Top homicide detective Karen Read was questioned over inappropriate texts

BOSTON (AP) — The lead investigator in the case of a woman accused of leaving her Boston police officer boyfriend for dead in a snowbank has come under fire for a series of offensive and inappropriate texts he wrote about the defendant during the investigation.

Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Proctor, who took the stand Monday and continued to be questioned Wednesday, admitted to the jury that he called Karen Read a series of names, including “crazy job” in texts to friends, family and colleagues.

He was asked to explain tests in which he concluded after the first day that Read was responsible for killing John O’Keefe. Proctor also came under fire for sharing details of the investigation with his sister in text messages, as well as his relationship with two witnesses.

The testimony came in the seventh week of the trial for Read, who pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in O’Keefe’s death in January 2022. Prosecutors say Read dropped O’Keefe off at a fellow police officer’s house after a night drink and hit him while he was making a three-point turn. He is said to have then left. Her defense team claims she was framed.

He admitted Wednesday that he knew Chris Albert and his wife, Julie. Chris Albert is the brother of Brian Albert, who owned the house where O’Keefe was found.

Proctor apologized repeatedly during his testimony for the language used in the text exchanges, saying they were “something I’m not proud of and shouldn’t have written in private or in any other type of setting.” But he insisted the comments had no bearing on the investigation.

“These juvenile, unprofessional comments had zero impact on the facts, the evidence and the integrity of the investigation,” Proctor told the court.

The defense team jumped on the exchanges, including one in which Proctor wrote that he hated one of Read’s attorneys. They also noted a text in which Proctor joked to his supervisors that he found no nude photos when going through Read’s phone.

Proctor denied that he was looking for nude photos of Read, although her defense lawyer, Alan Jackson, suggested that his response showed bias in the investigation.

“You didn’t so much investigate it objectively as objectify it in those moments,” Jackson said.

The text exchanges could cast doubt on Proctor’s credibility for the jury and play into the hands of the defense, which has questioned how law enforcement is handling the investigation.

Read’s lawyers argued that O’Keefe was beaten in the house, bitten by a family dog ​​and then left outside.

They described the investigation as botched and undermined by the relationship investigators had with law enforcement at the house party. They also suggested pieces of glass found on the bumper of Read’s SUV and a hair found on the exterior of the vehicle could have been planted.

Proctor admitted on Monday that he was friends with Brian’s brother Albert and his wife – although he insisted he had no influence on the investigation and was never at their home before O’Keefe’s death. Brian Albert is a Boston police officer who hosted the house party where O’Keefe’s body was found in the front yard.

His text exchanges could also distract from evidence he and other state troopers found, including pieces of clear and red plastic found at the crime scene in the days and weeks after O’Keefe’s death. Proctor on Monday picked up several bags of evidence that prosecutors said contained pieces of plastic collected from the crime scene.

Prosecutors say the pieces came from the broken tailgate of Read’s SUV, which she damaged when she hit O’Keefe. They also produced video evidence Monday that refutes defense claims that Read backed into O’Keefe’s car and damaged the taillight. Proctor also testified that he found no damage to O’Keefe’s car or the garage door.

Michael Casey, The Associated Press