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Michael Proctor’s family releases statement, accuses Karen Read of maligning embattled trooper
“After exhaustive investigations at both the state and federal level, and a grand jury, only one person has been charged with a crime, the defendant Karen Read,” the trooper's wife said.
The family of embattled Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor, whose crude texts about Karen Read cast a pall over her first murder trial and put his own career in jeopardy, has spoken out for the first time.
Proctor’s wife and sister released statements Thursday accusing Read’s lawyers of maligning the investigator to deflect from “overwhelming” evidence pointing to Read’s alleged role in the January 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe. The Proctors urged members of the public to “actually look at the facts of this case,” noting a federal probe into the state’s handling of the investigation recently concluded with no arrests or charges announced.
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“After exhaustive investigations at both the state and federal level, and a grand jury, only one person has been charged with a crime, the defendant Karen Read,” said Elizabeth Proctor, the trooper’s wife.
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Read, 45, is accused of drunkenly and deliberately backing her SUV into O’Keefe while dropping him off at an afterparty hosted at a fellow Boston officer’s home in Canton. While prosecutors say she struck O’Keefe and left him for dead, the defense maintains O’Keefe walked inside and was promptly beaten, attacked by the homeowner’s dog, and ultimately dumped outside in the snow.
Read’s first trial ended with a hung jury last July, and she’s due to stand trial again next month.
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Read and her lawyers have alleged an intricate law enforcement coverup, and they’ve sought to implicate Proctor in the melee. Taking the stand last summer, Proctor — the lead investigator — faced scrutiny over his ties to witnesses in the case, as well as the texts he sent to friends, family, and coworkers in the investigation’s early days.
During his testimony, Proctor admitted he “dehumanized” Read through texts calling her a “wack job c**t,” making light of her Crohn’s disease, joking about looking for nudes on her phone, and expressing hope she would kill herself.
“Who among us has not said something regrettable in moments of stress, shock, or sadness? And how would you feel if the contents of your personal phone were questionably released to the public without full context?” said Courtney Proctor, the trooper’s sister.
Elizabeth Proctor said their family has been “tormented” in the years since O’Keefe’s death.
“Unfortunately, we know that by speaking out, more harassment will be unleashed on our family,” she said. “But we can no longer stand by and silently watch Michael’s character be attacked and disparaged so unfairly.”
Soon after Read’s mistrial, State Police suspended Proctor without pay pending an internal affairs investigation. Proctor has also faced a series of closed-door trial board hearings regarding his allegations of misconduct, including another session slated for Thursday.
Read the Proctor family’s full release below, in its original formatting:
In light of the egregiously false statements from Karen Read and her defense team—both inside and outside the courtroom—Michael Proctor’s family is speaking out for the first time to address the ongoing misrepresentations of his character and calling for the public to actually look at the facts of this case.
On January 29, 2022, fourteen minutes before his on-call shift was due to end, Michael Proctor was assigned to an unattended death case, and his life was forever changed. Proctor and the other investigators followed the evidence, and a jury of the defendant’s peers indicted Read, and only Read, for the murder of Officer John O’Keefe.
Despite this, the family says, Michael Proctor has been defamed, maligned, and falsely labeled corrupt by the alleged murderer, her family, her defense team, and a mob of her followers. Through unrelenting propaganda and disinformation, the defense is trying this case in the court of public opinion and painting Karen Read as the victim with the hope of tainting a jury pool.
“At the end of the day, a beloved police officer and honorable man was killed. The Prosecution believes it’s an open and shut case, and the defense knows this, too. So, their tactic is to put my husband, the lead investigator, on trial for sending texts on his personal phone to his friends and family,“ said Proctor’s wife, Elizabeth Proctor. “The Karen Read defense team is unabashedly creating false narratives and distracting the public and potential jurors from clear-cut evidence.”
It was recently announced that all aspects of the federal investigation involving this case has been closed.
Michael Proctor, who has an unblemished police record in his 12 years with the Massachusetts State Police, testified that the texts on his personal phone were unprofessional and regrettable, but certainly didn’t affect the integrity of the investigation.
“Michael—and so many others in his line of work—see horrible things every day and may at times need to vent personally. He saw a fellow officer die a horrible, tragic death. Who among us has not said something regrettable in moments of stress, shock, or sadness? And how would you feel if the contents of your personal phone were questionably released to the public without full context?” said Courtney Proctor, Proctor’s sister.
Proctor’s wife says the family has been tormented for years because of the case, and it’s time to focus on the real perpetrator.
“Unfortunately, we know that by speaking out, more harassment will be unleashed on our family. But we can no longer stand by and silently watch Michael’s character be attacked and disparaged so unfairly. After exhaustive investigations at both the state and federal level, and a grand jury, only one person has been charged with a crime, the defendant Karen Read,” said Elizabeth Proctor.
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