FRAMINGHAM, MASS. (WHDH) – Massachusetts State Police announced Wednesday that Michael Proctor, the controversial trooper who served as lead investigator in the Karen Read murder case, has been fired and dishonorably discharged.
Colonel Geoffrey Noble accepted the MSP Trial Board’s recommendation to terminate Proctor after the board found him guilty of unsatisfactory performance and inappropriate consumption of alcoholic beverages.
“My decision to terminate Mr. Proctor follows a thorough, fair, and impartial process. I have weighed the nature of the offenses, their impact on our investigative integrity, and the importance of safeguarding the reputations of our dedicated women and men in the State Police,” Noble said in a statement. “This decision reflects our unwavering commitment to upholding our values, enhancing public trust and ensuring the highest standards of service and accountability.”
Disturbing text messages Proctor sent about Read were uncovered during testimony in last year’s trial of Read for the murder of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, in 2022. He called them “regrettable.”
Within hours of the first trial being declared a mistrial, Proctor was relieved of duty and transferred out of the detective unit assigned to the Norfolk County District Attorney’s office. He was also suspended without pay.
In response to Wednesday’s dismissal, Proctor’s family issued a statement of disappointment, saying the trial board’s decision “lacks precedent, and unfairly exploits and scapegoats one of their own, a trooper with a 12-year unblemished record”.
“Despite the Massachusetts State Police’s dubious and relentless efforts to find more inculpatory evidence against Michael Proctor on his phones, computers and cruiser data, the messages on his personal phone – referring to the person who killed a fellow beloved Boston Police Officer – are all that they found,” the family said. “The messages…