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Updated 6/12/24 3:06 P.M.
DEDHAM, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — After a day off on Tuesday, testimony resumed in the Karen Read murder trial on Wednesday.
Read is accused of hitting Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe with her SUV on Jan. 29, 2022, and leaving him to die on the front lawn of retired Boston Police Officer Brian Albert’s house. Read’s defense argues she is being framed and that O’Keefe was actually beaten up inside Albert’s house.
Monday’s testimony ended with Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor, who was the lead investigator in the case. The defense had just begun their cross-examination of Proctor when court wrapped on Monday.
On Wednesday, Judge Beverly Cannone announced that one of the jurors is no longer participating in the case due to personal reasons.
Defense attorney Alan Jackson continued his cross-examination on Wednesday, starting with text messages Proctor sent to a group chat with nine of his friends from high school. At 10:56 P.M. on Jan. 29, 2022, one of Proctor’s friends said, “I’m sure the owner of the house will receive some [expletive].”
In response, Proctor said, “Nope.” In a separate text message, Proctor said, “Home owner is a Boston cop too.”
Further along in cross-examination, Jackson questioned Proctor about his text messages with his sister Courtney Proctor on Feb. 1, 2022. Courtney is friends with Julie Albert, another witness in the case.
Just before 6:00 P.M. on Feb. 1, 2022, Courtney texted Proctor saying, “Nothing, I just saw Julie and she said when all of this is over she wants to get you a thank you gift.” Proctor responded by saying, “Get Elizabeth one.”
Courtney then texted Proctor back saying, “Because I guess her and Chris were friends with the [John] and she is so proud of you for leading this.”
Read More: Mass. State Trooper Michael Proctor Takes Stand In Karen Read Murder Trial
Following a break for morning recess, Jackson questioned Proctor about why he did not start interviewing key witnesses, including first responders, until months after he started investigating. Proctor said he did not interview some of the witnesses until more than a year after O’Keefe’s death.
In another set of text messages with a fellow trooper on April 28, 2022, Proctor was sent a picture with a photo of the autopsy report. The report stated that the manner of death could not be determined and that they would not rule the manner of death as a homicide.
Proctor responded to the trooper saying, “Of course it’s undetermined. She’s a wack job.”
Jackson further questioned whether Proctor tried to influence the person conducting the autopsy report, or if an “undetermined” cause of death made the investigation less “cut and dry.”
“Her finding doesn’t alter how we conduct our investigation. Whether if it’s undetermined or ruled a homicide, we’re still going to continue to investigate regardless of her determination,” said Proctor.
Further along, the defense focused on how evidence was collected and who had access to it after O’Keefe’s body was found. The defense also claimed that it was not documented where the items were between Jan. 29, 2022, and March 14, 2022, when the evidence log was started.
Proctor testified that evidence, found before the log was started, was kept at an office in a “secure facility.”
The defense also brought back up the video of Read’s car getting processed at a Canton Police Department garage after it was towed from her parent's house. Proctor testified that one of the videos appears to “skip,” jumping ahead by about 42 minutes.
Jackson seemed surprised when Proctor said that the time stamp was “reversed” on the video.
“Anything else you noticed that was odd about the video besides the time skips?” said Jackson.
“The time stamp at the bottom was inversed, reversed,” said Proctor.
Before breaking for lunch, Jackson questioned whether Proctor had seen the video that the defense submitted as evidence, which corrected the flipped version but left the time stamp inverted. Proctor said he was not aware of that.
When court resumed after the lunch break, the defense went back to questioning Proctor about his texts with his sister Courtney. On Feb. 4, 2022, Proctor responded to a text from Courtney, saying, “Hopefully she kills herself.”
“It was a figure of speech. My emotions got the best of me based on, you know, the fact that Ms. Read hit Mr. O’Keefe with her vehicle and left her to die on the side of the road, so my emotions got the best of me with that figure of speech,” said Proctor.
Jackson finished his cross-examination by rattling off the offensive language Proctor had used to refer to Read in text messages. Proctor was asked if he believed he was dehumanizing Read with those types of comments.
“I’d say, based on that language, yes,” said Proctor
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