WCVB NEWSCENTER 5. DAVID THANK YOU. SO THIS VERDICT RAISES PLENTY OF QUESTIONS FOR NORFOLK COUNTY DA MICHAEL MORRISSEY, INCLUDING WHY HE CHOSE TO RETRY KAREN READ FOR MURDER. THAT DECISION NOW BEING QUESTIONED BY OTHER PROSECUTORS TONIGHT, MORRISSEY IS NOWHERE TO BE FOUND. OUR EMILY MAHER SPENT THE DAY LOOKING FOR ANSWERS AND JOINS US NOW IN DEDHAM EMILY. O BEN. THE SILENCE IS LOUD FROM DISTRICT ATTORNEY MICHAEL MORRISSEY. AND WHILE A SPOKESPERSON FROM HIS OFFICE SAYS THE DA HAS BEEN QUOTED SAYING THE JURY HAS SPOKEN. THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY HAS NOT RETURNED OR ANSWERED ANY OF OUR PHONE CALLS OR ANY OF OUR EMAILS TO ANSWER ANY OF OUR QUESTIONS. NOT GUILTY OR GUILTY? NOT GUILTY. SO SAY YOU, MR. FOREMAN. REPORTER. INSIDE THE COURTROOM, YOU COULD HEAR THE CROWD OF SUPPORTERS CHEERING AS KAREN READ WAS FOUND NOT GUILTY OF MURDER. IT’S A VERY SERIOUS OFFENSE. OBVIOUSLY. SECOND DEGREE MURDER. FORMER SUFFOLK COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY DAN CONLEY, SITTING DOWN WITH THE NEWSCENTER 5 TEAM, SAYS KAREN READ MAY HAVE BEEN OVERCHARGED BY NORFOLK COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY MICHAEL MORRISSEY. STRATEGICALLY, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN WISER, IN MY OPINION, TO CHARGE KAREN READ WITH OPERATING A MOTOR VEHICLE AND CAUSING A HOMICIDE. CONLEY SAYS BASED ON THE EVIDENCE, HE FEELS JURORS MAY NOT HAVE BEEN CONVINCED BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBT. READ WAS GUILTY. THE JURORS AREN’T, YOU KNOW, THESE ARE INTELLIGENT PEOPLE. THEY KNOW. A CHARGE LIKE THAT. IF WE FIND KAREN READ GUILTY OF THIS, SHE MAY BE GOING AWAY FOR THE REST OF HER LIFE. WE’VE REACHED OUT TO MORRISSEY’S OFFICE MULTIPLE TIMES VIA PHONE AND EMAIL SINCE THE VERDICT CAME DOWN YESTERDAY. TODAY, EVEN TRYING TO REACH HIM AT HOME BUT HAVE HEARD NOTHING BACK. NOW, AFTER KAREN READ’S FIRST TRIAL THAT ENDED IN A MISTRIAL, DISTRICT ATTORNEY MICHAEL MORRISSEY ALMOST IMMEDIATELY PUT OUT A WRITTEN STATEMENT VOWING TO RETRY THE CASE AGAIN. WE HAVE REACHED OUT TO HIM MULTIPLE TIMES SINCE THE VERDICT CAME DOWN BY PHONE, BY EMAIL AND IN PERSON, AND WE HAVE HEARD

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More than 24 hours after Karen Read was found not guilty of the two more serious charges brought against her in her retrial for the death of off-duty Boston police Officer John O’Keefe, the Norfolk County District Attorney has remained notably silent.Newscenter 5 reached out to Norfolk DA Michael Morrissey’s office multiple times in the hours following Wednesday’s not guilty verdict, by telephone, by email, and even tried to reach him at home, but have heard nothing back.It wasn’t until just before 4:30 p.m. on Thursday that a spokesperson for the DA’s Office confirmed to WCVB’s Emily Maher that a simple four-word statement had been released.”The jury has spoken.”The silence following the verdict this time around is a stark contrast to Morrissey’s actions following the first trial, when the DA released a video statement vowing to retry the case against Read.Former Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley sat down with the Newscenter 5 team following the verdict says that Karen Read may have been overcharged by Norfolk DA Michael Morrissey.”Strategically, it would have been wiser, in my opinion, to charge Karen Read with operating a motor vehicle causing a homicide,” Conley said during WCVB’s primetime special, Karen Read Trial: The Verdict.Conley says that based on the evidence, he feels jurors may not have believed beyond a reasonable doubt that Read was guilty.”The jurors, these are intelligent people. They know with a charge like that, if we find Karen Read guilty, she may be going away for the rest of her life, and they were not prepared to do that,” Conley said.Now, the decision by Morrissey to re-try Karen Read for murder has led to calls for his resignation.”Following a pattern of failures to prosecute egregious crimes, the lack of oversight of the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office State Police investigative unit, and misguided prosecutorial priorities, Michael Morrissey has shown that he is no longer fit to lead the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office,” Norfolk County District Attorney candidate Djuna Perkins said in a statement released on Wednesday. “Residents of Norfolk County, victims of crime, and those in our criminal justice system deserve better. I am calling on DA Morrissey to resign effectively immediately to ensure the restoration of justice and integrity in the District Attorney’s Office.”