Lead detective takes the stand in Karen Read trial

Allegations of bias in the investigation into the death of Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe came into focus on Monday in Dedham Superior Court as defense attorneys for Karen Read — O’Keefe’s girlfriend and alleged killer — kicked off what was expected to be a grueling cross-examination of the lead investigator on the case, State Trooper Michael Proctor of Canton.

Prosecutors allege that Read, 44, intentionally backed into O’Keefe in her SUV after dropping him off to attend a party at the home of Brian Albert, a fellow BPD officer, in the early morning hours on January 29, 2022. They claim that Read was intoxicated, that the couple had been having relationship problems, and that Read ultimately fled the scene before returning hours later with witnesses where she claimed to discover his body.

Read’s attorneys, however, allege that O’Keefe was attacked inside the Alberts’ home and that Read herself is a victim of a massive conspiracy and cover-up involving several prosecution witnesses and members of law enforcement.

On Monday afternoon, defense attorney Alan Jackson leaned into that assertion by pointing to several text messages that Proctor admitted to sending — under direct examination by Norfolk Assistant DA Adam Lally — in private conversations with friends, family and colleagues at the Mass. State Police.

Extracted as part of a separate federal probe into the O’Keefe investigation — which Judge Beverly Cannone is allowing to be vaguely referenced during trial but not explicitly shared with the jurors — the text threads were read aloud by Proctor on Monday at the request of ADA Lally, in the interests of full disclosure and presumably to avoid any surprises during cross examination.

In one of the text exchanges between Proctor and a group of friends on the day that O’Keefe’s body was discovered, Proctor stated that Read “hit [O’Keefe] with her car” and referred to her as a “whack job” and a derogatory term used for a woman starting with the letter “c,” which Judge Cannone instructed Proctor to repeat in front of the jurors.

“These are your words Trooper Proctor … go ahead and say them,” said Cannone.

Proctor also read another text exchange with fellow troopers in which he made crude references to a digestive condition that Read purportedly suffers from, as well as a separate exchange with troopers, including two superior officers, in which Proctor is reporting about conducting a search of Read’s phone and calls her “retarded” while indicating “no nudes so far,” which Proctor told Lally was simply a “distasteful joke.”

While repeatedly acknowledging that his text message comments were “unprofessional,” “juvenile,” and “regrettable,” Proctor stressed on the witness stand that they had “zero impact” on his investigation, nor did they detract from what he said were the “facts of the case.”

He told Lally that by the time he sent the first messages to his friend group on the evening of January 29, 2022, troopers had conducted multiple interviews, had examined O’Keefe’s injuries, and had recovered physical evidence at the scene, including pieces of plastic that appeared to be consistent with Read’s broken rear passenger taillight, which he said all pointed squarely at Read as the culprit.

“They weren’t professional comments,” said Proctor, “but based on the day’s investigation it was clear that Ms. Read had struck Mr. O’Keefe with her vehicle.”

On cross examination, however, defense attorney Alan Jackson questioned whether Proctor’s comments were “reflective of an objective investigator.”

“You can’t be biased against the person that you’re investigating; that would compromise the entire thing, wouldn’t it?” Jackson asked, to which Proctor replied, “Yes.”

Jackson noted that it is “especially important” for investigators to be free from bias or prejudice in the early stages of an investigation “before all of the facts are known.”

“In other words, Trooper Proctor, you don’t get to pick a suspect and then try to find evidence to support your choice, right?” Jackson asked, drawing an affirmative response from Proctor. “But in this case, that’s exactly what you did, didn’t you?”

“Absolutely not,” said Proctor.

Earlier on Monday during his direct examination, Proctor addressed allegations by the defense that he was a close family friend of the Alberts, indicating instead that he was only “loose acquaintances” with Brian Albert’s brother Chris and Chris’ wife, Julie, whom he had met through his sister.

Proctor told Lally that he had attended the same events as Chris and Julie Albert approximately a “half dozen” times over the past 10 years or so, and while he confirmed that he texted his sister to inform her that the Alberts were witnesses, he said he had never previously been inside their home and was accompanied by another trooper when he interviewed them.

Proctor also testified that he was accompanied by other MSP personnel during all searches conducted at the crime scene, where they recovered additional taillight pieces, and he stated that he had never been to the Fairview Road property prior to the first search he conducted in early February. Additionally, Proctor told Lally that he did not touch or manipulate Read’s damaged taillight at any point while it was being stored in the Canton Police Department’s sally port.

Proctor’s testimony wrapped up for the day around 4 p.m. on Monday at the start of his cross-examination, which was due to continue on Wednesday, June 12 …

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Posted by Jay Turner on Jun 14 2024. Filed under News. Both comments and pings are currently closed.