DEDHAM, Mass. — Suspended Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor texted a prosecutor in the Karen Read murder case just hours after the Mansfield woman’s 10-week trial ended with a hung jury, court documents indicate.
Proctor, the lead investigator assigned to the death of Read’s Boston police officer boyfriend John O’Keefe, sent a text message to Assistant District Attorney Adam Lally shortly before 6 p.m. on July 1, 2024, that said, “Yeah, didn’t watch [a******] Jackson’s closing for good reason,” according to a Norfolk Superior Court filing dated Feb. 11, 2025.
Proctor, who was referring to Read’s Los Angeles-based lawyer Alan Jackson, added, “Like all of us the anticipation and anxiety of verdict has us all on edge,” the motion showed.
“Mr. Proctor’s message suggests that his decision not to watch the proceedings on July 1, 2024, was not out of effort to abide by the sequestration order, but was instead related to nature of the defense closing argument itself,” Read’s lawyers stated in Tuedsay’s filing. The message implies that Mr. Proctor had been following the trial online and simply skipped the defense closing argument because he does not like Attorney Jackson.”
Witnesses in the case were prohibited from watching the trial.
Read the full filing below:
Proctor was relieved of his duty without pay this past summer after Judge Beverly Cannone declared a mistrial and his last day with the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office followed soon thereafter.
He came under fire for a series of disparaging texts he sent regarding Read, which he read aloud in court during witness testimony. Proctor admitted on the stand that the texts were “unprofessional.”
Proctor called Read things like a “whack job” and other derogatory words, he talked about her medical issues and wrote, “No nudes so far,” while going through her phone.
Proctor appeared before a State Police Trial Board earlier this week for a disciplinary hearing to determine his future with the Massachusetts State Police. That hearing ended without a conclusion. He’ll be called back for a third session on March 13.
Proctor also served as the lead investigator in the case against Brian Walshe, who is accused of killing and dismembering his wife Ana Walshe.
Read is accused of hitting O’Keefe with her Lexus SUV on Jan. 29, 2022, and leaving him to die after a night of drinking. The defense has sought to portray Read as the victim, saying O’Keefe was actually killed inside the Albert family home and then dragged outside and left for dead.
Judge Beverly Cannone recently agreed to push Read’s second trial back to April 2025.
In an exclusive one-on-one interview on Super Bowl Sunday, Read told Boston 25′s Ted Daniel that she has “nothing to hide” and that she’s “been framed” for murder.
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