FRAMINGHAM, MASS. (WHDH) – Trooper Michael Proctor will face a hearing to decide his future with the Massachusetts State Police Monday following last week’s mistrial declaration in the high-profile Karen Read murder trial.
State police Interim Director of Media Relations Tim McGuirk in a statement said Proctor’s hearing would take place Monday morning. The hearing will take place virtually and is closed to the public.
McGuirk said the hearing will result in Proctor either being retained on full duty, placed on restricted duty, suspended with pay, or suspended without pay.
Proctor served as the lead investigator in the Read case. He was relieved of duty and transferred out of his post in the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office State Police Detective’s Unit after he was forced to testify about vulgar texts he sent about Read during his investigation.
“She’s a whack job,” Proctor said in one message.
“She’s [expletive],” he said in another message.
State Police Interim Superintendent Col. John Mawn announced the decision to relieve Proctor of duty within hours of the result in the Read trial.
A state police spokesperson said the move means he is no longer a detective and cannot function as a state trooper.
Gov. Maura Healey soon shared her reaction, saying Mawn and state police leadership made the right decision.
“There’s no tolerance for that behavior, frankly,” she said.
During his investigation, Proctor concluded that Read murdered her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, by running him over with her car.
But Read’s defense team claimed Proctor and other officers framed Read, alleging O’Keefe actually died after he was beaten to death at a party.
“You had an agenda from moment one,” defense attorney Alan Jackson told Proctor during cross examination.
Proctor, who called his comments “unprofessional and regrettable,” is now the subject of an internal affairs probe as well as a federal…