew this already we didn't need them to tell us that quote it is a case that has garnished a h ug GE amount of public attention and has far-reaching implications we are also mindful that this is a hugely sensitive case and we are determined to treat all those involved with the respect and consideration they deserve so here's my question as somebody that used to be in the Communications business do they go full force ahead or did they wait until the end of trial two if indeed there's going to be trial two well you know lately they've been you know there's docu series or documentaries on cases that haven't even gone to trial yet like coburger they did a docu series on that uh so I don't know yeah I mean I don't know what what what they will do maybe they'll do a part one series a docu series and then a part two when the trial is done or oh yeah that could be because it says right here that it's going to be a three-part documentary so you're right maybe uh and also one of the other things I read about the Netflix series that is to be done um they said they were going to concentrate on the three weeks before uh Jon O'Keefe's demise they said it was going to focus on that so I guess a lot of things happen they might you know dramatize what happened in Aruba they might dramatize you know these fights that they had they might dramatize you know higgins's and and her you know they can I I can just see it now like a lifetime type of movie where you know maybe there was something between them I don't know but I've watched enough Hollywood to know that they could they could dramatize you know Higgins you know texting her and saying hey let's do this let's do that apparently there was a kiss that was exchanged outside of where the cameras were I mean I don't know I really don't know you know I don't know and uh but and you know if you really think about it none of that proves that she did it that she actually did it with the intent I mean that I mean Higgins threw away his phone after he was told not to why uh because there was some stuff on there he didn't want why else would you throw it out unless there was some stuff on there you didn't want to go out I mean come on it's just the whole thing is but no you're right because I have watched docu series uh here and there and they are done before trial and then in the after notes you know they roll the credits in the after they say you know Yoli Medina was tried on you know August 27th of 2024 and she was found guilty you know they'll they'll run that in the end so I guess that's a possibility I don't know I mean you know if you're in the entertainment business it's money it's all about money money money so they would want to strike while the iron is hot I would think I think they would want to produce this you know while the American public which is very fickle as you and I both know I think they would want to produce it and get it out there while people are still thinking about this case because you know six months from now 12 months from now they will have forgotten all about it I would think I don't know and if you have to have 70 how many 76 or 74 Witnesses yeah if you have to have so many witnesses to prove your case I it seems like they're grasping at straws you know and the two women uh that were there on the trip to Aruba in retrospect was their testimony really NE necessary I mean I think prejudicial I think it's more prejudicial than probative because it can cause the jury to think of her as a nasty person because they claimed that she called one of the ladies a name uh and it's just it it well it might have something to show Motive but it's more prejudicial than probative so you know it's one thing yeah Teresa just said every couple argues doesn't mean you're a murderer and I agree I mean agree who who amongst us doesn't know somebody uh that was in a toxic relationship or a relationship that was good for a time and then broke down and there were arguments there were disputes there were disagreements amongst you know things that got increasingly important then they finally decide to break up and they go their separate ways and um you know this happens sadly all the time and they don't kill each other so yeah I don't I just don't I just don't and I guess another juror was interviewed a sixth juror I guess I see that yeah yeah Wonder we will track that down for the next episode um yeah there was a um there was a little lesson in um internet stuff um there was a Creator who has a lot more experience than I I'll give him that there was a creator who's an attorney who simply asked a question last week with respect to this hearing today you know with all these motions uh to um dismiss and the affidavits by attorney Jackson and attorney janetti now they actually spoke to jurors the the jurors called them they didn't call the jurors the jurors called them and so netti and Jackson you know spoke to them and did their affidavits and this hearing today was coming up and this Creator said well should Beverly uh Kon be the attorney should they remove her and so it's like that game telephone when you're a little kid that was passed on that was passed on that was passed on commenters and other sites were saying I heard that judge kenon is going to be replaced and then we got comments didn't you hear us though we were wrong and we didn't know what we were talking about didn't you hear judge kenon has been replaced on that hearing next week and I kept going on to the docket as recently as the morning before we're um doing this live you know I went on the docket and you can go to the hearings and the assignments you know all attorneys do that you can go on the the Massachusetts court site I have a hearing tomorrow in Essex County or Wester County I can go to on there and see who is the judge that's assigned and I went on like last week when I heard these internet rumors with this other Creator who's an attorney saying well she should be replaced and then it got to the point where don't you know she's been replaced yeah so I kept going on the dock I kept going that her name was there her name was there her name was there and as recently as this morning I don't know 10 10:30 I went on the docket and her name was there so I mean it's just you know and I've even gotten confused with reporters in Boston saying that there were new filings when there really weren't new filings no um I think I think the problem is is you know I was a reporter and uh we tried to do our best we tried to do our best but we weren't um attorneys now there's some really good reporters in Boston I know one of them I'm not going to name him but he helped us with an episode that we did a long time ago on uh the Adam Montgomery case he came on and he helped us he does his research he's one 11 Ms he's one 11 EMS and he does um this is his area crime uh Law and Order the courts uh he does a series uh that is uh all about uh Massachusetts Most Wanted so he's a specialty reporter so he knows his stuff and he knows the difference between a motion and an objection and an affidavit but you know what a lot of people don't I mean if they're covering a fire one minute a beauty pageant the next uh and the governor's uh swearing in an executive counselor the next you know they you know there it's a tough job being a reporter is a tough job I used to do it so I'm not really defending the fact that they misreported it but you know if if you're a general assignment reporter you can't know everything there is to know about everything you don't know about the design of a bridge that collapsed in Baltimore you don't know about what goes into the determination of a fire and you don't know the difference between a motion and an objection sad but true but any know so I just thought I'd point out that you know rumors you rumors spread on the internet the internet's great um I was having this conversation with red who couldn't be with us this afternoon earlier that we both agree that um we both agree that um you know the internet's a great resource it's really a good resource because you know a paper that used to take me weeks to write for the research you know you can write it in an afternoon now because the research is right there but you got to be careful because there's a lot of bunk on the internet yeah and YouTube you know I mean I love YouTube we we love YouTube we think it's great YouTube we think it's wonderful there but there's a lot of stuff out there that isn't it's people's opinion and and people's opinion just gets turned into a fact and next thing you know you have rumors so yeah you're right I mean it it's uh it's it's a little you know you have to be careful uh Teresa asked me a question Andrew why do judges get to decide whether they should recuse themselves when defense makes a motion well I mean they have ethical standards unlike the um US Supreme Court there are in Massachusetts and New Hampshire where I practice there are um ethical guidelines and rules and conflicts of interest and it is up to the judge ultimately but um I think that a lot of Judges kind of you know there are a lot of judges in Massachusetts must be in California too so I think I think they meet I think they conference I think they work together and I think you know generally speaking generally speaking they do a pretty good job deciding when they have a conflict of interest I mean I've I've tried cases in front of a judge that held a little conference beforehand we come on up to the bench this attorney on the other side uh and I work together at a big Law Firm you know Dewey cheetah and how down in downtown B a and I was in this Division and he was in that Division and we had nothing to do with each other but I need to tell you that before we try the case attorney Meyers I will give you the option of trying this a different day in front of a different judge and I said no we're we're good I mean because those big firms are like that I work for a smaller firm where we knew everybody pretty well but that's true in some of those big firms in some of those big firms where they have hundreds of attorneys in skyscrapers you know a person that's in the blue sky division isn't necessarily going to know somebody that's in the bankruptcy app pallet division you know what I mean yeah any who um I don't know we'll have to see what happens yeah so we'll follow this we'll keep looking at it we'll keep uh going uh we want to thank Laney law who had her tonsils out and she can't speak but she's she's helping us she's behind the scenes you know moderating and helping and doing um everything that uh needs to be done because I could never do this by myself uh and red scattered because I think I was like yelling and screaming and being nervous and then she said you have to appreciate me yeah well this is a nice little live I mean it was short I you know yeah so you know the one that'll be more interesting and I think we should do a live for that one will be the one on August 9th so Lany put that in your book August 9th okay I'll put that in I just want to say that um I give you a pass for the next 110 technical issues you have because we got through it but that was so funny especially the fact that that was so such a small short video oh my God by the time we got it working it was over so I guess we'll wrap it up uh Laney stay on after we wrap it up because I want to ask you a question Okie doie yeah thank you guys so much for watching Andrew what do you gotta tell them what am I gonna tell them I'm gonna tell them be nasty be be blame us in the comments well you know um I'm reading the comments on the episode that we just did with lucky what a fantastic guy that guy is he's so bright he's so smart and uh the comments we got from that episode kind of epitomize what I always say please be kind be respectful whether you're in the grocery store or the gas station you don't know what the other person is going through so we all whether we disagree or we agree and we don't always agree we just you know we don't always agree but respect the other person uh and the reason I brought um lucky into it is because he's popular people love him people really like him they see him for somebody that as he puts it he breaks it down makes it stand sometimes attorneys like Yoli and I tend to you know go way off into the E we're talking about things that that other people just are like what but even so one most of the people loved lucky they said he was great have him on again your panel we love your panelist but he's really good but I one comment out of all the great ones out of all the one commenter just really blast like delete it's you know there's no need for you can tell me you don't agree with me and the reason I don't agree with you is because X Y or Z or I didn't agree with what lucky said because I've read and done my research and found otherwise that's fine but if you just kind of really go off on him or me or Yoli or anybody else and there's no call for it there's really there's no need for it and your your point of view would be left on the comments and expected and read but once you start personalizing it's just a waste of everybody's time end of rant end of rant and of rant thank you guys so much for tuning into our live be sure to comment on this if you enjoyed it especially if you missed it live and we hope to see you guys again soon thank you you have been watching about the law a uction of the law offices of Andrew D Meers in methan in the marac valley of Massachusetts and in Derry just outside of Manchester New Hampshire remember to click the like And subscribe buttons down below and if you enjoyed this video be sure to share it with your friends and others if you'd like to talk to me about an injury case a car accident a slip and fall a serious bodily injury case or some other case please feel free to contact me I'd love to talk to you you can contact us through my website at attorney- meyers.com we have a contact us block or you can call on one of the telephone numbers we've given there or you can email me at Andrew attorney- meyers.com the foregoing is offered for informational purposes only it is not intended as and does not constitute legal advice laws vary widely from State to State you should rely only on the advice given to you during a personal consultation by a local attorney thoroughly familiar with state laws and the area of practice in which your concern lies this podcast must be and hereby is labeled advertis and that's that and that's that's that bye everyone I'm declaring a trial in this case she's a whack job yesterday during the entirety of your question by Mr L not once did you mention that this video is actually completely inverted did not know