Fired investigator's texts presented to jurors in Karen Read's retrial

CNN

3 days ago

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Jurors in the retrial of Karen Read on Monday heard a spate of sexist messages the lead investigator of the case sent his friends, after the judge ruled to allow the since-fired Massachusetts State Police trooper's texts into evidence.
'She's a whack job c*nt,' Michael Proctor wrote about Read, according to testimony Monday by his childhood friend, Jonathan Diamandis, who was on the group chat where Proctor sent the message.
'Yeah, she's a babe,' Proctor said, less than 24 hours into the investigation of the death of Read's boyfriend, John O'Keefe. 'Weird Fall River accent though. No a**.'
The contents of the text messages – which were notably presented to jurors under cross-examination by Massachusetts prosecutors and not Read's defense attorneys – were publicly known, having been presented at Read's first trial, which ended with a hung jury. But this is the first time jurors in her second trial have heard them.
In a hearing last week outside the presence of the jury, the defense signaled the texts were important for helping jurors understand Proctor's state of mind. Prosecutors sought to exclude a presentation of the messages through Diamandis, arguing the defense should have to put the former trooper on the stand – an idea defense attorney David Yannetti appeared to resist.
Monday, Judge Beverly Cannone sided with the defense.
Prosecutors have accused Read of drunkenly striking O'Keefe, a Boston police officer, with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow outside a Canton, Massachusetts, home in January 2022. But Read's defense claims she was framed by other off-duty law enforcement who were inside that home, alleging they killed O'Keefe and conspired to frame her.
Proctor is a key figure in the case: While he led the investigation into O'Keefe's death, his text messages have been used by Read's defense attorneys to paint a picture of a flawed and biased investigation. Jurors have already heard testimony about sexist texts the investigator sent his colleagues – including his superiors – at the Massachusetts State Police, in which he said he had found 'no nudes' during a search of Read's cellphone.
State police announced Proctor had been relieved of duty last July, the same day Read's first trial ended in a mistrial. In March, weeks before Read's retrial began, the agency announced he was fired following an internal review.
A MSP trial board determined Proctor had committed several violations of MSP policy, including sending inappropriate text messages about a suspect and providing sensitive or confidential information about an investigation to individuals who were not law enforcement, according to a personnel order obtained by CNN.
The board also found Proctor had created the appearance of bias in his dealings with a homicide suspect, and/or brought himself and the agency into disrepute.
An attorney for Proctor declined to comment Monday. Last year, during the first trial, Proctor apologized on the stand for the 'unprofessional' comments.
Read has pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder, vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and leaving the scene of a collision resulting in death.
Diamandis testified Monday he has known Proctor for about 30 years, going back to middle school. The two remain close friends, Diamandis said, and he confirmed he and Proctor were on a text message chain with several other friends from high school.
When Yannetti presented him with a document, Diamandis confirmed it contained a portion of the approximately 38,000 messages on that text chain.
Aside from the messages that disparaged the defendant, others showed Proctor sharing with his friends details about the victim and the investigation more broadly. At one point, Proctor signaled that whether Read struck O'Keefe intentionally or not, 'That's another animal we won't be able to prove.'
On cross-examination, special prosecutor Hank Brennan sought to have Diamandis read the texts aloud. But when Brennan tried to have him read the texts that referred to Read as a 'whack job' and her looks, the witness declined.
'I'm not really comfortable reading these,' he said. 'Do I have to say these words out loud?'
Ultimately, the court decided to have Brennan read aloud the text messages, with the prosecutor asking Diamandis to confirm their content.
'She's f**ked,' Proctor wrote just before 11:07 p.m. on January 29, 2022 – less than 24 hours after the commonwealth says Read struck O'Keefe with her vehicle. Someone else in the chain responded, 'No a** b*tch,' and Proctor responded with a 'laugh' reaction, Diamandis confirmed.
Still, while the texts were crude and offensive, they never indicated Proctor committed misconduct in the case, Diamandis said under questioning by Brennan.
'In your conversations with Mr. Proctor,' Brennan asked, 'has he ever suggested that he planted evidence in this case or any other case?'
'No,' Diamandis said.
'In your conversations with Mr. Proctor, has he ever suggested framing a defendant, including this defendant?'
'Absolutely not,' the witness said.
'In your conversations with Mr. Proctor, has he ever suggested tampering with evidence in this case or in any other case?'
'No, absolutely not.'
Proctor's texts were entered into evidence Monday as questions swirl about whether the former state trooper himself will be forced to take the stand.
The commonwealth did not call Proctor to testify while presenting its case in chief – a notable decision, considering he was the lead investigator. Instead, they called Sgt. Yuri Bukhenik, who testified to much of the investigation, saying any homicide case required a team effort.
In his opening statement, defense attorney Alan Jackson likened Proctor to a 'cancer' that had infected the entire case. But the defense has signaled in recent days resistance to the idea of calling him to the stand, though he remains on its list of potential witnesses.
Last Friday, while Brennan argued the defense should have to call Proctor to admit his text messages, Yannetti said that was the defense's choice to make. He contended the commonwealth wanted to force the defense to call a witness 'that they do not have confidence in to call themselves.'
'It's unheard of in a murder case that you don't call the lead investigator, but that's what happened in this case,' Yannetti said. 'We should not be forced to call Michael Proctor so that Mr. Brennan can then cross-examine him and lead him through basically his entire closing argument.'
This is a developing story and will be updated.