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A Massachusetts State Police investigator who admitted on the witness stand to sending offensive and inappropriate texts about Karen Read was relieved of his duties just hours after the judge declared a mistrial in the case.
Michael Proctor will be transferred out of the detective unit assigned to the Norfolk district attorney’s office on Sunday, Massachusetts State Police interim Colonel John E Mawn Jr said in a statement late Monday.
“Although Trooper Proctor is still employed by the department, the decision to relieve him of duty means that he can no longer work cases or function as a trooper during this time,” a State Police spokesperson told The Boston Globe.
Hours before the decision was announced, Karen Read, the 44-year-old woman on trial for killing her Boston police boyfriend John O’Keefe by hitting him with her SUV and leaving him to die outside in the snow in 2022, walked free from the Norfolk courthouse after jurors were unable to reach a unanimous decision.
The decision to relieve Proctor of his duties comes after Massachusetts State Police opened an internal affairs probe into him over “serious misconduct” that came out during his testimony at the trial.
“Our focus remains on delivering the highest level of police services with professionalism and integrity,” Mawn said.
Proctor was a key witness who testified for the prosecution, who argued that Read purposely ran over O’Keefe in a rage, while her defense team claimed she was framed as part of a cover-up after he was allegedly beaten to death by his police officer friends.
While Proctor was being questioned by the defense, he acknowledged that he called Read several names during the investigation, including “whack-job c***” and “re****ed” in texts to friends, family and fellow troopers. He also called her a “babe” with “no ass.”
Proctor admitted he joked to supervisors about not finding nude photos while searching her phone and that he texted his sister about Read, writing “hopefully she’ll kill herself,” which he claimed was a figure of speech and that “emotions got the best of me.”
He repeatedly apologized in court for the language that he used in the text exchanges, saying that the “juvenile, unprofessional comments had zero impact on the facts and evidence and integrity of the investigation.”
Read was charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating a motor vehicle under the influence and leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death. If she was convicted, she could have faced life in prison.
However, on Friday, after five days of deliberation, a jury foreperson told the judge that they hadn’t reached a unanimous verdict despite an “exhaustive review of the evidence.” The judge told jurors to keep trying.
On Monday morning, jurors said they were at an impasse, but the judge asked them to continue deliberating. In the afternoon, they said it would be futile to continue.
“The deep division is not due to a lack of effort or diligence but rather a sincere adherence to our individual principles or moral convictions,” the jury said in a note read by the judge in court.
Prosecutors said on Monday they plan to retry Karen Read’s case. A status conference is set for July 22 at Norfolk Superior Court.
In the statement regarding relieving Proctor of his duties, Mawn paid tribute to O’Keefe and again offered condolences to his family.
We cannot imagine the way in which this result has heightened the O’Keefe family’s immeasurable grief, heartache, and sense of loss,” the statement read.
“John lived a life of honorable service – both to the City of Boston and the children entrusted to his care after the unexpected death of his sister and brother-in-law. We will remember him.”
