We’re hearing from the family of Michael Proctor, the embattled lead investigator of the Karen Read case.
Three Massachusetts State Police officers are now mulling whether Trooper Michael Proctor should remain on the force following three days of hearings.
The embattled officer was back at police headquarters in Framingham on Thursday for the third and what turned out to be final day of the trial board proceeding, a review process begun after questions were raised over his handling of the Karen Read case .
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The trial board is deliberating, and its recommendation will be sent to the leader of the state police, Col. Geoffrey Noble, and to the state’s POST Commission. There's no timeline for how long that would take.
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The hearings are not open to the public.
Also Wednesday, Proctor's wife and sister released a statement saying that Read's lawyers have maligned Proctor's character as a distraction from the case.
The proceedings began in January – and they have implications far beyond Proctor’s own career in law enforcement.
With the retrial of Karen Read’s murder case coming up in April, a lot is riding on the outcome of the trial board hearing. Allegations of bad behavior by law enforcement -- and the fallout -- have been a central theme of the case.
As the lead investigator in the Read case, Proctor faced allegations of misconduct and criticism for his highly offensive text messages about Read that were read aloud in court during the first trial. He admitted on the stand that those messages were unprofessional and regrettable.
Proctor’s initial suspension came after Read’s mistrial was declared last July.
NBC10 Boston Legal Analyst Michael Coyne says Proctor’s conduct could hurt the commonwealth’s case.
“In my opinion, it couldn’t look much worse right now – the language that he used, the things he was telling his friends, and the involvement of his superiors in some of those text messages, to me it’s virtually catastrophic for the government as is, so it only could marginally get worse as I see it," Coyne said. "But it could get worse obviously if he’s terminated and now you still nonetheless have to put him on the stand.”
