As the second week of jury selection begins Monday in the Karen Read trial, a legal expert tells WBZ-TV there's concern about "stealth jurors" and why they may have the court looking to vet them more.

Karen Read is accused of hitting and killing her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe, with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow in Canton back in January 2022. Her lawyers said that she is the victim of an elaborate coverup and that O'Keefe may have been killed by three men during a fight inside a home and then dragged outside, where his body was found.

Read's first trial ended in a mistrial and she's since appealed her case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

10 jurors seated

As of Friday, 10 people, five men and five women, were seated on the jury.

The spotlight on the case has been so bright with a lot of publicity that seating an impartial jury is especially difficult. As Read's second trial goes into week two of jury selection, the question becomes if you have heard of the case, which is very likely, can you be fair and impartial? According to WBZ-TV legal analyst Katherine Loftus, this kind of publicity allows for the possibility of "stealth jurors."

What are "stealth jurors"?

"There's a lot of online discussion about this," said Loftus. "There have been multiple people from different sides who have said things like that, 'I would lie to get on this jury and I would say that I hadn't heard of it and hadn't made a decision.' So that really is the concern."

Loftus said in this particular case, even after jurors have been seated, the court can conduct additional research and dismiss jurors if necessary.