A photo of Karen Read's lawyer with his arms around his smiling client's waist and chest could potentially hurt a retrial, a former homicide detective said.
Alan Jackson, a high-powered defense lawyer who successfully fended off a murder charge against Read, was seen in a picture obtained by Fox News Digital, among other outlets, in a cozy embrace.
The photo was taken outside a restaurant in Boston on Thursday, June 27, after the case had been given to the jury to deliberate.
"Perception is everything, and if that photo is authenticated of the lawyer cuddling with his client, I can certainly tell you that's something that's not a good look," former Washington, D.C., homicide detective Ted Williams told Fox News.
Jackson has not responded to Fox News Digital's requests for comment about the photo.
AFTER MISTRIAL, EXPERT EXPLAINS ALL POSSIBILITIES FOR KAREN READ
Jackson and David Yannetti were Read's powerhouse attorneys who argued accusations that Read killed her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O'Keefe, were part of an elaborate cover-up and frame job.
They successfully planted enough seeds of doubt that the jury was deadlocked after nearly 26 hours of deliberation, and the weekslong trial ended with a mistrial.
Read, a 44-year-old financial analyst, walked out of the Dedham, Massachusetts, courthouse a free woman after two years of conspiracies and venomous rhetoric against Read and O'Keefe's family and friends.
However, the saga is not over.
"The Commonwealth intends to re-try the case," prosecutors said before a smiling Read and her lawyers were done speaking to her supporters and news outlets after Monday's mistrial.
The narrative before, during and after the trial focused on Read.
The case turned the Boston suburb of Canton into a civil war-like atmosphere, and the death of O'Keefe was more of a footnote than the center of the story.
KAREN READ MURDER CASE ENDS WITH ‘DEEPLY DIVIDED’ JURY'S DECISION
"It's turned into the Karen Read show," O'Keefe's brother, Paul O'Keefe, told CBS Boston. "She walks through a crowd that cheers her on. She goes in public and takes pictures and signs autographs.
"She's just living life like nothing ever happened."
The Massachusetts jury deliberated for nearly 26 hours and had been deadlocked for days.
The jurors were "deeply divided" because of "deeply held convictions" and a "consensus is unattainable," according to the first of two notes to the presiding judge on Monday.
KAREN READ TRIAL COULD SINK OTHER HIGH-PROFILE MURDERS, EXPERT WARNS: ‘HARD TO SEE HOW IT DOESN'T'
The judge made the jury go back one more time in a last-resort effort to come to a unanimous verdict.
The result was the same, and the trial ended.
"Despite our commitment to the duty entrusted in us, we find ourselves deeply divided by fundamental differences in our opinions and state of mind," the jury wrote in its final note to the judge.
The jury sat for weeks during a trial that included 74 witnesses and nearly 700 pieces of evidence.
Prosecutors argued a shouting match turned deadly during a booze-infused fight in January 2022, when Read allegedly backed into O'Keefe with her SUV and left him to die during a nor'easter.
WATCH: DASHCAM FROM THE NIGHT JOHN O'KEEFE WAS FOUND DEAD
His body was found on the front lawn of an influential family with deep ties to law enforcement and prosecutors. Read claimed that the family framed her for O'Keefe's death in an elaborate cover-up.
The deadlocked jury was as torn as the otherwise quiet Boston suburb of Canton.
Protesters voiced their opinions, #FreeKaren billboards cropped up, and family and friends of both sides of the case were lambasted and heckled.
One of O'Keefe's friends told Fox News Digital that Read supporters shouted profanities and heckled them as they entered the courtroom for the first day of the trial.
Aidan "Turtleboy" Kearney, a controversial blogger who was frequently seen with a bullhorn backing Read and writing about the case, was assaulted outside a Canton bar.
Jillian Daniels and James Farris, two Canton residents, were charged with assault, police confirmed to NBC 10 Boston.
