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4 months ago
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The lead investigator in the murder trial of Karen Read who was accused of murdering her cop boyfriend has been relieved of his duties.
Read, 44, was informed on Monday that jurors were unable to agree on whether she'd killed Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe, 46, with her SUV in January 2022.
It marked the end of a contentious nine-week trial where Read alleged that she was the victim of a wide-ranging plot to frame her.
In a sensational turn of events, lead detective Michael Proctor has now been transferred out of the local detective's unit for 'serious misconduct'.
The officer will still be paid but his car, gun and gear have all been taken away, according to NBC Boston.
Read, 44, was informed on Monday that jurors were unable to agree on whether she'd killed Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe
This photo undated photo released by the Boston Police Department shows officer John O'Keefe
Last month, Proctor testified in the trial that he had sent his friends and coworkers various text messages about Read, a financial analyst and college professor.
Proctor called Read a 'whack job' and a 'c***' and referred to her as a 'babe' with 'no a**,' while also making light of her 'Fall River accent.
In other messages, he joked about rummaging through her phone for nude photos during the investigation.
Read's defense attorneys claim these texts support their theory that she was framed by police in a vast conspiracy to blame her for the killing.
Proctor claimed that 'these juvenile, unprofessional comments had zero impact on the facts, the evidence and the integrity of the investigation.'
Interim Col. Jack Mawn of the Massachusetts State Police previously took a strong stance against Proctor's comments and announced the move on Monday.
In a statement, he said: 'The Department took immediate action to relieve Trooper Michael Proctor of duty and formally transfer him out of the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office State Police Detective’s Unit.
'This follows our previous decision to open an internal affairs investigation after information about serious misconduct emerged in testimony at the trial. This investigation is ongoing.'
Last month, Proctor testified in the trial that he had sent his friends and coworkers various text messages about Read
On Tuesday, Governor Maura Healey said: 'The colonel made the right decision. I fully support the decision made by MSP on this.
'As you know, it's under internal investigation, and that process will have to go forward.
'This was the right move to remove him. This is a process. We have to wait for that process to go forward.'
She also added that she had 'no tolerance for that behavior, frankly, with anyone in law enforcement, with anyone in public service.'
Sources have since told NBC Boston that Proctor is also part of a federal probe into the handling of the case.
The outlet reported that Proctor had graduated from the academy in 2014 and moved to work as a detective, earning $146,053 last year.
His fate will be decided by an internal investigation and the a state commission which also handles allegation of police misconduct.
On the evening of O'Keefe's death, he and Read had been drinking with a group of friends and were invited to his friend Brian Albert's home for an afterparty.
Read and O'Keefe had been out drinking on the night of his death, before she drove him to an afterparty while she went home to sleep. He was found dead on the lawn of the afterparty's home hours later
Read, who prosecutors say drank several alcoholic drinks beforehand, decided to drop her boyfriend at the afterparty before she went to his home - that O'Keefe shared with his orphaned niece and nephew - to sleep at around 1am.
Court documents revealed the couple had been bitterly arguing for weeks beforehand.
On the night O'Keefe died, Read left him a voicemail calling him a 'f****** loser', and telling him: 'John, I f****** hate you.'
The couple had been dating for two years at the time of O'Keefe's death. He had been serving on the Boston Police Department for 16 years.
According to Read's version of events, she woke up at 4am to find that O'Keefe never returned home, leading her to frantically drive out to try and find him.
After finding O'Keefe's body outside Albert's home, which party attendees claimed he never entered, first responders on the scene alleged that Read repeatedly told them she hit him while in a panicked state.
Vehicle data also found that Read reversed her SUV for 62 feet at 24mph near to Albert's home.
O'Keefe's cause of death was listed as blunt force trauma and hypothermia, with pieces of Read's taillight found around his body, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors had claimed Read and O'Keefe's relationship was on the rocks when he died
In his closing argument on Tuesday, Norfolk County Assistant District Attorney Adam Lally said the claims that Read was framed was little more than 'rampant speculation.'
Lally also pointed to hair and DNA from O'Keefe found on the rear end of Read's SUV.
The defense countered that the taillight was actually broken by Read when she left in a panic to find O'Keefe when he never returned home.
This included security video shown at trial showing Read clipping O'Keefe's vehicle as she backed out of her home to search for him.
Read claimed that attendees at the afterparty beat him to death, and her attorneys presented phone data that showed O'Keefe's phone climbed dozens of steps at the time he was allegedly struck.
Her attorney, Alan Jackson, claimed that these steps could have been the basement of Albert's home. Albert was never charged with any wrongdoing.
Proctor opens an evidence box to show the jury a broken tail light while testifying
Read's attorneys added that although first responders claimed Read spoke of hitting O'Keefe at the scene, they claimed this evidence was falsely given at a later date and not said at the time.
A forensic engineer was brought in to evaluate the case, who testified that if O'Keefe had been struck by a vehicle at over 20mph he would expect to see more severe injuries.
When her trail began, Read received a slew of support from true crime fans who camped outside the courthouse with signs reading 'Free Karen Read.'
Many took to wearing pink as a show of support for Read, leading a judge to issue an order barring any clothing or accessories that could be perceived as encouraging, and banning them from coming within 200 feet of the courthouse.
As the trial made national headlines, some observers were turned off by Read's apparent flippant attitude during the proceedings, leading her to be nicknamed 'America's happiest murder defendant.'
She was seen winking to cameras and snacking inside the courthouse, which angered some critics.
Prosecutors say they intend to retry the case in which the defense asserted that Read had been framed by police.
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