BOSTON, Mass. (Court TV) — Clips featuring his testimony in Karen Read‘s first trial were broadcast during a hearing as former trooper Michael Proctor fights to get his job back.
Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Proctor testifies during Karen Read’s trial, Wednesday, June 12, 2024 in Norfolk Super Court in Dedham, Mass. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)
Proctor served as the lead detective in Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe’s death and was a central figure in the investigation that led to Read’s arrest. Read, who was acquitted of murdering O’Keefe with her car and leaving him to die in the snow, stood trial twice on murder charges.
Immediately following his testimony in Read’s first trial in 2024, Proctor was suspended from duty with the Massachusetts State Police because of the inappropriate text messages he sent about Read to colleagues. Those messages included calling Read a “whackjob” with “no ass,” a “nutbag,” and making fun of her medical conditions.
MORE | Michael Proctor fired from MA State Police after Karen Read trial
In March, following a hearing before a police board that spanned several days over two months, Proctor was formally fired. He filed an appeal with the Massachusetts Civil Service Commission and appeared for the beginning of a scheduled two-day hearing on Tuesday as part of the process.
Lt. Kevin Dwyer, an internal affairs investigator for the Massachusetts State Police, was the sole witness to testify on Tuesday. He testified to the texts that were recovered from Proctor’s phone, as well as video of his testimony. Clips originally aired by Court TV were shown at the hearing, showing Proctor admitting to sending the offensive messages.
On Wednesday, Dwyer returned to the witness stand for cross-examination. Proctor’s attorneys highlighted the offenses for which Proctor was fired: unsatisfactory performance, disclosing information, drinking on the job and misuse of equipment. The latter three charges are considered “Class B” and “Class C” offenses, meaning a trooper can’t be fired for the first infraction. Unsatisfactory performance is a discretionary charge, meaning the department was able to label it as “Class A,” a fireable offense the first time.
Dwyer pushed back on accusations from Proctor’s attorney that the investigation was influenced by political factors, but conceded that he had not seen the entirety of the thousands of texts sent from Proctor’s phone. Among the texts on his phone were 38,707 exchanges with friends, 2,865 with his sister, and 1,162 with his wife. Proctor sent approximately 43,000 texts to other troopers. Dwyer conceded, when asked by Proctor’s attorney, that there is no formal policy for state police governing how they should speak to their friends.
Proctor was not called to the stand during Read’s second trial. His behavior and subsequent firing have had ripple effects across other cases as well; a judge ruled that Brian Walshe, charged with murdering his wife, Ana, will be allowed to review Proctor’s communications in the Read case to see if there’s any information that could help him.
The hearing, adjourned on Wednesday afternoon, is scheduled to resume in late October.
