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Proctor recently responded to Read’s federal lawsuit, his lawyers arguing he “acted in good faith, without malice and without corruption.”
Michael Proctor, the former Massachusetts State Police trooper whose vulgar texts cast a pall over Karen Read’s murder trials, is pushing back on claims he framed Read for killing her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe.
Acquitted of murder and manslaughter charges in June, Read is now suing Proctor and several other investigators and witnesses she claims “concocted a plan” to blame her for O’Keefe’s 2022 death. Her federal lawsuit further accuses Proctor of manufacturing evidence against her while disregarding “obvious and compelling” evidence implicating others.
But in a 25-page filing last week, lawyers for the ex-trooper denied his murder investigation was unlawful, biased, or corrupt, and said he was not determined from the outset to “pin it on the girl,” as Read’s team has alleged.
Proctor’s attorneys also say his actions as a trooper were protected under qualified immunity — a doctrine that generally shields police from civil liability for doing their duty — and argued he “acted in good faith, without malice and without corruption.”
In addition to Proctor, Read’s lawsuit names his former State Police superiors, Detective Lt. Brian Tully and Sgt. Yuriy Bukhenik, and five witnesses who attended a party at the Canton home where O’Keefe was found unresponsive in the snow: Brian and Nicole Albert, Jennifer and Matthew McCabe, and Brian Higgins.
Proctor is the first defendant to file his formal response to the allegations, though the Alberts, McCabes, and Higgins have denounced Read’s coverup claims as “a vile work of fiction.” Likewise, Proctor’s filing alleges Read’s complaint “is frivolous and not brought in good faith.” He’s asking a federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit with prejudice and award him attorneys’ fees.
Prosecutors accused Read of drunkenly backing her SUV into O’Keefe and leaving him to die in the snow after a night of bar-hopping in January 2022. However, Read has long maintained that Proctor conspired with afterparty guests to protect the Alberts, the well-connected family who owned the home at the time.
Read’s team has pointed to texts Proctor sent in the early days of the investigation, which included crass remarks about Read’s health and appearance. In one text exchange with his childhood friends, Proctor answered a question about whether Brian Albert — a retired Boston police sergeant — would “receive some s**t.”
“Nope,” Proctor replied. “Homeowner is a Boston cop, too.”
State Police ultimately fired Proctor last year, pointing in part to his texts about Read.
While the ex-trooper’s lawyers say the messages “speak for themselves,” they denied Read’s claims that Proctor shielded afterparty guests “by intentionally sidestepping fundamental investigatory procedures.” They also refuted allegations of an “unwritten rule of ‘protecting their own.’”
Proctor’s filing addresses some of the more controversial facets of the State Police investigation, acknowledging police interviews with the afterparty guests were not audio recorded, nor was the interior of 34 Fairview Road searched for blood evidence, fingerprints, or DNA. However, the ex-trooper’s lawyers deny that he treated the Alberts like “family friends,” or that he “failed to conduct a meaningful investigation.”
“At no times was Proctor’s conduct extreme, outrageous or beyond the bounds of decency,” the filing states.
Responses from the other seven defendants are due Friday.
Separately, Read is also facing a wrongful death lawsuit from O’Keefe’s family out of Plymouth Superior Court. That case is due back in court Feb. 3.
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