Karen Read case: MA state police Bukhenik, Tully under investigation

Weeks after the Karen Read murder trial ended, the fallout continues, with two more Massachusetts State Police troopers — who testified — under an internal investigation.

The internal investigation likely stems from testimony during the Read trial, when lead investigator, trooper Michael Proctor, was on the stand testifying about derogatory text messages he sent to other troopers about Read.

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Those texts led to him being suspended without pay.

Now, two of Proctor's supervisors, Sgt. Yuri Bukhenik and Det. Lt. Brian Tully, are the subjects of an active internal affairs investigation, state police confirmed Tuesday. Both currently remain on full duty.

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State police would not elaborate, but, in court, Proctor admitted Bukhenik was part of that group text chain and was also identified in court as one of his supervisors.

Tully is one of the supervisors of the detective unit at the Norfolk District Attorney's Office.

A state police spokesman initially said Lt. John Fanning was being investigated along with Bukhenik and Tully, but soon afterward said the allegations against him were determined to be "unfounded" and that the investigation into him was "closed."

A brief hearing in the Karen Read case set the calendar for her retrial, as well as when Judge Beverly Cannone will hear arguments on whether to dismiss two of the charges brought over the death of Read's boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe.

NBC10 Boston legal analyst Michael Coyne said these investigations make an already challenging retrial case for the Commonwealth that much harder.

"I think this case has revealed a lot of flaws within law enforcement that now, once revealed, that the Mass. State Police don't have a choice but to investigate further and make sure that at the end of the day they have rectified whatever problems that were existing within their ranks and that the same problems aren't repeated in the future," said Coyne.

There was an investigation into a third trooper, Lt. John Fanning, but state police said the allegations against him were determined to be unfounded.

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