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Former Massachusetts State soldier who was dismissed on his conduct in the case of Karen reading called accusations that he is corrupt and helped his “ridicule”, saying in an interview that “there is no evidence or facts to support this”.
“It did not happen,” said Michael Proctor to “Dateline”. “I would never do something like that.”
Read has been acquitted from second degree murder, manslaughter in motor violation and other crimes In the death in 2022 of his boyfriend, the Boston police officer John O’Keefe. The prosecutors accused, read, 45, of having supported his SUV Lexus in O’Keefe on January 29, 2022 and leaving him dead outside the suburbs of a Boston police sergeant now retired.
To find out more about the Karen Read verdict, connect to “Dateline” at 9 p.m. he / 8 a.m. Thursday.
The jury condemned only one accusation – operating under influence. She was sentenced to one year of probation.
Read was acquitted in the second attempt by the Norfolk county prosecutor to continue her. His first trial ended with a suspended jury last summer. Proctor appeared prominently in these procedures, Read’s defense team accusing him of having conducted a biased and corrupt investigation.
During the trial, they highlighted others – including the retirement sergeant, Brian Albert – as possible suspects in the death of O’Keefe who were not properly investigated or as a participants in an alleged plot to cover him.
Albert denied this allegation. In a joint declaration on Wednesday, he and others accused the alleged conspiracy called the acquittal of Read “a devastating error of justice”.
The defense argued that Proctor, the main investigator of the case, manipulated key evidence, including a cracked rear light on Read’s SUV that the authorities stressed as a sign of the accident which, according to them, had fatally injured O’Keefe. Fragments of red plastic have been found dispersed around the presumed impact site.
When asked if he had cracked Read’s rear light to make it appear in a certain way, Proctor told “Dateline”, “absolutely not”.
In their attempt to strengthen the allegations of misconduct against Proctor, Read’s defense lawyers underlined exchanges on the case they had said with his sister, as well as denigrated text messages that he sent to Read to family members, friends and supervisors.
During the first test, Proctor testified that his conduct had not compromised the integrity of the investigation. He admitted to having spoken with his sister of the case, although he testified that he had only realized him of “worthy tips”. He also recognized that his comments – which included derogatory statements on one of Read’s medical conditions – “dehumanized”.
State police suspended Proctor after the trial and launched an internal investigation into the allegations of “serious fault” which, according to the agency, had been raised at the trial.
Proctor was dishonorably released this year after the investigation determined that he had disclosed the details of investigation to the person’s non-application staff and made derogatory comments on Read.
The investigation also revealed that he had drank alcohol in service and led his cruiser.
While Proctor was listed as a possible witness to the defense and the accusation in the new trial, he was not called to testify.
