Escaped California inmate wanted for killing Mexican police commander in shootout, officials say

(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Supreme Court has denied Karen Read’s petition for certiorari, and therefore will not review her case.

Read had asked the Supreme Court to intervene in her case, arguing double jeopardy after the jurors allegedly agreed on acquittal for two charges in her first trial.

Read is accused of killing her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, in January 2022. Prosecutors allege Read hit O’Keefe with her vehicle and left him to die as Boston was hit with a major blizzard. Read has denied the allegations and maintained her innocence.

Testimony in Read’s retrial — now in its second week — resumed Monday morning with testimony from Ian Whiffin, a digital forensics examiner from Cellebrite.

The judge declared a mistrial in Read’s first trial last year after the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict on all of the counts.

She was charged with first-degree murder, manslaughter while operating a motor vehicle under the influence and leaving the scene of a fatal accident. She pleaded not guilty.

Read’s attorneys asked multiple appeals courts to dismiss the charges of second-degree murder and leaving the scene of a fatal accident in the retrial. They argued in court filings that retrying her on the charges would violate double jeopardy protections because, based on subsequent statements from four jurors, the jury had reached a unanimous decision to acquit Read on the charges.

With the Supreme Court on Monday rejecting to hear her appeal, she’s run out of options.

Among the most dramatic testimony in the first week of the retrial was from O’Keefe’s mother, Margaret “Peggy” O’Keefe, who was not called to testify in Read’s first trial.

Peggy O’Keefe described her son as an “enthusiastic” fan of sports who was “wonderful” with his niece and nephew, for whom he provided primary guardianship following their parents’ untimely deaths.

“He was their No. 1,” she said, shakily, “They called him JJ.”

She sobbed when special prosecutor Hank Brennan showed a photo of her son smiling.

ABC News’ Meredith Deliso and Nadine El-Bawab contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(LOS ANGELES, Calif.) — Approximately 55,000 of Los Angeles County’s workers have taken to the streets downtown in a massive, two-day protest — affecting a range of industries, from public services and health care to libraries and park management.

Members of the labor union SEIU Local 721 began the strike on Monday night, saying in a press release that failed contract negotiations and 44 alleged labor law violations sparked the walkout.

The strike also comes nearly four months after the devastating spate of wildfires burned through parts of Los Angeles County in January, causing billions in damage and a strain on public workers, the union said.

“This is the workforce that got LA County through emergency after emergency: the January wildfires, public health emergencies, mental health emergencies, social service emergencies and more,” David Green, SEIU 721’s executive director and president, who has worked as an L.A. County children’s social worker for more than two decades said in the union’s release.

“From the San Fernando Valley to the San Gabriel Valley, from the foothills to the beaches, all across LA County, we get the job done. That’s why we have had it with the labor law violations and demand respect for our workers,” Green added.

The union claims the alleged labor violations include refusal to bargain with union members in good faith, surveillance and retaliation against SEIU 721 members engaged in union activity, restricting union organizers’ access to worksites and contracting out of SEIU 721-represented positions.

Additionally, the union claims the county’s proposal had a 0% increase for workers’ cost of living while its board of supervisors financed a $205 million downtown skyscraper for new office space.

“These are the very same people telling the workforce – and taxpayers – that there is no money for more services or frontline staff,” the union said in the release.

In a statement to ABC News on Tuesday, L.A. County’s Chief Executive Office said it’s “committed to negotiating in good faith with SEIU 721, and we are disappointed that the union is opting to stage a strike that will affect residents and impact service delivery at a time of great public need.”

The department added that it “disputes the union’s assertion that the County has engaged in unfair labor practices.”

The county also cited “unprecedented stresses on our budget” including a $4 billion settlement of thousands of childhood sexual assault claims brought under AB 218, a projected $2 billion in impacts related to the January wildfires and recovery and the potentially catastrophic loss of hundreds of millions or more in federal funding, according to the statement.

Speaking with ABC News’ Los Angeles affiliate KABC, L.A. County’s Chief Executive Officer Fesia Davenport said, “We have to monitor our revenues” and explained that the county’s growth from property taxes is declining.

“Our revenues are down because interest rates are up, and the number of houses that have been sold over the last couple of years have been declining. Our main source of revenue are local property taxes, so even though we get growth every year from property taxes, the amount of that growth is declining,” Davenport said.

The county is planning to meet with union workers Tuesday night, according to KABC.

Marking the first strike of it kind for the union, SEIU 721 members include health, public health and mental health care professionals; social workers; parks and recreation staff; social services eligibility workers; public works personnel; clerical workers; custodians; coroner personnel; beaches and harbors staff; and traffic and lighting personnel, according to the release.

The strike could impact non-urgent health clinics, libraries, wildfire debris removal, homeless encampment enforcement and trash pickup services, according to the union.

Further information on closures and service delays can be found out lacounty.gov/closures.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

A high-profile case against prominent real estate moguls took a new turn this week as federal prosecutors filed new charges against Oren and Tal Alexander, as well as their brother Alon, on May 8.

Filed as part of a superseding indictment, which overrides the first indictment, the charges against the Alexander brothers include additional counts of alleged sex trafficking — one of which involves a minor.

Brothers Oren and Tal Alexander gained notoriety in New York’s luxury real estate market through their company, Alexander Group, and have been under federal investigation alongside Oren’s twin, Alon, since late 2024.

They have been accused of luring women to nightclubs and parties, then drugging and sexually assaulting them.

All three previously pleaded not guilty to the first set of sex trafficking charges.

They face 15 years to life in prison if convicted of the federal charges.

In addition to new charges, the superseding indictment included more alleged victims. Six alleged victims now form the basis for the criminal charges.

An individual identified as Minor Victim-3 was trafficked, even though Alon and Tal Alexander would have had a “reasonable opportunity” to observe she was not yet 18, the new indictment alleged.

“The superseding indictment changes nothing,” the attorneys for Tal Alexander, Milton Williams and Deanna Paul told ABC News last week, calling it “a reheated version of the same case.”

Richard Klugh, an attorney for Oren Alexander, shared similar sentiments, saying that the new charges are misguided and lack merit.

“We will fight any new spin offered in these charges and establish our client’s innocence as he has shown his willingness to do in passing a rigorous polygraph examination,” Klugh said.

Alon Alexander’s attorney, Howard Srebnick, also referred to his client’s willingness to take a polygraph, stating, “Alon passed a lie detector test, administered by a former, senior FBI polygraph examiner, establishing his innocence to the accusations in the earlier version of the indictment.”

“To our knowledge, not a single alleged accuser, including those in the new version of the indictment, has passed an FBI lie detector test,” he continued.

Federal prosecutors did not respond to the defense lawyer’s assertion of a misguided prosecution, except to call it an ongoing investigation.

The case has sent shockwaves through New York’s real estate community, where the Alexander Group was known for brokering multimillion-dollar deals for celebrity clients.

An arraignment on the new charges was not immediately set. The brothers are being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn awaiting trial, which is currently scheduled for January.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.