Detective Michael Proctor in Karen Read case dismissed for ‘serious misconduct’ after mistrial

The lead investigator in the murder trial of Karen Read, accused of murdering her police officer boyfriend, has been relieved of his duties.

Read, 44, was told Monday that the jury was unable to reach an agreement on whether she killed 46-year-old Boston police officer John O’Keefe in January 2022 with her SUV.

It marked the end of a controversial nine-week trial in which Read claimed she was the victim of a wide-ranging conspiracy to frame her.

In a sensational turn of events, Detective Chief Michael Proctor has been transferred from the local detective unit for “serious misconduct”.

According to a report by NBC Boston, the officer will still be paid his salary, but his car, gun and equipment have been taken away.

Proctor testified at trial last month that he sent text messages to friends and associates about Read, a financial analyst and university professor.

Proctor called Read a “crazy” and a “c***” and referred to her as a “chick” with “no ass” while making fun of her “Fall River accent.”

In other messages, he joked that he searched her phone for nude photos during the investigation.

Read’s lawyers say the texts support their theory that she was framed by police in a wide-ranging conspiracy. to blame her for the murder.

Proctor argued that “these childish, unprofessional comments had no bearing on the facts, evidence or integrity of the investigation.”

Colonel Jack Mawn of the Massachusetts State Police previously took a firm stance against Proctor’s comments and announced the move on Monday.

In a statement, he said, “The department took immediate action to relieve Officer Michael Proctor of his duties and formally transfer him from the State Police Detective Unit to the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office.”

“This is a follow-up to our previous decision to open an internal affairs investigation after evidence at trial revealed significant abuse. That investigation is ongoing.”

On Tuesday, Governor Maura Healey said: “The Colonel made the right decision. I fully support the decision that MSP made in this matter.

As is known, the matter is under internal investigation and this process will have to continue.

“It was the right move to remove him. It’s a process. We have to wait for that process to move forward.”

She added that “frankly, I do not tolerate such behavior towards anyone in law enforcement or anyone in public service.”

NBC Boston sources later said Proctor is also part of a federal investigation into the handling of the case.

The website reported that Proctor graduated from the academy in 2014 and took a job as a detective, earning $146,053 last year.

His fate will be decided by an internal investigation and a state commission that is also looking into allegations of abuse of power by the police.

The evening of O’Keefe’s death, he and Read were drinking with a group of friends and were invited to an afterparty at O’Keefe’s friend Brian Albert’s house.

Read, who prosecutors said had had a few drinks earlier, decided to drive her boyfriend to an afterparty before going to bed at his home (which O’Keefe shared with his orphaned niece and nephew) around 1 a.m.

Court documents revealed the couple had been engaged in a heated argument for several weeks.

The night O’Keefe died, Read left him a voicemail calling him a “f***ing loser” and writing, “John, I f***ing hate you.”

The couple had been dating for two years at the time of O’Keefe’s death. He had served in the Boston Police Department for 16 years.

According to Read’s version of events, she woke up at 4 a.m. to discover that O’Keefe had not returned home, so she decided to panic and hit the road to find him.

After O’Keefe’s body was found outside Albert’s home, which partygoers said he never entered, paramedics who responded to the scene testified that Read repeatedly told them she had hit him while in a state of panic.

Vehicle records also showed Read was backing her SUV for 62 feet at 24 mph near Albert’s home.

O’Keefe died from blunt force trauma and hypothermia, prosecutors said, and pieces of Read’s taillight were found near his body.

In his closing argument Tuesday, Norfolk County Assistant District Attorney Adam Lally said allegations that Read was framed were nothing more than “wild speculation.”

Lally also pointed to O’Keefe’s hair and DNA found in the back of Read’s SUV.

The defense responded that the taillight was actually destroyed by Read when she panicked and went out to find O’Keefe, who had not returned to the house.

This included surveillance footage shown at trial, which shows Read hitting O’Keefe’s car as she left the house to look for him.

Read claimed that afterparty attendees beat her to death, and her lawyers produced phone records that showed O’Keefe’s phone had been going up dozens of stairs at the time he was allegedly struck.

Her lawyer, Alan Jackson, argued that the stairs could have been Albert’s basement. Albert was never charged with any wrongdoing.

Read’s attorneys added that while paramedics claimed Read spoke about hitting O’Keefe at the scene, they argued that statement was falsely made at a later date, not at the time of the incident.

A forensic technician was called to evaluate the case, who testified that if O’Keefe had been struck by a vehicle traveling at more than 20 miles per hour, he would have expected to have suffered more severe injuries.

As the trial began, Read gained overwhelming support from crime fiction fans, who gathered outside the courthouse with signs reading “Free Karen Read.”

Many people began wearing pink to show support for Read, prompting a judge to issue an order banning them from wearing any clothing or accessories that could be construed as encouraging, as well as from coming within 200 feet of the courthouse.

As the trial made national headlines, some observers were outraged by Read’s apparent nonchalance during the trial, earning her the nickname “America’s luckiest murder defendant.”

She was seen winking at cameras and eating snacks inside the courthouse, angering some critics.

Prosecutors say they intend to retry the case, in which the defense argued Read was framed by police.