Karen Read supporters confident verdict will come, accuse judge of bias

Lance Reynolds, Boston Herald on Jun 17, 2025

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DEDHAM, Mass. — Supporters of Karen Read packed the sidewalk across the street from the courthouse, anxiously awaiting a verdict during a day made dramatic by a series of questions from the jury.

But by 4 p.m., the judge sent the jury home to come back a resume deliberations in the morning.

Hundreds of supporters threw their hands in the air, gesturing the sign language symbol for love as Read and her defense team entered Norfolk Superior Court Tuesday afternoon as it started to rain.

After the jury suggested it was nearing a verdict in a pair of notes it sent to Judge Beverly J. Cannone earlier in the day, anticipation grew among the crowd clad mostly in pink, the main color of the Free Karen Read movement.

Supporters say they are confident that a verdict will come on Wednesday, the fourth day of deliberations. They expressed frustration, however, over some of Cannone’s responses to the jury’s questions, and accused the judge of showing a bias towards the prosecution.

Cannone ruled that she could not answer a question about whether the jury’s disagreement on one charge meant they were hung on all of the charges, raising the eyebrows of Read’s defense team and supporters.

Canton resident Rita Lombardi, whose presence has been a fixture outside the courthouse during the first and second trials, said she believes Cannone is “deliberately” trying not to help the jury sort through its confusion.

“Nobody in this country should be charged like this,” Lombardi told the Herald. “Nobody in this country should be under these circumstances. This is the United States of America.”

“And this judge is biased, the jury knows it,” she added.

In the first note of the day, the jury centered two of its three questions around the charge of manslaughter while operating a motor vehicle under the influence of liquor. That has led supporters to believe the jury has already found Read not guilty of second-degree murder and leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death.

“My hope is that this jury, the ones who think she is charged with an OUI, see through the bias and turn their vote to not guilty,” Lombardi said. “That’s what my prayer is.”

Unlike the first trial, Read’s supporters have found themselves much closer to the courthouse during deliberations. A federal appeals court earlier this spring tossed out Cannone’s order for a restrictive buffer zone, allowing supporters to demonstrate silently on streets and sidewalks off courthouse property.

“It is really cool that we get to be out here when the verdict is read,” one of the plaintiffs on the federal complaint, Dedham resident Allison Taggart, told the Herald. “Seeing everyone out here is amazing, it’s beautiful to see.”

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