A disciplinary hearing scheduled for next week will determine suspended Trooper Michael Proctor’s future with the Massachusetts State Police, according to a new filing in the Karen Read murder case.
The Norfolk Superior Court filing dated Jan. 3, 2025, indicates that MSP Colonel Geoffrey Noble “may immediately impose permanent discipline” on Proctor at a hearing on Wednesday, Jan. 15.
“Trooper Proctor is scheduled to appear before a Massachusetts State Police trial board for allegations of misconduct in the performances of his duties as a uniformed member of the Massachusetts State Police,” the filing stated.
Proctor, the lead investigator assigned to the death of Read’s Boston police officer boyfriend John O’Keefe, was relieved of his duty this past summer following a mistrial in the Read case and his last day with the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office followed soon thereafter.
At the time, MSP said Proctor would remain suspended without pay pending the outcome of an internal affairs investigation.
He came under fire for a series of disparaging texts he sent regarding Read, which he read aloud in court during witness testimony. Proctor admitted on the stand that the texts were “unprofessional.”
Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor opens an evidence box to show the jury a broken tail light while testifying, Monday, June 10, 2024, at Norfolk Superior Court, in Dedham, Mass., during the trial for Karen Read. Read is accused of killing her boyfriend, Boston police Officer John O’Keefe, in 2022. (Kayla Bartkowski/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool)
Read is accused of backing her SUV into O’Keefe and leaving him to die in Canton during a snowstorm in 2022.
Judge Beverly Cannone recently agreed to push Read’s second trial back to April 2025.
Prosecutors in the Brian Walshe case announced in September 2024 that Proctor would not be called to testify when the case goes to trial in the fall.
Proctor also served as the lead investigator in the case against Walshe, who is accused of killing and dismembering his wife Ana Walshe.
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