A Massachusetts competitive eater is gearing up to compete in the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest next week in Coney Island, and thinks he has a shot at winning it all.
Geoffrey Esper of Oxford has claimed second place at the Fourth of J…
Massachusetts
Canton Confidential: This podcast brings you every twist in the Karen Read case
The Karen Read murder trial has been among the most talked-about and polarizing cases in Greater Boston in recent memory — and our podcast, Canton Confidential, takes you through everything to know, day-by-day.
Canton Confidential brings you highlights from each day in court, expert analysis and in-depth details surrounding the death of John O’Keefe, charges against Read and the defense’s claims of a massive coverup that frames Read in the murder of her boyfriend in January 2022.
You can watch Canton Confidential daily at 7 p.m. on NBC10 Boston, as well as on our website and app. You can also listen to it in podcast form on our website, or anywhere you stream and download your podcasts.
As jury deliberations continue in the Read case, anticipation is growing as to what the verdict will be for 44-year-old, who is charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating a vehicle under the influence and leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death.
The charges stem from the death of Boston police officer O’Keefe, whom Read was dating. He was found dead in the lawn of another Boston officer in Canton on a snowy morning, after a night of drinking at local bars with a group of people. Read was accused of backing into him with her Lexus SUV, but her team of lawyers have alleged a large-scale coverup by law enforcement, saying that someone else is responsible for O’Keefe’s killing.
Stay with NBC10 Boston’s Canton Confidential for the very latest as the case develops.
80-100 dolphins stranded in muddy waters off Cape Cod, officials say
Between 80-100 Atlantic white-sided dolphins are stranded in low water in an area off Cape Cod on Friday, officials say.
The International Fund for Animal Welfare says it is assisting with the dolphin stranding at Great Island at the Herring River in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. They said it is a difficult location with dangerous mud.
“Low tide was at 11:23am. The plan, given the number, is to triage and aim to support animals, refloat, and herd as many as possible,” the agency said in an email. “Luckily, it is cooler today, but these animals will risk sunburn and overheating until the tide rises, and then we have the challenge of herding them into deeper water.”
Wellfleet police said they received a call around 10 a.m. from a resident on Chequessett Neck Road reporting about 50 dolphins in distress in Wellfleet Harbor. The tide was going out at that time, and many of the dolphins had become stranded. They said the updated number of dolphins that were in distress is 100.
According to the Cape Cod Times, many of the dolphins were completely out of the water, while others were seen in shallow water nearby. As man a 20 of them are believed to have died already, but there is hope that others can still be saved.
“If we can get them back in the water and get them out of this area, they have a good chance,” Misty Niemeyer, stranding coordinator for IFAW’s Marine Mammal Rescue Team, told the newspaper. “But this is a very big stranding event, so we’re going to do our best.”
Officials say this is one of the largest dolphin strandings they’ve seen on the Cape in many years.
EF-1 tornado touched down in Rehoboth, NWS confirms
An EF-1 tornado touched down in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, late Wednesday, the National Weather Service confirmed Friday.
The storm hit in a wooded area off Sterber Way around 11:29 p.m., snapping and uprooting trees in the area as winds. Winds …
Bomb squad called to Haverhill to investigate suspicious device at home
A bomb squad was called to a neighborhood in Haverhill, Massachusetts, on Friday to investigate a suspicious, possibly incendiary, device.
Haverhill Police and Fire and responded to a home on Rosebud Avenue around 8 a.m. Friday and found the d…
Unexpected twist in Karen Read trial: Jury says they can’t agree on verdict
In an unexpected twist in the controversial Karen Read murder trial, jurors submitted a note to Judge Beverly Cannone on Friday saying they had been “unable to reach a unanimous verdict.”
“I am writing to inform you on behalf of the jury that despite our exhaustive review of the evidence and our diligent consideration of all disputed evidence we have been unable to reach a unanimous verdict,” the foreperson wrote to Cannone just after noon Friday.
The jury first got the case on Tuesday, deliberating for several hours. On Wednesday, they deliberated for much of the day but then broke early because a juror had a prior commitment. Thursday’s deliberations ended around 3 p.m. and the jury was just three hours into deliberations on Friday when they submitted their note.
Cannone gave both sides a chance to argue their case before making her ruling.
Assistant District Attorney Adam Lally argued that given the length of the trial and the fact that jurors had several early days this week, he does not believe they have spent enough time deliberating.
“My answer would be no,” Lally said. “There simply hasn’t been sufficient time. The jury received this case earlier this week. They’ve had slightly shortened days. I’m not suggesting they haven’t conducted their due diligence… but I submit it is far, far, far too early to even consider giving them any Tuey-Rodriguez instruction or anything even close to that.”
The Tuey-Rodriguez model is a special set of instructions often read to deadlocked juries.
“Furthermore,” he said, “the note doesn’t indicate affirmatively is that they can’t come to a conclusion through their deliberative process at this time. They’re not even asking for one is what I would say.”
Defense attorney David Yannetti, however, argued that the jurors have been working nonstop and with a weekend approaching they should be given additional guidance.
“I would disagree with Mr. Lally’s characterization of the note,” he said. “The word exhaustive is the word that I think is operative here. They’re communicating to the court that they’ve exhausted all manner of compromise, all manner of persuasion and they’re at an impasse. You know, this is a case where the jury has the legal instructions — they’ve only really asked one question, which was to try to get a report they were not allowed to get, and I think the message has ben received that the evidence is closed and they won’t be getting anything more.”
“They’ve been working essentially nonstop over the last three, four days,” Yannetti added. “We’re approaching a weekend. They didn’t come back with this at 3 o’ clock or 4 o’ clock — they’re at 12 o’ clock and they have nowhere to turn. So our position is the jury should be read the Tuey-Rodriguez model instruction and go from there.”
Ultimately, Cannone ruled that the jurors had not deliberated enough, with multiple shortened days, and given that the trial lasted nearly two months and included dozens of witnesses and hundreds of exhibits.
“This note arrived with less than three hours of deliberations today, so the length of the trial, the length of the deliberations — we heard from 74 witnesses, there are 657 exhibits, very complex issues in this case. I’m not prepared to find that there have been due and thorough deliberations at this point.”
She then brought the jurors back into court to give them their instructions.
“Lunch will be arriving shortly. When it comes, I’d ask you to clear your heads. Have lunch, and begin your deliberations again, or continue your deliberations,” she said. “I’m sending you back out.”
The jury must decide whether prosecutors have proven that she drunkenly and angrily slammed into her Boston police officer boyfriend with her Lexus SUV and left him to die. The defense challenged the evidence and suggested that one or more colleagues killed John O’Keefe, dumped his body outside in a panic and then framed Read to cover it up.
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