IDAhead of ID’s documentary series A Body in the Snow: The Trial of Karen Read, Dexerto caught up with juror Ronald “Ronnie” Estanislao, who revealed the first murder trial was plagued by one crucial mistake.
The true crime case has taken social media by storm, centering around the January 2022 death of Boston police officer John O’Keefe. The victim’s girlfriend, Read, was swiftly arrested and later charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter while OUI, and leaving the scene of personal injury and death.
During the trial, which began in April 2024, prosecutors argued that an intoxicated Read drove into O’Keefe and fled the scene. But the defense claimed she’d been framed by corrupt officials who are responsible for the murder.
Ultimately, it ended in a mistrial due to a hung jury, with a second criminal trial due to begin in April 2025. But the result could have been very different, according to one of 12 jurors from the first court case.
The single biggest mistake in Karen Read murder trial
IDEstanislao explained to Dexerto that the jury did, in fact, reach a unanimous decision for two of the three charges, finding Karen Read not guilty of second-degree murder. But they were not informed that each charge could be treated separately, leading to a hung jury on all three counts.
As stated by Estanislao, the 12 jurors agreed that there was enough reasonable doubt that they could not find Read guilty of murder, and the same goes for count three: leaving the scene of personal injury and death.
The only charge they couldn’t agree on was manslaughter while under the influence, meaning whether or not her operating the vehicle and striking O’Keefe was the cause of death.
If the jury had been informed that they could treat the charges separately, Read would only face a retrial for the manslaughter charge, but now a new jury and court case will unfold for all three counts.
Estanislao described this mistake as a “system failure,” stating, “The system failure is there was no – and I don’t know if it was just part of the legal system that we have – clear indication that we could treat each charge individually.”
The juror, a Boston-based paramedic, went on to state, “I think we didn’t have that direction that it’s okay to ask questions without any kind of ramification.
“It seemed like, at one point, we were intimidated to ask a question, because we had directions on a piece of paper and we were just following those directions.
“But if we had asked a clarifying question, I think it would have been resolved or ended up in a different situation, and we wouldn’t be having this discussion, per se.”
Juror calls out “travesty” ahead of retrial
IDDue to the fact that the trial ended in a hung jury, Estanislao believes it’s right that there’s a second trial. However, he pointed out that the circumstances that led to the mistrial should never have happened in the first place.
“ I honestly believe that there should be a retrial based on what happened because right now it seems like it was a hung jury on all three charges,” he told us.
“Unfortunately, that’s not truly the case, but on the record, legally, it wasn’t noted that we voted for charge one and charge three. So I think it’s reasonable to say, by the letter of the law, it looks like we were a hung jury for all three charges.
“That being said, I think the circumstances that led to that should have never occurred in the first place, and it’s a travesty of the current justice system that the instructions weren’t clearer and that we have to resolve in a retrial.”
To learn more about the case, A Body in the Snow: The Trial of Karen Read airs on ID and streams on Max across three nights starting March 17, 2025.
You can also check out the other new documentaries coming to streaming this month, and read about the American Manhunt: Osama Bin Laden delay and where Ruby Franke is now.
