Michael Proctor, the Massachusetts State Police trooper who led the investigation of John O’Keefe’s death, took the stand and acknowledged sending inappropriate texts about defendant Karen Read.
Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor will be back on the stand Wednesday in the Karen Read murder trial.
The lead investigator in John O'Keefe's death read a series of text messages for the jury Monday that he sent to family, friends and colleagues about the defendant and the case. They were crude, demeaning and inappropriate.
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You can read a full breakdown of Proctor's text messages here.
"The testimony about the text messages was extremely damaging to the prosecution case and potentially fatal," said Tom Nolan, a professor of criminology at Boston University and former Boston police officer. "I was not impressed by Trooper Proctor's contention that his text messages, in no way, had an effect on the factual evidence of the case, because it clearly did."
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Proctor, who serves as the lead investigator for the Norfolk County District Attorney's Office and is currently the subject of an internal affairs investigation with the state police, told jurors the text messages -- some of which went to supervisors -- were regrettable and unprofessional. But he said they don't impact the integrity of the investigation.
"When you are now having to respond to extremely misogynistic statements and other unprofessional statements, you're compromising integrity as an investigator, as a law enforcement professional," said Todd McGhee, a security consultant who worked as a state trooper for more than 20 years.
McGhee says Proctor could eventually end up on the Brady List of officers whose credibility have been tainted.
"It's not an automatic termination if your name makes that list," he said. "However, it could cause reassignment based on your role within a unit."
"They don't have a strong history of imposing discipline on their members, so in all likelihood, this trooper will continue to be to be assigned to the district attorney's office," said Nolan. "I think that's imprudent."
"I have faith within my former agency," McGhee said of the Massachusetts State Police. "There's thousands of professional men and women that do the right thing every day every day."
