There are scores of witnesses, very detailed evidence and controversial theories and allegations in the case. We’re covering it every night of the trial — and some days when court is off — to recap what happened in court and ask legal experts to explain it all.

See every episode here, and for those looking to watch all the testimony in full, find the full livestreams below as well, plus more info to better understand the complex case.

Watch our nightly recap show, “Canton Confidential”

Every night, anchors Glenn Jones and J.C. Monahan break down what happened in court with the help of our team in court and legal analysts. Watch all the episodes so far right here:

Watch full Karen Read trial livestreams

Use this YouTube playlist to watch the full day in court from every day of the trial. The playlist starts with Day 1, where the prosecution and defense gave opening statements, and continues — toggle between videos by clicking the button on the top right.

Read what happened in court every day

Here are our reporters’ summaries of each day in court:

• Day 1 (April 29): ‘Karen Read was framed,’ defense argues as trial opens
• Day 2 (April 30): ‘Is that my boyfriend? Is he dead?’ Police, firefighters testify at Karen Read murder trial
• Day 3 (May 2): First responders pressed to recall Karen Read’s words near boyfriend’s body
• Day 4 (May 3): Karen Read trial continues, jurors visit crime scene
• Day 5 (May 6): Testimony in Karen Read trial continues, defense accuses witness of perjury
• Day 6 (May 7): 3 Canton police officers take the stand in Karen Read trial
• Day 7 (May 8): Friends of John O’Keefe testify, video shows Canton bar trip
• Day 8 (May 9): Jurors in Karen Read murder trial hear testimony from Albert family members
• Day 9 (May 10): Owners of home where John O’Keefe was found testify
• Day 10 (May 13): Brian Albert and 2 of his children testify in Karen Read murder trial
• Day 11 (May 14): Witness in Karen Read trial testifies she saw black SUV, object in snow outside Albert home
• Day 12 (May 15): Key witness Colin Albert testifies in Karen Read murder trial
• Day 13 (May 16): Defense grills Colin Albert on Proctor connection, photo of injured knuckles
• Day 14 (May 17): Jennifer McCabe testifies infamous Google search was made after John O’Keefe was found
• Day 15 (May 21): ‘Where was the body?’ Heated cross-examination for key Karen Read witness
• Day 16 (May 22): More on ‘hos long to die in cold’ search, talk of big Aruba trip
• Day 17 (May 24): ATF agent testifies about flirtatious text exchanges with Karen Read as trial continues
• Day 18 (May 28): Jurors hear from John O’Keefe’s niece and nephew in Karen Read trial
• Day 19 (June 3): Case turns to physical evidence, including broken taillight
• Day 20 (June 5): Key Mass. police investigator testifies, with focus on SUV
• Day 21 (June 6): Key state police investigator returns to stand, jurors hear audio of Karen Read interview
• Day 22 (June 10): Michael Proctor, lead investigator in Karen Read case, takes the stand
• Day 23 (June 12): Lead investigator in Karen Read trial finishes testimony, supervisor takes stand
• Day 24 (June 13): DNA experts follow state police supervisor in Karen Read trial
• Day 25 (June 14): Car crash, cellphone experts testify in Karen Read trial after chaotic morning
• Day 26 (June 17): Experts testify in Karen Read trial, reveal messages showing Read and O’Keefe arguing
• Day 27 — no jury (June 18): Potential expert witnesses in Karen Read trial vetted by judge
• Day 28 (June 20): Karen Read trial: Voicemails for John O’Keefe played, sparring over location data
• Day 29 (June 21): As prosecution rests against Karen Read, defense begins its own case
• Day 30 (June 24): Defense rests in Karen Read trial, closing arguments expected Tuesday
• Day 31 (June 25): Jury done deliberating for the day after closing arguments
• Day 32 (June 26): Jury form sparks conflict as deliberations continue
• Day 33 (June 27): A closer look at the charges jurors must consider
• Day 34 (June 28): Judge says keep trying after jurors in Karen Read trial say they can’t agree on verdict
• Day 35 (July 1): Mistrial declared in Karen Read trial, prosecution intends to re-try

How to livestream the trial

Watch the Karen Read trial live on nbcboston.com, NECN, NBC Boston streaming platforms (including Roku, Peacock and Samsung TV) and NBC10 Boston’s YouTube page. Every night of the trial at 7 p.m., come back for analysis and more.

Email questions to canton.confidential@nbcuni.com.

Who’s who in the Karen Read case?

Proctor, the lead investigator in the Karen Read case, was roundly criticized after his testimony at her murder trial. The high-profile proceedings brought to light a series of text messages he sent about Read as he investigated the 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, in Canton.

The trooper was the subject of an internal investigation before the start of the trial against Read, accused of hitting O’Keefe with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow.

State police determined at a duty status hearing Monday that Proctor would be off the job without pay during the investigation.

“The decision to suspend him without pay pending the outcome of the investigation is disappointing because it shifts Trooper Proctor’s punishment to his young family,” Brian Williams, president of the State Police Association of Massachusetts, said in a statement. “His children will lose access to benefits such as health insurance. To mitigate the impact on them, a more reasonable action would have been a suspension that did not affect their medical coverage.”

Williams said as the internal investigation continues, the police association has not received any new information that Proctor’s punishment was for anything other than those texts.

Proctor admitted during his testimony during the nine-week trial that he sent texts that were “unprofessional and regrettable,” but claimed they had no bearing on the integrity of his investigation.

The texts — sent to fellow members of the state police, including superiors, as well as friends and family — featured derogatory remarks about Read, calling her a “whack job c***.” They made disparaging remarks about her medical conditions. He said after searching her phone, he had found “no nudes so far.”

When a friend suggested the owner of the home outside of which O’Keefe was found could “receive some s***,” Proctor replied, “Nope, homeowner is a Boston cop, too.”

The homeowner is Brian Albert, a fellow Boston police officer. The state police took over the investigation because Albert’s brother, Kevin, is with the Canton Police Department.

Proctor testified that he and Kevin Albert went out drinking about five months into the Read investigation on July 19, 2022.

After a night of drinking, Kevin Albert left his badge in Proctor’s cruiser and reportedly couldn’t find his gun.

“Found your badge in my cruiser this morning,” Proctor texted Albert the next morning.

Albert told him to leave it in his mailbox, and then said, “Did I take my gun?” and included a wincing face emoji.

At a Canton Select Board meeting Tuesday, Chair Michael Loughran said Kevin Albert had been placed on paid administrative leave June 13, the day after Proctor’s testimony about him.

Proctor’s sister, Courtney — with whom he testified he is close — is the best friend of Julie Albert, who is married to Brian’s other brother, Chris Albert. The couple was present at a bar with Brian Albert, Read, O’Keefe and others hours before O’Keefe’s body was found in the snow.

In one text to Courtney Proctor, the trooper said of Read, “Hopefully she kills herself.”

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.

Read’s defense claimed she was framed in a coverup, questioning the actions of Proctor, members of the Albert family and others. Last week, a mistrial was declared due to a hung jury.

“Regarding the outcome of yesterday’s duty status hearing for Trooper Proctor: The State Police Association of Massachusetts will never condone the unacceptable language used in personal text messages presented as evidence during the trial,” Williams said. “To date, we have received no information to indicate that his suspension was the result of anything other than these text message exchanges. We would like to reiterate that unless the Department’s ongoing investigation proves otherwise, yesterday’s actions have no relationship to salacious allegations of cover-ups, collusion or conspiracies offered by the defense.”

“We certainly support the actions that Col. [John] Mawn has taken, the internal investigation will continue, but I think the appropriate actions have been taken to date,” Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll said Tuesday.

Proctor, the lead investigator in the Karen Read case, was roundly criticized after his testimony at her murder trial. The high-profile proceedings brought to light a series of text messages he sent about Read as he investigated the 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, in Canton.

The trooper was the subject of an internal investigation before the start of the trial against Read, accused of hitting O’Keefe with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow.

State police determined at a duty status hearing Monday that Proctor would be off the job without pay during the investigation.

“The decision to suspend him without pay pending the outcome of the investigation is disappointing because it shifts Trooper Proctor’s punishment to his young family,” Brian Williams, president of the State Police Association of Massachusetts, said in a statement. “His children will lose access to benefits such as health insurance. To mitigate the impact on them, a more reasonable action would have been a suspension that did not affect their medical coverage.”

Williams said as the internal investigation continues, the police association has not received any new information that Proctor’s punishment was for anything other than those texts.

Proctor admitted during his testimony during the nine-week trial that he sent texts that were “unprofessional and regrettable,” but claimed they had no bearing on the integrity of his investigation.

The texts — sent to fellow members of the state police, including superiors, as well as friends and family — featured derogatory remarks about Read, calling her a “whack job c***.” They made disparaging remarks about her medical conditions. He said after searching her phone, he had found “no nudes so far.”

When a friend suggested the owner of the home outside of which O’Keefe was found could “receive some s***,” Proctor replied, “Nope, homeowner is a Boston cop, too.”

The homeowner is Brian Albert, a fellow Boston police officer. The state police took over the investigation because Albert’s brother, Kevin, is with the Canton Police Department.

Proctor testified that he and Kevin Albert went out drinking about five months into the Read investigation on July 19, 2022.

After a night of drinking, Kevin Albert left his badge in Proctor’s cruiser and reportedly couldn’t find his gun.

“Found your badge in my cruiser this morning,” Proctor texted Albert the next morning.

Albert told him to leave it in his mailbox, and then said, “Did I take my gun?” and included a wincing face emoji.

At a Canton Select Board meeting Tuesday, Chair Michael Loughran said Kevin Albert had been placed on paid administrative leave June 13, the day after Proctor’s testimony about him.

Proctor’s sister, Courtney — with whom he testified he is close — is the best friend of Julie Albert, who is married to Brian’s other brother, Chris Albert. The couple was present at a bar with Brian Albert, Read, O’Keefe and others hours before O’Keefe’s body was found in the snow.

In one text to Courtney Proctor, the trooper said of Read, “Hopefully she kills herself.”

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.

Read’s defense claimed she was framed in a coverup, questioning the actions of Proctor, members of the Albert family and others. Last week, a mistrial was declared due to a hung jury.

“Regarding the outcome of yesterday’s duty status hearing for Trooper Proctor: The State Police Association of Massachusetts will never condone the unacceptable language used in personal text messages presented as evidence during the trial,” Williams said. “To date, we have received no information to indicate that his suspension was the result of anything other than these text message exchanges. We would like to reiterate that unless the Department’s ongoing investigation proves otherwise, yesterday’s actions have no relationship to salacious allegations of cover-ups, collusion or conspiracies offered by the defense.”

“We certainly support the actions that Col. [John] Mawn has taken, the internal investigation will continue, but I think the appropriate actions have been taken to date,” Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll said Tuesday.

From Holyoke in western Mass. to Dedham to Dighton, there were signs of support in 32 different standout locations, and Read showed up at least one location to personally thank her supporters.

“It means the world to our family to have complete strangers like this who obviously recognize that Karen’s innocent and they’ve all come together week after week,” Read’s cousin, Kelly Read, said.

“We’re all bringing attention at the same time to what’s going on in Norfolk County and against Karen Read,” supporter Paul Cristoforo said.

Since Read’s trial ended in a mistrial, there have been a few new developments. The defense has claimed five jurors reached out to say the group reached not guilty verdicts on two of the three charges against her, including the most serious of second-degree murder.

Read is accused of hitting and killing her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, with her SUV.

The only charge the jurors who’ve come forward say they’re divided on is manslaughter. Right now, a retrial is scheduled for Jan. 27, 2025.

Legal analyst Peter Elikann weighed in last week, saying, “The judge here was very frank and honest when she said that whatever decision she makes on this, she assumes that the other side is going to want to bring this to the appeals courts.”

“Hopefully, Judge Cannone does the right thing and at least throws out those two indictments, one and three,” Cristoforo said.

Read’s supporters and family say they’ll keep holding these standouts including a national one on Sept. 7.

More on the Karen Read case

Karen Read Aug 2

Karen Read jury: DA's office confirms hearing not guilty claim from purported juror

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Karen Read Jul 24

State troopers linked to Karen Read case face investigation: What we know

Proctor, the lead investigator in the Karen Read case, was roundly criticized after his testimony at her murder trial. The high-profile proceedings brought to light a series of text messages he sent about Read as he investigated the 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, in Canton.

The trooper was the subject of an internal investigation before the start of the trial against Read, accused of hitting O’Keefe with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow.

State police determined at a duty status hearing Monday that Proctor would be off the job without pay during the investigation.

“The decision to suspend him without pay pending the outcome of the investigation is disappointing because it shifts Trooper Proctor’s punishment to his young family,” Brian Williams, president of the State Police Association of Massachusetts, said in a statement. “His children will lose access to benefits such as health insurance. To mitigate the impact on them, a more reasonable action would have been a suspension that did not affect their medical coverage.”

Williams said as the internal investigation continues, the police association has not received any new information that Proctor’s punishment was for anything other than those texts.

Proctor admitted during his testimony during the nine-week trial that he sent texts that were “unprofessional and regrettable,” but claimed they had no bearing on the integrity of his investigation.

The texts — sent to fellow members of the state police, including superiors, as well as friends and family — featured derogatory remarks about Read, calling her a “whack job c***.” They made disparaging remarks about her medical conditions. He said after searching her phone, he had found “no nudes so far.”

When a friend suggested the owner of the home outside of which O’Keefe was found could “receive some s***,” Proctor replied, “Nope, homeowner is a Boston cop, too.”

The homeowner is Brian Albert, a fellow Boston police officer. The state police took over the investigation because Albert’s brother, Kevin, is with the Canton Police Department.

Proctor testified that he and Kevin Albert went out drinking about five months into the Read investigation on July 19, 2022.

After a night of drinking, Kevin Albert left his badge in Proctor’s cruiser and reportedly couldn’t find his gun.

“Found your badge in my cruiser this morning,” Proctor texted Albert the next morning.

Albert told him to leave it in his mailbox, and then said, “Did I take my gun?” and included a wincing face emoji.

At a Canton Select Board meeting Tuesday, Chair Michael Loughran said Kevin Albert had been placed on paid administrative leave June 13, the day after Proctor’s testimony about him.

Proctor’s sister, Courtney — with whom he testified he is close — is the best friend of Julie Albert, who is married to Brian’s other brother, Chris Albert. The couple was present at a bar with Brian Albert, Read, O’Keefe and others hours before O’Keefe’s body was found in the snow.

In one text to Courtney Proctor, the trooper said of Read, “Hopefully she kills herself.”

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.

Read’s defense claimed she was framed in a coverup, questioning the actions of Proctor, members of the Albert family and others. Last week, a mistrial was declared due to a hung jury.

“Regarding the outcome of yesterday’s duty status hearing for Trooper Proctor: The State Police Association of Massachusetts will never condone the unacceptable language used in personal text messages presented as evidence during the trial,” Williams said. “To date, we have received no information to indicate that his suspension was the result of anything other than these text message exchanges. We would like to reiterate that unless the Department’s ongoing investigation proves otherwise, yesterday’s actions have no relationship to salacious allegations of cover-ups, collusion or conspiracies offered by the defense.”

“We certainly support the actions that Col. [John] Mawn has taken, the internal investigation will continue, but I think the appropriate actions have been taken to date,” Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll said Tuesday.

The internal investigation likely stems from testimony during the Read trial, when lead investigator, trooper Michael Proctor, was on the stand testifying about derogatory text messages he sent to other troopers about Read.

Those texts led to him being suspended without pay.

Now, two of Proctor’s supervisors, Sgt. Yuri Bukhenik and Det. Lt. Brian Tully, are the subjects of an active internal affairs investigation. Both currently remain on full duty.

State police would not elaborate, but in court, Proctor admitted Bukhenik was part of that group text chain and was also identified in court as one of his supervisors.

Tully is one of the supervisors of the detective unit at the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office.

NBC10 Boston legal analyst Michael Coyne said these investigations make an already challenging retrial case for the Commonwealth that much harder.

“I think this case has revealed a lot of flaws within law enforcement that now, once revealed, that the Mass. State Police don’t have a choice but to investigate further and make sure that at the end of the day they have rectified whatever problems that were existing within their ranks and that the same problems aren’t repeated in the future,” said Coyne.

There was an investigation into a third trooper, Lt. John Fanning, but state police said the allegations against him were determined to be unfounded.

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Karen Read's lawyers keep up push for 2 charges to be dismissed

Dozens of Read supporters were present, and about 20 opposing supporters of John O’Keefe also waited outside of court.

Earlier this month, Judge Beverly Cannone declared a mistrial after five days of deliberations when the jury couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict following a two-month trial.

Read arrived at court about 10 minutes prior to Monday’s scheduled 2 p.m. hearing along with her lawyers and several security guards.

Monday’s hearing lasted only a matter of minutes, with Cannone setting a tentative retrial date for Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. A pretrial hearing is scheduled for Jan. 14, and a hearing is scheduled for Aug. 9 to hear arguments on the defense’s motion to dismiss the case.

It became a common occurrence during the final weeks of Read’s first trial for large groups of her supporters to gather outside the courtroom, often dressed in pink. On several occasions, people opposing Read also showed up, leading to a series of conflicts.

Read, a former adjunct professor at Bentley College, had been out drinking with O’Keefe, a 16-year member of the Boston police who was found outside the Canton home of another Boston police officer. An autopsy found O’Keefe died of hypothermia and blunt force trauma.

The defense argued that O’Keefe was killed inside the home after Read dropped him off and that those involved chose to frame her because she was a “convenient outsider.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Proctor, the lead investigator in the Karen Read case, was roundly criticized after his testimony at her murder trial. The high-profile proceedings brought to light a series of text messages he sent about Read as he investigated the 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, in Canton.

The trooper was the subject of an internal investigation before the start of the trial against Read, accused of hitting O’Keefe with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow.

State police determined at a duty status hearing Monday that Proctor would be off the job without pay during the investigation.

“The decision to suspend him without pay pending the outcome of the investigation is disappointing because it shifts Trooper Proctor’s punishment to his young family,” Brian Williams, president of the State Police Association of Massachusetts, said in a statement. “His children will lose access to benefits such as health insurance. To mitigate the impact on them, a more reasonable action would have been a suspension that did not affect their medical coverage.”

Williams said as the internal investigation continues, the police association has not received any new information that Proctor’s punishment was for anything other than those texts.

Proctor admitted during his testimony during the nine-week trial that he sent texts that were “unprofessional and regrettable,” but claimed they had no bearing on the integrity of his investigation.

The texts — sent to fellow members of the state police, including superiors, as well as friends and family — featured derogatory remarks about Read, calling her a “whack job c***.” They made disparaging remarks about her medical conditions. He said after searching her phone, he had found “no nudes so far.”

When a friend suggested the owner of the home outside of which O’Keefe was found could “receive some s***,” Proctor replied, “Nope, homeowner is a Boston cop, too.”

The homeowner is Brian Albert, a fellow Boston police officer. The state police took over the investigation because Albert’s brother, Kevin, is with the Canton Police Department.

Proctor testified that he and Kevin Albert went out drinking about five months into the Read investigation on July 19, 2022.

After a night of drinking, Kevin Albert left his badge in Proctor’s cruiser and reportedly couldn’t find his gun.

“Found your badge in my cruiser this morning,” Proctor texted Albert the next morning.

Albert told him to leave it in his mailbox, and then said, “Did I take my gun?” and included a wincing face emoji.

At a Canton Select Board meeting Tuesday, Chair Michael Loughran said Kevin Albert had been placed on paid administrative leave June 13, the day after Proctor’s testimony about him.

Proctor’s sister, Courtney — with whom he testified he is close — is the best friend of Julie Albert, who is married to Brian’s other brother, Chris Albert. The couple was present at a bar with Brian Albert, Read, O’Keefe and others hours before O’Keefe’s body was found in the snow.

In one text to Courtney Proctor, the trooper said of Read, “Hopefully she kills herself.”

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.

Read’s defense claimed she was framed in a coverup, questioning the actions of Proctor, members of the Albert family and others. Last week, a mistrial was declared due to a hung jury.

“Regarding the outcome of yesterday’s duty status hearing for Trooper Proctor: The State Police Association of Massachusetts will never condone the unacceptable language used in personal text messages presented as evidence during the trial,” Williams said. “To date, we have received no information to indicate that his suspension was the result of anything other than these text message exchanges. We would like to reiterate that unless the Department’s ongoing investigation proves otherwise, yesterday’s actions have no relationship to salacious allegations of cover-ups, collusion or conspiracies offered by the defense.”

“We certainly support the actions that Col. [John] Mawn has taken, the internal investigation will continue, but I think the appropriate actions have been taken to date,” Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll said Tuesday.

Proctor, the lead investigator in the Karen Read case, was roundly criticized after his testimony at her murder trial. The high-profile proceedings brought to light a series of text messages he sent about Read as he investigated the 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, in Canton.

The trooper was the subject of an internal investigation before the start of the trial against Read, accused of hitting O’Keefe with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow.

State police determined at a duty status hearing Monday that Proctor would be off the job without pay during the investigation.

“The decision to suspend him without pay pending the outcome of the investigation is disappointing because it shifts Trooper Proctor’s punishment to his young family,” Brian Williams, president of the State Police Association of Massachusetts, said in a statement. “His children will lose access to benefits such as health insurance. To mitigate the impact on them, a more reasonable action would have been a suspension that did not affect their medical coverage.”

Williams said as the internal investigation continues, the police association has not received any new information that Proctor’s punishment was for anything other than those texts.

Proctor admitted during his testimony during the nine-week trial that he sent texts that were “unprofessional and regrettable,” but claimed they had no bearing on the integrity of his investigation.

The texts — sent to fellow members of the state police, including superiors, as well as friends and family — featured derogatory remarks about Read, calling her a “whack job c***.” They made disparaging remarks about her medical conditions. He said after searching her phone, he had found “no nudes so far.”

When a friend suggested the owner of the home outside of which O’Keefe was found could “receive some s***,” Proctor replied, “Nope, homeowner is a Boston cop, too.”

The homeowner is Brian Albert, a fellow Boston police officer. The state police took over the investigation because Albert’s brother, Kevin, is with the Canton Police Department.

Proctor testified that he and Kevin Albert went out drinking about five months into the Read investigation on July 19, 2022.

After a night of drinking, Kevin Albert left his badge in Proctor’s cruiser and reportedly couldn’t find his gun.

“Found your badge in my cruiser this morning,” Proctor texted Albert the next morning.

Albert told him to leave it in his mailbox, and then said, “Did I take my gun?” and included a wincing face emoji.

At a Canton Select Board meeting Tuesday, Chair Michael Loughran said Kevin Albert had been placed on paid administrative leave June 13, the day after Proctor’s testimony about him.

Proctor’s sister, Courtney — with whom he testified he is close — is the best friend of Julie Albert, who is married to Brian’s other brother, Chris Albert. The couple was present at a bar with Brian Albert, Read, O’Keefe and others hours before O’Keefe’s body was found in the snow.

In one text to Courtney Proctor, the trooper said of Read, “Hopefully she kills herself.”

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.

Read’s defense claimed she was framed in a coverup, questioning the actions of Proctor, members of the Albert family and others. Last week, a mistrial was declared due to a hung jury.

“Regarding the outcome of yesterday’s duty status hearing for Trooper Proctor: The State Police Association of Massachusetts will never condone the unacceptable language used in personal text messages presented as evidence during the trial,” Williams said. “To date, we have received no information to indicate that his suspension was the result of anything other than these text message exchanges. We would like to reiterate that unless the Department’s ongoing investigation proves otherwise, yesterday’s actions have no relationship to salacious allegations of cover-ups, collusion or conspiracies offered by the defense.”

“We certainly support the actions that Col. [John] Mawn has taken, the internal investigation will continue, but I think the appropriate actions have been taken to date,” Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll said Tuesday.

Three people, all supporters of Karen Read, have had their property damaged. Two of the victims filed police reports.

“You can see it’s got a splatter,” Rita Lombardi said, pointing to her yard.

It started as a small section of browning.

“Then I noticed a balloon, a water balloon, that hadn’t been popped,” Lombardi said.

None of this made sense to Lombardi until she talked to her neighbor around the corner.

“Bleach thrown on her beautiful flowers and vegetables,” she said.

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Over the course of a week, Lombardi noticed broken balloons in her yard near the brown grass. She called the Canton Police Department.

Brenda Sweeney also called police. She didn’t find balloons, but the smell of bleach and a destroyed garden.

“Normally, this whole fence is full of flowers in the front and vegetables in the back, and we started noticing patches of it dying,” Sweeney said.

It’s no secret Lombardi and Sweeney speak their minds at Canton Select Board meetings, along with Jenn O’Donnell.

“We are looking for truth and accountability, and a lot of it came to light with the John O’Keefe murder,” Lombardi said. “We had some issues in this town.”

Sweeney calls the incident extremely disappointing. Her husband spends hours working on his garden.

“Little kids come here and touch these figurines, and they’re throwing bleach on them,” Sweeney said.

On Friday, we learned O’Donnell also had some popped bleach balloons thrown in her yard.

And on Lombardi’s street, a bag of unpopped balloons was found.

“These people are stuck in middle school,” Lombardi said.

“Any type of act in this community, or any community for that matter, that places another in fear for their safety and/or diminishes their quality of life is unacceptable,” Canton Police Chief Helena Rafferty said in a statement.

Rafferty said the evidence will be transported to the Plymouth County Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

“These people are getting more and more unhinged, and if somebody doesn’t step in, somebody is going to get hurt,” Lombardi said.

The residents say they fear what could happen outside court on Monday when Read and her attorneys are scheduled to face a judge for the first time since a mistrial was declared.

Read faced charges including second-degree murder in the death of O’Keefe, her boyfriend, with prosecutors alleging that she struck him with her SUV outside a home in Canton, Massachusetts, in January 2022. But her defense argued that she was the victim of a law enforcement conspiracy to protect the real killers.

After a trial that spanned months and drew intense media attention, jurors failed to return a verdict, and the case was declared a mistrial.

The Netflix series, which does not have a title yet, is currently in production with Sandpaper Films, co-directed by Danielle Johnson and Rob Miller.

“The team feels immensely privileged to be bringing this important series to a Netflix global audience,” Johnson and Miller told Netflix. “It is a case that has garnered a huge amount of public attention and has far-reaching implications. We are also mindful that this is a hugely sensitive case and we are determined to treat all those involved with the respect and consideration they deserve.” 

The mistrial is far from the end of the case, and it remains unclear if there will ever be justice for O’Keefe. Prosecutors have said they intend to retry Read, while the defense is pushing for dismissal on two charges – second-degree murder and leaving the scene of a crash resulting in death. The jury list remains impounded as questions swirl about the safety of jurors. And the prosecution will have to manage the fallout as one of their key witnesses – former State Police lead investigator Michael Proctor – was suspended without pay for his conduct.

Netflix has not provided a release date for the documentary series.

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Proctor, the lead investigator in the Karen Read case, was roundly criticized after his testimony at her murder trial. The high-profile proceedings brought to light a series of text messages he sent about Read as he investigated the 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, in Canton.

The trooper was the subject of an internal investigation before the start of the trial against Read, accused of hitting O’Keefe with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow.

State police determined at a duty status hearing Monday that Proctor would be off the job without pay during the investigation.

“The decision to suspend him without pay pending the outcome of the investigation is disappointing because it shifts Trooper Proctor’s punishment to his young family,” Brian Williams, president of the State Police Association of Massachusetts, said in a statement. “His children will lose access to benefits such as health insurance. To mitigate the impact on them, a more reasonable action would have been a suspension that did not affect their medical coverage.”

Williams said as the internal investigation continues, the police association has not received any new information that Proctor’s punishment was for anything other than those texts.

Proctor admitted during his testimony during the nine-week trial that he sent texts that were “unprofessional and regrettable,” but claimed they had no bearing on the integrity of his investigation.

The texts — sent to fellow members of the state police, including superiors, as well as friends and family — featured derogatory remarks about Read, calling her a “whack job c***.” They made disparaging remarks about her medical conditions. He said after searching her phone, he had found “no nudes so far.”

When a friend suggested the owner of the home outside of which O’Keefe was found could “receive some s***,” Proctor replied, “Nope, homeowner is a Boston cop, too.”

The homeowner is Brian Albert, a fellow Boston police officer. The state police took over the investigation because Albert’s brother, Kevin, is with the Canton Police Department.

Proctor testified that he and Kevin Albert went out drinking about five months into the Read investigation on July 19, 2022.

After a night of drinking, Kevin Albert left his badge in Proctor’s cruiser and reportedly couldn’t find his gun.

“Found your badge in my cruiser this morning,” Proctor texted Albert the next morning.

Albert told him to leave it in his mailbox, and then said, “Did I take my gun?” and included a wincing face emoji.

At a Canton Select Board meeting Tuesday, Chair Michael Loughran said Kevin Albert had been placed on paid administrative leave June 13, the day after Proctor’s testimony about him.

Proctor’s sister, Courtney — with whom he testified he is close — is the best friend of Julie Albert, who is married to Brian’s other brother, Chris Albert. The couple was present at a bar with Brian Albert, Read, O’Keefe and others hours before O’Keefe’s body was found in the snow.

In one text to Courtney Proctor, the trooper said of Read, “Hopefully she kills herself.”

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.

Read’s defense claimed she was framed in a coverup, questioning the actions of Proctor, members of the Albert family and others. Last week, a mistrial was declared due to a hung jury.

“Regarding the outcome of yesterday’s duty status hearing for Trooper Proctor: The State Police Association of Massachusetts will never condone the unacceptable language used in personal text messages presented as evidence during the trial,” Williams said. “To date, we have received no information to indicate that his suspension was the result of anything other than these text message exchanges. We would like to reiterate that unless the Department’s ongoing investigation proves otherwise, yesterday’s actions have no relationship to salacious allegations of cover-ups, collusion or conspiracies offered by the defense.”

“We certainly support the actions that Col. [John] Mawn has taken, the internal investigation will continue, but I think the appropriate actions have been taken to date,” Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll said Tuesday.

The defense not only arguing against a retrial but also a push to drop two of her three charges. This comes the same day that Read’s home went home for sale.

In a 10-page document filed Tuesday, her lawyers once again asked the court to dismiss the second-degree murder and leaving the scene of a crash charges against her, claiming now four of the 12 jurors have come forward saying that during deliberations the entire jury agreed Read was not guilty of either.

This is the latest attempt to stop a second Read murder trial that the prosecution is planning to re-try. The defense believes they were “given no opportunity to be heard” before the judge presiding over the case declared a mistrial.

Read’s defense team is now calling on her to either dismiss the charges or call a hearing to question the jury about what happened.

“It’s very unusual that a jury would come to a verdict, and we wouldn’t know that, and we would only learn about it after the jury was dismissed. The jury believes if they truly came to a verdict that should be respected,” said Peter Elikann, criminal defense legal expert.

Meanwhile, Read’s four-bedroom, three-bathroom, 2,500 square foot Mansfield home is now up for sale for just under a million dollars.

Her realtor told NBC10 Boston they’re screening prospective buyers. However, due to the interest in her case, they won’t be doing open houses.

A status hearing has been set for next Monday in Dedham, Massachusetts, where we learn if in fact there will be a second Read murder trial.

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Before detailing the “several clear fallacies” in the prosecution’s argument against dismissing the charges, Read lawyer Martin Weinberg noted in the Norfolk Superior Court filing that their opposition didn’t dispute their claim that the jury was ready to unanimously find Read not guilty on the two charges in question.

It’s not immediately clear when the dispute may be resolved. The sides are due for a hearing next week, when the date of Read’s retrial is set.

The new dispute began last week, after Judge Beverly Cannone declared a mistrial in the case. Read’s lawyers said the jury would have voted unanimously to find her not guilty on charges, including murder, citing the direct testimony of two jurors and what they’d heard from others on the thinking of two more jurors. They asked Cannone to dismiss both the charges, saying that re-trying her on them would amount to double jeopardy.

The Norfolk District Attorney’s Office opposed the motion, saying in a court filing Friday that the defense’s argument was “premised upon hearsay, conjecture, and legally inappropriate reliance as to the substance of jury deliberations.”

They also argued that “the jury’s communications to the court explicitly indicated an impasse on all charges,” and that Read’s lawyers had the chance before the mistrial was declared to ask that Cannone inquire what charge or charges the jury was deadlocked on, but didn’t take it.

In Tuesday’s filing, the defense said that they were not given the chance to be heard on a mistrial being declared — Cannone declared it without warning or soliciting objections, Weinberg writes.

“The record reflects no discussion of any such alternatives, including, importantly, inquiry regarding whether the jury had reached an impasse on all, as contrasted to just some of the counts,” he said.

Read was charged with murder in the second degree, manslaughter while operating a motor vehicle under the influence of liquor and leaving a scene of personal injury and death. She pleaded not guilty, and a mistrial was declared last week after a long trial that attracted international attention. Her team claims she was framed for the killing.

Legal expert Peter Elikann, a criminal defense attorney in Massachusetts, said last week that if the jury did reach a verdict on two of the charges, it was unknown why they didn’t say so. He called the back-and-forth in legal filings “extremely unusual.”

“It would be interesting, at some point, if we could find out what went wrong here, why the jury, if this is true, did not understand that they could have made individual decisions on the individual counts, and it was not all or nothing,” Elikann said.

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Proctor, the lead investigator in the Karen Read case, was roundly criticized after his testimony at her murder trial. The high-profile proceedings brought to light a series of text messages he sent about Read as he investigated the 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, in Canton.

The trooper was the subject of an internal investigation before the start of the trial against Read, accused of hitting O’Keefe with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow.

State police determined at a duty status hearing Monday that Proctor would be off the job without pay during the investigation.

“The decision to suspend him without pay pending the outcome of the investigation is disappointing because it shifts Trooper Proctor’s punishment to his young family,” Brian Williams, president of the State Police Association of Massachusetts, said in a statement. “His children will lose access to benefits such as health insurance. To mitigate the impact on them, a more reasonable action would have been a suspension that did not affect their medical coverage.”

Williams said as the internal investigation continues, the police association has not received any new information that Proctor’s punishment was for anything other than those texts.

Proctor admitted during his testimony during the nine-week trial that he sent texts that were “unprofessional and regrettable,” but claimed they had no bearing on the integrity of his investigation.

The texts — sent to fellow members of the state police, including superiors, as well as friends and family — featured derogatory remarks about Read, calling her a “whack job c***.” They made disparaging remarks about her medical conditions. He said after searching her phone, he had found “no nudes so far.”

When a friend suggested the owner of the home outside of which O’Keefe was found could “receive some s***,” Proctor replied, “Nope, homeowner is a Boston cop, too.”

The homeowner is Brian Albert, a fellow Boston police officer. The state police took over the investigation because Albert’s brother, Kevin, is with the Canton Police Department.

Proctor testified that he and Kevin Albert went out drinking about five months into the Read investigation on July 19, 2022.

After a night of drinking, Kevin Albert left his badge in Proctor’s cruiser and reportedly couldn’t find his gun.

“Found your badge in my cruiser this morning,” Proctor texted Albert the next morning.

Albert told him to leave it in his mailbox, and then said, “Did I take my gun?” and included a wincing face emoji.

At a Canton Select Board meeting Tuesday, Chair Michael Loughran said Kevin Albert had been placed on paid administrative leave June 13, the day after Proctor’s testimony about him.

Proctor’s sister, Courtney — with whom he testified he is close — is the best friend of Julie Albert, who is married to Brian’s other brother, Chris Albert. The couple was present at a bar with Brian Albert, Read, O’Keefe and others hours before O’Keefe’s body was found in the snow.

In one text to Courtney Proctor, the trooper said of Read, “Hopefully she kills herself.”

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.

Read’s defense claimed she was framed in a coverup, questioning the actions of Proctor, members of the Albert family and others. Last week, a mistrial was declared due to a hung jury.

“Regarding the outcome of yesterday’s duty status hearing for Trooper Proctor: The State Police Association of Massachusetts will never condone the unacceptable language used in personal text messages presented as evidence during the trial,” Williams said. “To date, we have received no information to indicate that his suspension was the result of anything other than these text message exchanges. We would like to reiterate that unless the Department’s ongoing investigation proves otherwise, yesterday’s actions have no relationship to salacious allegations of cover-ups, collusion or conspiracies offered by the defense.”

“We certainly support the actions that Col. [John] Mawn has taken, the internal investigation will continue, but I think the appropriate actions have been taken to date,” Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll said Tuesday.

Proctor, the lead investigator in the Karen Read case, was roundly criticized after his testimony at her murder trial. The high-profile proceedings brought to light a series of text messages he sent about Read as he investigated the 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, in Canton.

The trooper was the subject of an internal investigation before the start of the trial against Read, accused of hitting O’Keefe with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow.

State police determined at a duty status hearing Monday that Proctor would be off the job without pay during the investigation.

“The decision to suspend him without pay pending the outcome of the investigation is disappointing because it shifts Trooper Proctor’s punishment to his young family,” Brian Williams, president of the State Police Association of Massachusetts, said in a statement. “His children will lose access to benefits such as health insurance. To mitigate the impact on them, a more reasonable action would have been a suspension that did not affect their medical coverage.”

Williams said as the internal investigation continues, the police association has not received any new information that Proctor’s punishment was for anything other than those texts.

Proctor admitted during his testimony during the nine-week trial that he sent texts that were “unprofessional and regrettable,” but claimed they had no bearing on the integrity of his investigation.

The texts — sent to fellow members of the state police, including superiors, as well as friends and family — featured derogatory remarks about Read, calling her a “whack job c***.” They made disparaging remarks about her medical conditions. He said after searching her phone, he had found “no nudes so far.”

When a friend suggested the owner of the home outside of which O’Keefe was found could “receive some s***,” Proctor replied, “Nope, homeowner is a Boston cop, too.”

The homeowner is Brian Albert, a fellow Boston police officer. The state police took over the investigation because Albert’s brother, Kevin, is with the Canton Police Department.

Proctor testified that he and Kevin Albert went out drinking about five months into the Read investigation on July 19, 2022.

After a night of drinking, Kevin Albert left his badge in Proctor’s cruiser and reportedly couldn’t find his gun.

“Found your badge in my cruiser this morning,” Proctor texted Albert the next morning.

Albert told him to leave it in his mailbox, and then said, “Did I take my gun?” and included a wincing face emoji.

At a Canton Select Board meeting Tuesday, Chair Michael Loughran said Kevin Albert had been placed on paid administrative leave June 13, the day after Proctor’s testimony about him.

Proctor’s sister, Courtney — with whom he testified he is close — is the best friend of Julie Albert, who is married to Brian’s other brother, Chris Albert. The couple was present at a bar with Brian Albert, Read, O’Keefe and others hours before O’Keefe’s body was found in the snow.

In one text to Courtney Proctor, the trooper said of Read, “Hopefully she kills herself.”

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.

Read’s defense claimed she was framed in a coverup, questioning the actions of Proctor, members of the Albert family and others. Last week, a mistrial was declared due to a hung jury.

“Regarding the outcome of yesterday’s duty status hearing for Trooper Proctor: The State Police Association of Massachusetts will never condone the unacceptable language used in personal text messages presented as evidence during the trial,” Williams said. “To date, we have received no information to indicate that his suspension was the result of anything other than these text message exchanges. We would like to reiterate that unless the Department’s ongoing investigation proves otherwise, yesterday’s actions have no relationship to salacious allegations of cover-ups, collusion or conspiracies offered by the defense.”

“We certainly support the actions that Col. [John] Mawn has taken, the internal investigation will continue, but I think the appropriate actions have been taken to date,” Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll said Tuesday.

The Norfolk District Attorney’s Office opposes the motion, saying in a court filing Friday it’s “premised upon hearsay, conjecture, and legally inappropriate reliance as to the substance of jury deliberations.”

Read’s lawyers have said that they heard directly from a pair of jurors, and from others on the thinking of two more jurors, that the jury would have voted unanimously to find her not guilty on charges, including murder.

But prosecutors said in their new filing that “the jury’s communications to the court explicitly indicated an impasse on all charges.” They also noted that Read’s lawyers never requested that Judge Beverly Cannone inquire what charge or charges the jury was deadlocked on.

Read was charged with murder in the second degree, manslaughter while operating a motor vehicle under the influence of liquor and leaving a scene of personal injury and death. She pleaded not guilty, and a mistrial was declared last week after a long trial that attracted international attention. Her team claims she was framed for the killing.

Read’s legal team said Friday they were working on a “strong reply” to the prosecution to be filed next week.

Legal expert Peter Elikann, a criminal defense attorney in Massachusetts, said that if the jury did reach a verdict on two of the charges, it was unknown why they didn’t say so. He called the back-and-forth in legal filings “extremely unusual.”

“It would be interesting, at some point, if we could find out what went wrong here, why the jury, if this is true, did not understand that they could have made individual decisions on the individual counts, and it was not all or nothing,” Elikann said.

More Karen Read news

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Proctor, the lead investigator in the Karen Read case, was roundly criticized after his testimony at her murder trial. The high-profile proceedings brought to light a series of text messages he sent about Read as he investigated the 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, in Canton.

The trooper was the subject of an internal investigation before the start of the trial against Read, accused of hitting O’Keefe with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow.

State police determined at a duty status hearing Monday that Proctor would be off the job without pay during the investigation.

“The decision to suspend him without pay pending the outcome of the investigation is disappointing because it shifts Trooper Proctor’s punishment to his young family,” Brian Williams, president of the State Police Association of Massachusetts, said in a statement. “His children will lose access to benefits such as health insurance. To mitigate the impact on them, a more reasonable action would have been a suspension that did not affect their medical coverage.”

Williams said as the internal investigation continues, the police association has not received any new information that Proctor’s punishment was for anything other than those texts.

Proctor admitted during his testimony during the nine-week trial that he sent texts that were “unprofessional and regrettable,” but claimed they had no bearing on the integrity of his investigation.

The texts — sent to fellow members of the state police, including superiors, as well as friends and family — featured derogatory remarks about Read, calling her a “whack job c***.” They made disparaging remarks about her medical conditions. He said after searching her phone, he had found “no nudes so far.”

When a friend suggested the owner of the home outside of which O’Keefe was found could “receive some s***,” Proctor replied, “Nope, homeowner is a Boston cop, too.”

The homeowner is Brian Albert, a fellow Boston police officer. The state police took over the investigation because Albert’s brother, Kevin, is with the Canton Police Department.

Proctor testified that he and Kevin Albert went out drinking about five months into the Read investigation on July 19, 2022.

After a night of drinking, Kevin Albert left his badge in Proctor’s cruiser and reportedly couldn’t find his gun.

“Found your badge in my cruiser this morning,” Proctor texted Albert the next morning.

Albert told him to leave it in his mailbox, and then said, “Did I take my gun?” and included a wincing face emoji.

At a Canton Select Board meeting Tuesday, Chair Michael Loughran said Kevin Albert had been placed on paid administrative leave June 13, the day after Proctor’s testimony about him.

Proctor’s sister, Courtney — with whom he testified he is close — is the best friend of Julie Albert, who is married to Brian’s other brother, Chris Albert. The couple was present at a bar with Brian Albert, Read, O’Keefe and others hours before O’Keefe’s body was found in the snow.

In one text to Courtney Proctor, the trooper said of Read, “Hopefully she kills herself.”

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.

Read’s defense claimed she was framed in a coverup, questioning the actions of Proctor, members of the Albert family and others. Last week, a mistrial was declared due to a hung jury.

“Regarding the outcome of yesterday’s duty status hearing for Trooper Proctor: The State Police Association of Massachusetts will never condone the unacceptable language used in personal text messages presented as evidence during the trial,” Williams said. “To date, we have received no information to indicate that his suspension was the result of anything other than these text message exchanges. We would like to reiterate that unless the Department’s ongoing investigation proves otherwise, yesterday’s actions have no relationship to salacious allegations of cover-ups, collusion or conspiracies offered by the defense.”

“We certainly support the actions that Col. [John] Mawn has taken, the internal investigation will continue, but I think the appropriate actions have been taken to date,” Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll said Tuesday.

Proctor, the lead investigator in the Karen Read case, was roundly criticized after his testimony at her murder trial. The high-profile proceedings brought to light a series of text messages he sent about Read as he investigated the 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, in Canton.

The trooper was the subject of an internal investigation before the start of the trial against Read, accused of hitting O’Keefe with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow.

State police determined at a duty status hearing Monday that Proctor would be off the job without pay during the investigation.

“The decision to suspend him without pay pending the outcome of the investigation is disappointing because it shifts Trooper Proctor’s punishment to his young family,” Brian Williams, president of the State Police Association of Massachusetts, said in a statement. “His children will lose access to benefits such as health insurance. To mitigate the impact on them, a more reasonable action would have been a suspension that did not affect their medical coverage.”

Williams said as the internal investigation continues, the police association has not received any new information that Proctor’s punishment was for anything other than those texts.

Proctor admitted during his testimony during the nine-week trial that he sent texts that were “unprofessional and regrettable,” but claimed they had no bearing on the integrity of his investigation.

The texts — sent to fellow members of the state police, including superiors, as well as friends and family — featured derogatory remarks about Read, calling her a “whack job c***.” They made disparaging remarks about her medical conditions. He said after searching her phone, he had found “no nudes so far.”

When a friend suggested the owner of the home outside of which O’Keefe was found could “receive some s***,” Proctor replied, “Nope, homeowner is a Boston cop, too.”

The homeowner is Brian Albert, a fellow Boston police officer. The state police took over the investigation because Albert’s brother, Kevin, is with the Canton Police Department.

Proctor testified that he and Kevin Albert went out drinking about five months into the Read investigation on July 19, 2022.

After a night of drinking, Kevin Albert left his badge in Proctor’s cruiser and reportedly couldn’t find his gun.

“Found your badge in my cruiser this morning,” Proctor texted Albert the next morning.

Albert told him to leave it in his mailbox, and then said, “Did I take my gun?” and included a wincing face emoji.

At a Canton Select Board meeting Tuesday, Chair Michael Loughran said Kevin Albert had been placed on paid administrative leave June 13, the day after Proctor’s testimony about him.

Proctor’s sister, Courtney — with whom he testified he is close — is the best friend of Julie Albert, who is married to Brian’s other brother, Chris Albert. The couple was present at a bar with Brian Albert, Read, O’Keefe and others hours before O’Keefe’s body was found in the snow.

In one text to Courtney Proctor, the trooper said of Read, “Hopefully she kills herself.”

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.

Read’s defense claimed she was framed in a coverup, questioning the actions of Proctor, members of the Albert family and others. Last week, a mistrial was declared due to a hung jury.

“Regarding the outcome of yesterday’s duty status hearing for Trooper Proctor: The State Police Association of Massachusetts will never condone the unacceptable language used in personal text messages presented as evidence during the trial,” Williams said. “To date, we have received no information to indicate that his suspension was the result of anything other than these text message exchanges. We would like to reiterate that unless the Department’s ongoing investigation proves otherwise, yesterday’s actions have no relationship to salacious allegations of cover-ups, collusion or conspiracies offered by the defense.”

“We certainly support the actions that Col. [John] Mawn has taken, the internal investigation will continue, but I think the appropriate actions have been taken to date,” Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll said Tuesday.

The Canton Police Department placed Kevin Albert on leave last month, Chair Michael Loughran announced Tuesday at a Canton Select Board meeting.

“Chief [Helena] Rafferty has placed Kevin Albert on paid administrative leave,” Loughran said, “while an outside independent investigation’s being conducted relative to his actions in a case he investigated with Michael Proctor approximately two years ago.”

One of Albert’s brothers, Brian Albert, is a Boston police officer who owns the Fairview Road home where John O’Keefe — Read’s boyfriend and a fellow Boston police officer — was found unresponsive in the snow on the morning of Jan. 29, 2022.

His other brother, Chris Albert, serves on the Canton Select Board.

Massachusetts State Police began investigating O’Keefe’s death because of Kevin Albert’s position with the Canton Police Department. Proctor became the lead investigator.

During the trial, Proctor acknowledged being close with his sister, Courtney Proctor, who is the best friend of Chris Albert’s wife, Julie.

He also testified about his relationship with Kevin Albert, with whom he went out drinking about five months into the Read investigation on July 19, 2022.

After a night of drinking, Kevin Albert left his badge in Proctor’s cruiser and reportedly couldn’t find his gun.

“Found your badge in my cruiser this morning,” Proctor texted Albert the next morning.

Albert told him to leave it in his mailbox, and then said, “Did I take my gun?” and included a wincing face emoji.

State police have suspended Proctor without pay pending the outcome of an internal investigation for his behavior while investigating Read.

Loughran said Albert has been on paid leave since June 13 “and will remain on leave until the results of the investigation are provided by the outside independent investigator.”

Proctor’s testimony about Kevin Albert came one day earlier on June 12.

More on the Karen Read case

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State police union says suspension of Proctor without pay is ‘disappointing'

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Why was Trooper Proctor suspended? A look back at his offensive texts about Karen Read

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Karen Read latest: Defense moves to dismiss; Proctor has status hearing

Chris Albert apologized Tuesday for his recent verbal altercations that were in the public eye.

“As many of you know, I’ve had two recent verbal altercations with members of the public outside of my role as a select board,” Albert said at the meeting. “Despite the tremendous harassment, stress and anxiety that my family, extended family and I have been subjected to over the past 16 months, my actions were inappropriate, and as an elected official, I am held to a higher standard, and I understand that the residents of Canton expect public officials to always conduct themselves professionally and focus on the business of the town. I apologize for my recent reaction and will refrain from any further public incidents that are unbecoming as a member of this Canton Select Board.”

Read was charged with murder, manslaughter and leaving the scene of a crash resulting in death. Her defense has argued that she was framed in a coverup involving Proctor, members of the Albert family and others. A mistrial was declared last week, and the state has said it will retry the case.

NBC10 Boston’s Marc Fortier and Asher Klein contributed to this report.

Proctor, the lead investigator in the Karen Read case, was roundly criticized after his testimony at her murder trial. The high-profile proceedings brought to light a series of text messages he sent about Read as he investigated the 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, in Canton.

The trooper was the subject of an internal investigation before the start of the trial against Read, accused of hitting O’Keefe with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow.

State police determined at a duty status hearing Monday that Proctor would be off the job without pay during the investigation.

“The decision to suspend him without pay pending the outcome of the investigation is disappointing because it shifts Trooper Proctor’s punishment to his young family,” Brian Williams, president of the State Police Association of Massachusetts, said in a statement. “His children will lose access to benefits such as health insurance. To mitigate the impact on them, a more reasonable action would have been a suspension that did not affect their medical coverage.”

Williams said as the internal investigation continues, the police association has not received any new information that Proctor’s punishment was for anything other than those texts.

Proctor admitted during his testimony during the nine-week trial that he sent texts that were “unprofessional and regrettable,” but claimed they had no bearing on the integrity of his investigation.

The texts — sent to fellow members of the state police, including superiors, as well as friends and family — featured derogatory remarks about Read, calling her a “whack job c***.” They made disparaging remarks about her medical conditions. He said after searching her phone, he had found “no nudes so far.”

When a friend suggested the owner of the home outside of which O’Keefe was found could “receive some s***,” Proctor replied, “Nope, homeowner is a Boston cop, too.”

The homeowner is Brian Albert, a fellow Boston police officer. The state police took over the investigation because Albert’s brother, Kevin, is with the Canton Police Department.

Proctor testified that he and Kevin Albert went out drinking about five months into the Read investigation on July 19, 2022.

After a night of drinking, Kevin Albert left his badge in Proctor’s cruiser and reportedly couldn’t find his gun.

“Found your badge in my cruiser this morning,” Proctor texted Albert the next morning.

Albert told him to leave it in his mailbox, and then said, “Did I take my gun?” and included a wincing face emoji.

At a Canton Select Board meeting Tuesday, Chair Michael Loughran said Kevin Albert had been placed on paid administrative leave June 13, the day after Proctor’s testimony about him.

Proctor’s sister, Courtney — with whom he testified he is close — is the best friend of Julie Albert, who is married to Brian’s other brother, Chris Albert. The couple was present at a bar with Brian Albert, Read, O’Keefe and others hours before O’Keefe’s body was found in the snow.

In one text to Courtney Proctor, the trooper said of Read, “Hopefully she kills herself.”

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.

Read’s defense claimed she was framed in a coverup, questioning the actions of Proctor, members of the Albert family and others. Last week, a mistrial was declared due to a hung jury.

“Regarding the outcome of yesterday’s duty status hearing for Trooper Proctor: The State Police Association of Massachusetts will never condone the unacceptable language used in personal text messages presented as evidence during the trial,” Williams said. “To date, we have received no information to indicate that his suspension was the result of anything other than these text message exchanges. We would like to reiterate that unless the Department’s ongoing investigation proves otherwise, yesterday’s actions have no relationship to salacious allegations of cover-ups, collusion or conspiracies offered by the defense.”

“We certainly support the actions that Col. [John] Mawn has taken, the internal investigation will continue, but I think the appropriate actions have been taken to date,” Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll said Tuesday.

The disclosure was made in a defense motion Monday in which they argued that retrying Read on those two counts “would violate” the double jeopardy protections in the U.S. and Massachusetts constitutions. If the court needs additional information, the defense said, it should approve a “post-verdict inquiry” in which they are allowed to “seek additional proof from the jurors” regarding their having “unanimously acquitted the defendant of two of the three charges against her.”

So why wasn’t the jury polled by Judge Beverly Cannone before she declared a mistrial?

We asked legal expert Michael Coyne, dean of the Massachusetts School of Law, that exact question during Monday night’s episode of “Canton Confidential.”

“Generally, they don’t want, the court doesn’t want the jury polled,” he said. “They don’t want to invade the jury’s space, in essence to ask them to reject their conscious decision individually.”

“She could have asked them generally, ‘Do you all agree that you can’t reach a verdict on count one, do you all agree you can’t reach a unanimous verdict on count two,'” Coyne added. “But you would’ve wanted to do it generally like that to the entire veneer, and not just individually ask each juror what their vote was, because that can be an intimidating tactic if they had chosen that route, and it’s not just disfavored, it’s not supposed to be done under the law.”

Following Monday’s defense filing, Cannone also ordered that the names of the jurors in the case not be released. In making her ruling, she said there “is a risk of immediate and irreparable injury should the list be made available to the public at this time.”

She did not specify the potential risk but said that people associated with the case had been charged with intimidation.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

More on the Karen Read case

Karen Read Jul 9

Why was Trooper Proctor suspended? A look back at his offensive texts about Karen Read

Karen Read Jul 9

Karen Read's defense team raises concerns about jury

Proctor, the lead investigator in the Karen Read case, was roundly criticized after his testimony at her murder trial. The high-profile proceedings brought to light a series of text messages he sent about Read as he investigated the 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, in Canton.

The trooper was the subject of an internal investigation before the start of the trial against Read, accused of hitting O’Keefe with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow.

State police determined at a duty status hearing Monday that Proctor would be off the job without pay during the investigation.

“The decision to suspend him without pay pending the outcome of the investigation is disappointing because it shifts Trooper Proctor’s punishment to his young family,” Brian Williams, president of the State Police Association of Massachusetts, said in a statement. “His children will lose access to benefits such as health insurance. To mitigate the impact on them, a more reasonable action would have been a suspension that did not affect their medical coverage.”

Williams said as the internal investigation continues, the police association has not received any new information that Proctor’s punishment was for anything other than those texts.

Proctor admitted during his testimony during the nine-week trial that he sent texts that were “unprofessional and regrettable,” but claimed they had no bearing on the integrity of his investigation.

The texts — sent to fellow members of the state police, including superiors, as well as friends and family — featured derogatory remarks about Read, calling her a “whack job c***.” They made disparaging remarks about her medical conditions. He said after searching her phone, he had found “no nudes so far.”

When a friend suggested the owner of the home outside of which O’Keefe was found could “receive some s***,” Proctor replied, “Nope, homeowner is a Boston cop, too.”

The homeowner is Brian Albert, a fellow Boston police officer. The state police took over the investigation because Albert’s brother, Kevin, is with the Canton Police Department.

Proctor testified that he and Kevin Albert went out drinking about five months into the Read investigation on July 19, 2022.

After a night of drinking, Kevin Albert left his badge in Proctor’s cruiser and reportedly couldn’t find his gun.

“Found your badge in my cruiser this morning,” Proctor texted Albert the next morning.

Albert told him to leave it in his mailbox, and then said, “Did I take my gun?” and included a wincing face emoji.

At a Canton Select Board meeting Tuesday, Chair Michael Loughran said Kevin Albert had been placed on paid administrative leave June 13, the day after Proctor’s testimony about him.

Proctor’s sister, Courtney — with whom he testified he is close — is the best friend of Julie Albert, who is married to Brian’s other brother, Chris Albert. The couple was present at a bar with Brian Albert, Read, O’Keefe and others hours before O’Keefe’s body was found in the snow.

In one text to Courtney Proctor, the trooper said of Read, “Hopefully she kills herself.”

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.

Read’s defense claimed she was framed in a coverup, questioning the actions of Proctor, members of the Albert family and others. Last week, a mistrial was declared due to a hung jury.

“Regarding the outcome of yesterday’s duty status hearing for Trooper Proctor: The State Police Association of Massachusetts will never condone the unacceptable language used in personal text messages presented as evidence during the trial,” Williams said. “To date, we have received no information to indicate that his suspension was the result of anything other than these text message exchanges. We would like to reiterate that unless the Department’s ongoing investigation proves otherwise, yesterday’s actions have no relationship to salacious allegations of cover-ups, collusion or conspiracies offered by the defense.”

“We certainly support the actions that Col. [John] Mawn has taken, the internal investigation will continue, but I think the appropriate actions have been taken to date,” Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll said Tuesday.

Read’s lawyers argue the jury did unanimously agree that she was not guilty of two of three charges, despite the judge declaring the high-profile case a mistrial.

The two charges Read’s defense are contesting are second-degree murder and leaving the scene of a crash resulting in death. They claim they were contacted by three jurors who said the entire jury all agreed Read was not guilty of those two charges during deliberations.

If the prosecution goes through with re-trying this case, which they say they intend on doing, the court has to dismiss those charges because it would be against the constitution to prosecute someone twice for the same crime.

It should be noted that they are not contesting the motor vehicle manslaughter while driving under the influence charge.

“The question is why then wasn’t the form completed at all, because there were spaces, certainly for the second-degree murder charge for them to have checked off not guilty, but that wasn’t done on the form returned to the court,” said legal analyst Michael Coyne.

Meanwhile, the names of jurors in the trial are officially protected due to safety concerns.

“It could mean harm of harassment, intimidation, threats,” explained Robert Cordy, former associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

The names will be withheld from the public for at least 10 days.

As it relates to the motion to dismiss the charges, NBC10 Boston contacted the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office who say they anticipate filing a response and look forward to picking a new trial date on July 22.

More on the Karen Read case

Karen Read Jul 8

Trooper Proctor, lead investigator in Karen Read case, suspended without pay

Karen Read Jul 2

What comes next after mistrial in Karen Read murder case?

Karen Read Jul 2

‘It was devastating': Friend of John O'Keefe reacts to mistrial in Karen Read case

Proctor, the lead investigator in the Karen Read case, was roundly criticized after his testimony at her murder trial. The high-profile proceedings brought to light a series of text messages he sent about Read as he investigated the 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, in Canton.

The trooper was the subject of an internal investigation before the start of the trial against Read, accused of hitting O’Keefe with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow.

State police determined at a duty status hearing Monday that Proctor would be off the job without pay during the investigation.

“The decision to suspend him without pay pending the outcome of the investigation is disappointing because it shifts Trooper Proctor’s punishment to his young family,” Brian Williams, president of the State Police Association of Massachusetts, said in a statement. “His children will lose access to benefits such as health insurance. To mitigate the impact on them, a more reasonable action would have been a suspension that did not affect their medical coverage.”

Williams said as the internal investigation continues, the police association has not received any new information that Proctor’s punishment was for anything other than those texts.

Proctor admitted during his testimony during the nine-week trial that he sent texts that were “unprofessional and regrettable,” but claimed they had no bearing on the integrity of his investigation.

The texts — sent to fellow members of the state police, including superiors, as well as friends and family — featured derogatory remarks about Read, calling her a “whack job c***.” They made disparaging remarks about her medical conditions. He said after searching her phone, he had found “no nudes so far.”

When a friend suggested the owner of the home outside of which O’Keefe was found could “receive some s***,” Proctor replied, “Nope, homeowner is a Boston cop, too.”

The homeowner is Brian Albert, a fellow Boston police officer. The state police took over the investigation because Albert’s brother, Kevin, is with the Canton Police Department.

Proctor testified that he and Kevin Albert went out drinking about five months into the Read investigation on July 19, 2022.

After a night of drinking, Kevin Albert left his badge in Proctor’s cruiser and reportedly couldn’t find his gun.

“Found your badge in my cruiser this morning,” Proctor texted Albert the next morning.

Albert told him to leave it in his mailbox, and then said, “Did I take my gun?” and included a wincing face emoji.

At a Canton Select Board meeting Tuesday, Chair Michael Loughran said Kevin Albert had been placed on paid administrative leave June 13, the day after Proctor’s testimony about him.

Proctor’s sister, Courtney — with whom he testified he is close — is the best friend of Julie Albert, who is married to Brian’s other brother, Chris Albert. The couple was present at a bar with Brian Albert, Read, O’Keefe and others hours before O’Keefe’s body was found in the snow.

In one text to Courtney Proctor, the trooper said of Read, “Hopefully she kills herself.”

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.

Read’s defense claimed she was framed in a coverup, questioning the actions of Proctor, members of the Albert family and others. Last week, a mistrial was declared due to a hung jury.

“Regarding the outcome of yesterday’s duty status hearing for Trooper Proctor: The State Police Association of Massachusetts will never condone the unacceptable language used in personal text messages presented as evidence during the trial,” Williams said. “To date, we have received no information to indicate that his suspension was the result of anything other than these text message exchanges. We would like to reiterate that unless the Department’s ongoing investigation proves otherwise, yesterday’s actions have no relationship to salacious allegations of cover-ups, collusion or conspiracies offered by the defense.”

“We certainly support the actions that Col. [John] Mawn has taken, the internal investigation will continue, but I think the appropriate actions have been taken to date,” Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll said Tuesday.

Proctor, the lead investigator in the Karen Read case, was roundly criticized after his testimony at her murder trial. The high-profile proceedings brought to light a series of text messages he sent about Read as he investigated the 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, in Canton.

The trooper was the subject of an internal investigation before the start of the trial against Read, accused of hitting O’Keefe with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow.

State police determined at a duty status hearing Monday that Proctor would be off the job without pay during the investigation.

“The decision to suspend him without pay pending the outcome of the investigation is disappointing because it shifts Trooper Proctor’s punishment to his young family,” Brian Williams, president of the State Police Association of Massachusetts, said in a statement. “His children will lose access to benefits such as health insurance. To mitigate the impact on them, a more reasonable action would have been a suspension that did not affect their medical coverage.”

Williams said as the internal investigation continues, the police association has not received any new information that Proctor’s punishment was for anything other than those texts.

Proctor admitted during his testimony during the nine-week trial that he sent texts that were “unprofessional and regrettable,” but claimed they had no bearing on the integrity of his investigation.

The texts — sent to fellow members of the state police, including superiors, as well as friends and family — featured derogatory remarks about Read, calling her a “whack job c***.” They made disparaging remarks about her medical conditions. He said after searching her phone, he had found “no nudes so far.”

When a friend suggested the owner of the home outside of which O’Keefe was found could “receive some s***,” Proctor replied, “Nope, homeowner is a Boston cop, too.”

The homeowner is Brian Albert, a fellow Boston police officer. The state police took over the investigation because Albert’s brother, Kevin, is with the Canton Police Department.

Proctor testified that he and Kevin Albert went out drinking about five months into the Read investigation on July 19, 2022.

After a night of drinking, Kevin Albert left his badge in Proctor’s cruiser and reportedly couldn’t find his gun.

“Found your badge in my cruiser this morning,” Proctor texted Albert the next morning.

Albert told him to leave it in his mailbox, and then said, “Did I take my gun?” and included a wincing face emoji.

At a Canton Select Board meeting Tuesday, Chair Michael Loughran said Kevin Albert had been placed on paid administrative leave June 13, the day after Proctor’s testimony about him.

Proctor’s sister, Courtney — with whom he testified he is close — is the best friend of Julie Albert, who is married to Brian’s other brother, Chris Albert. The couple was present at a bar with Brian Albert, Read, O’Keefe and others hours before O’Keefe’s body was found in the snow.

In one text to Courtney Proctor, the trooper said of Read, “Hopefully she kills herself.”

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.

Read’s defense claimed she was framed in a coverup, questioning the actions of Proctor, members of the Albert family and others. Last week, a mistrial was declared due to a hung jury.

“Regarding the outcome of yesterday’s duty status hearing for Trooper Proctor: The State Police Association of Massachusetts will never condone the unacceptable language used in personal text messages presented as evidence during the trial,” Williams said. “To date, we have received no information to indicate that his suspension was the result of anything other than these text message exchanges. We would like to reiterate that unless the Department’s ongoing investigation proves otherwise, yesterday’s actions have no relationship to salacious allegations of cover-ups, collusion or conspiracies offered by the defense.”

“We certainly support the actions that Col. [John] Mawn has taken, the internal investigation will continue, but I think the appropriate actions have been taken to date,” Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll said Tuesday.

Proctor, the lead investigator in the Karen Read case, was roundly criticized after his testimony at her murder trial. The high-profile proceedings brought to light a series of text messages he sent about Read as he investigated the 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, in Canton.

The trooper was the subject of an internal investigation before the start of the trial against Read, accused of hitting O’Keefe with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow.

State police determined at a duty status hearing Monday that Proctor would be off the job without pay during the investigation.

“The decision to suspend him without pay pending the outcome of the investigation is disappointing because it shifts Trooper Proctor’s punishment to his young family,” Brian Williams, president of the State Police Association of Massachusetts, said in a statement. “His children will lose access to benefits such as health insurance. To mitigate the impact on them, a more reasonable action would have been a suspension that did not affect their medical coverage.”

Williams said as the internal investigation continues, the police association has not received any new information that Proctor’s punishment was for anything other than those texts.

Proctor admitted during his testimony during the nine-week trial that he sent texts that were “unprofessional and regrettable,” but claimed they had no bearing on the integrity of his investigation.

The texts — sent to fellow members of the state police, including superiors, as well as friends and family — featured derogatory remarks about Read, calling her a “whack job c***.” They made disparaging remarks about her medical conditions. He said after searching her phone, he had found “no nudes so far.”

When a friend suggested the owner of the home outside of which O’Keefe was found could “receive some s***,” Proctor replied, “Nope, homeowner is a Boston cop, too.”

The homeowner is Brian Albert, a fellow Boston police officer. The state police took over the investigation because Albert’s brother, Kevin, is with the Canton Police Department.

Proctor testified that he and Kevin Albert went out drinking about five months into the Read investigation on July 19, 2022.

After a night of drinking, Kevin Albert left his badge in Proctor’s cruiser and reportedly couldn’t find his gun.

“Found your badge in my cruiser this morning,” Proctor texted Albert the next morning.

Albert told him to leave it in his mailbox, and then said, “Did I take my gun?” and included a wincing face emoji.

At a Canton Select Board meeting Tuesday, Chair Michael Loughran said Kevin Albert had been placed on paid administrative leave June 13, the day after Proctor’s testimony about him.

Proctor’s sister, Courtney — with whom he testified he is close — is the best friend of Julie Albert, who is married to Brian’s other brother, Chris Albert. The couple was present at a bar with Brian Albert, Read, O’Keefe and others hours before O’Keefe’s body was found in the snow.

In one text to Courtney Proctor, the trooper said of Read, “Hopefully she kills herself.”

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.

Read’s defense claimed she was framed in a coverup, questioning the actions of Proctor, members of the Albert family and others. Last week, a mistrial was declared due to a hung jury.

“Regarding the outcome of yesterday’s duty status hearing for Trooper Proctor: The State Police Association of Massachusetts will never condone the unacceptable language used in personal text messages presented as evidence during the trial,” Williams said. “To date, we have received no information to indicate that his suspension was the result of anything other than these text message exchanges. We would like to reiterate that unless the Department’s ongoing investigation proves otherwise, yesterday’s actions have no relationship to salacious allegations of cover-ups, collusion or conspiracies offered by the defense.”

“We certainly support the actions that Col. [John] Mawn has taken, the internal investigation will continue, but I think the appropriate actions have been taken to date,” Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll said Tuesday.

Proctor, the lead investigator in the Karen Read case, was roundly criticized after his testimony at her murder trial. The high-profile proceedings brought to light a series of text messages he sent about Read as he investigated the 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, in Canton.

The trooper was the subject of an internal investigation before the start of the trial against Read, accused of hitting O’Keefe with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow.

State police determined at a duty status hearing Monday that Proctor would be off the job without pay during the investigation.

“The decision to suspend him without pay pending the outcome of the investigation is disappointing because it shifts Trooper Proctor’s punishment to his young family,” Brian Williams, president of the State Police Association of Massachusetts, said in a statement. “His children will lose access to benefits such as health insurance. To mitigate the impact on them, a more reasonable action would have been a suspension that did not affect their medical coverage.”

Williams said as the internal investigation continues, the police association has not received any new information that Proctor’s punishment was for anything other than those texts.

Proctor admitted during his testimony during the nine-week trial that he sent texts that were “unprofessional and regrettable,” but claimed they had no bearing on the integrity of his investigation.

The texts — sent to fellow members of the state police, including superiors, as well as friends and family — featured derogatory remarks about Read, calling her a “whack job c***.” They made disparaging remarks about her medical conditions. He said after searching her phone, he had found “no nudes so far.”

When a friend suggested the owner of the home outside of which O’Keefe was found could “receive some s***,” Proctor replied, “Nope, homeowner is a Boston cop, too.”

The homeowner is Brian Albert, a fellow Boston police officer. The state police took over the investigation because Albert’s brother, Kevin, is with the Canton Police Department.

Proctor testified that he and Kevin Albert went out drinking about five months into the Read investigation on July 19, 2022.

After a night of drinking, Kevin Albert left his badge in Proctor’s cruiser and reportedly couldn’t find his gun.

“Found your badge in my cruiser this morning,” Proctor texted Albert the next morning.

Albert told him to leave it in his mailbox, and then said, “Did I take my gun?” and included a wincing face emoji.

At a Canton Select Board meeting Tuesday, Chair Michael Loughran said Kevin Albert had been placed on paid administrative leave June 13, the day after Proctor’s testimony about him.

Proctor’s sister, Courtney — with whom he testified he is close — is the best friend of Julie Albert, who is married to Brian’s other brother, Chris Albert. The couple was present at a bar with Brian Albert, Read, O’Keefe and others hours before O’Keefe’s body was found in the snow.

In one text to Courtney Proctor, the trooper said of Read, “Hopefully she kills herself.”

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.

Read’s defense claimed she was framed in a coverup, questioning the actions of Proctor, members of the Albert family and others. Last week, a mistrial was declared due to a hung jury.

“Regarding the outcome of yesterday’s duty status hearing for Trooper Proctor: The State Police Association of Massachusetts will never condone the unacceptable language used in personal text messages presented as evidence during the trial,” Williams said. “To date, we have received no information to indicate that his suspension was the result of anything other than these text message exchanges. We would like to reiterate that unless the Department’s ongoing investigation proves otherwise, yesterday’s actions have no relationship to salacious allegations of cover-ups, collusion or conspiracies offered by the defense.”

“We certainly support the actions that Col. [John] Mawn has taken, the internal investigation will continue, but I think the appropriate actions have been taken to date,” Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll said Tuesday.

Proctor, the lead investigator in the Karen Read case, was roundly criticized after his testimony at her murder trial. The high-profile proceedings brought to light a series of text messages he sent about Read as he investigated the 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, in Canton.

The trooper was the subject of an internal investigation before the start of the trial against Read, accused of hitting O’Keefe with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow.

State police determined at a duty status hearing Monday that Proctor would be off the job without pay during the investigation.

“The decision to suspend him without pay pending the outcome of the investigation is disappointing because it shifts Trooper Proctor’s punishment to his young family,” Brian Williams, president of the State Police Association of Massachusetts, said in a statement. “His children will lose access to benefits such as health insurance. To mitigate the impact on them, a more reasonable action would have been a suspension that did not affect their medical coverage.”

Williams said as the internal investigation continues, the police association has not received any new information that Proctor’s punishment was for anything other than those texts.

Proctor admitted during his testimony during the nine-week trial that he sent texts that were “unprofessional and regrettable,” but claimed they had no bearing on the integrity of his investigation.

The texts — sent to fellow members of the state police, including superiors, as well as friends and family — featured derogatory remarks about Read, calling her a “whack job c***.” They made disparaging remarks about her medical conditions. He said after searching her phone, he had found “no nudes so far.”

When a friend suggested the owner of the home outside of which O’Keefe was found could “receive some s***,” Proctor replied, “Nope, homeowner is a Boston cop, too.”

The homeowner is Brian Albert, a fellow Boston police officer. The state police took over the investigation because Albert’s brother, Kevin, is with the Canton Police Department.

Proctor testified that he and Kevin Albert went out drinking about five months into the Read investigation on July 19, 2022.

After a night of drinking, Kevin Albert left his badge in Proctor’s cruiser and reportedly couldn’t find his gun.

“Found your badge in my cruiser this morning,” Proctor texted Albert the next morning.

Albert told him to leave it in his mailbox, and then said, “Did I take my gun?” and included a wincing face emoji.

At a Canton Select Board meeting Tuesday, Chair Michael Loughran said Kevin Albert had been placed on paid administrative leave June 13, the day after Proctor’s testimony about him.

Proctor’s sister, Courtney — with whom he testified he is close — is the best friend of Julie Albert, who is married to Brian’s other brother, Chris Albert. The couple was present at a bar with Brian Albert, Read, O’Keefe and others hours before O’Keefe’s body was found in the snow.

In one text to Courtney Proctor, the trooper said of Read, “Hopefully she kills herself.”

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.

Read’s defense claimed she was framed in a coverup, questioning the actions of Proctor, members of the Albert family and others. Last week, a mistrial was declared due to a hung jury.

“Regarding the outcome of yesterday’s duty status hearing for Trooper Proctor: The State Police Association of Massachusetts will never condone the unacceptable language used in personal text messages presented as evidence during the trial,” Williams said. “To date, we have received no information to indicate that his suspension was the result of anything other than these text message exchanges. We would like to reiterate that unless the Department’s ongoing investigation proves otherwise, yesterday’s actions have no relationship to salacious allegations of cover-ups, collusion or conspiracies offered by the defense.”

“We certainly support the actions that Col. [John] Mawn has taken, the internal investigation will continue, but I think the appropriate actions have been taken to date,” Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll said Tuesday.

That’s just the start of a process that is expected to result in a “duty status” hearing to determine his work status during the ongoing internal affairs investigation. His car, gun and gear have been taken away, which is standard practice.

The NBC10 Boston Investigators learned Tuesday that Proctor had been sent to Troop H, but will not be working while he is relieved of duty.

The trooper’s fate with the department will be determined by an internal investigation and the state’s POST Commission, which handles allegations of police misconduct. Sources tell the NBC10 Boston Investigators Proctor is also part of a federal probe looking into the handling of the case.

Security expert Todd McGhee, a former state police trooper, said on Tuesday night’s “Canton Confidential” that if the POST Commission submits Proctor’s name for inclusion on the Brady List, which includes all known issues of police misconduct, it could make any future testimony by him extremely problematic.

“The commonwealth can call him based on his involvement in the first trial, but I think it’s important to understand that the POST Commission is the state agency that will submit police officers who have committed misconduct to the Brady List,” he said. “In this particular case, if Trooper Proctor ends up on the Brady List, essentially any testimony he has in a court of law is useless, to be frank.”

In the past, McGhee said a trooper in a situation similar to Proctor’s would have likely resigned or retired to avoid a worse outcome, but now with the POST Commission there are changes in the guidelines where police officers are licensed. And it would also look bad for state police if Proctor were allowed to step aside quietly.

“The world is watching how this case plays out,” he said. “So I believe there’s going to be very little options available other than what the trial board and the duty status hearing will yield with results.”

McGhee said the punishment could be anywhere from a 30-day suspension all the way up to termination.

The damage done to the Massachusetts State Police as an agency is also considerable, he said.

“We can see where the impact was specifically with the Karen Read trial, but we don’t know about the other trials he’s been a part of in the investigation,” McGhee said. “The other high profile case of course is the Brian Walshe trial. Trials like that we will have to wait to see what the outcome will be. Each and every case has different factors, different evidence. We can only hope there was the utmost of integrity performed with his other investigations, but right now that remains to be seen.”

More stories on Trooper Michael Proctor

Karen Read Jul 2

Proctor's state car, gun and gear taken away amid investigation

Karen Read Jul 2

Gov. Healey says state police ‘made the right decision' by relieving Michael Proctor of duty

Karen Read Jul 1

Michael Proctor relieved of duty, state police say after Karen Read mistrial

Proctor, the lead investigator in the Karen Read case, was roundly criticized after his testimony at her murder trial. The high-profile proceedings brought to light a series of text messages he sent about Read as he investigated the 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, in Canton.

The trooper was the subject of an internal investigation before the start of the trial against Read, accused of hitting O’Keefe with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow.

State police determined at a duty status hearing Monday that Proctor would be off the job without pay during the investigation.

“The decision to suspend him without pay pending the outcome of the investigation is disappointing because it shifts Trooper Proctor’s punishment to his young family,” Brian Williams, president of the State Police Association of Massachusetts, said in a statement. “His children will lose access to benefits such as health insurance. To mitigate the impact on them, a more reasonable action would have been a suspension that did not affect their medical coverage.”

Williams said as the internal investigation continues, the police association has not received any new information that Proctor’s punishment was for anything other than those texts.

Proctor admitted during his testimony during the nine-week trial that he sent texts that were “unprofessional and regrettable,” but claimed they had no bearing on the integrity of his investigation.

The texts — sent to fellow members of the state police, including superiors, as well as friends and family — featured derogatory remarks about Read, calling her a “whack job c***.” They made disparaging remarks about her medical conditions. He said after searching her phone, he had found “no nudes so far.”

When a friend suggested the owner of the home outside of which O’Keefe was found could “receive some s***,” Proctor replied, “Nope, homeowner is a Boston cop, too.”

The homeowner is Brian Albert, a fellow Boston police officer. The state police took over the investigation because Albert’s brother, Kevin, is with the Canton Police Department.

Proctor testified that he and Kevin Albert went out drinking about five months into the Read investigation on July 19, 2022.

After a night of drinking, Kevin Albert left his badge in Proctor’s cruiser and reportedly couldn’t find his gun.

“Found your badge in my cruiser this morning,” Proctor texted Albert the next morning.

Albert told him to leave it in his mailbox, and then said, “Did I take my gun?” and included a wincing face emoji.

At a Canton Select Board meeting Tuesday, Chair Michael Loughran said Kevin Albert had been placed on paid administrative leave June 13, the day after Proctor’s testimony about him.

Proctor’s sister, Courtney — with whom he testified he is close — is the best friend of Julie Albert, who is married to Brian’s other brother, Chris Albert. The couple was present at a bar with Brian Albert, Read, O’Keefe and others hours before O’Keefe’s body was found in the snow.

In one text to Courtney Proctor, the trooper said of Read, “Hopefully she kills herself.”

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.

Read’s defense claimed she was framed in a coverup, questioning the actions of Proctor, members of the Albert family and others. Last week, a mistrial was declared due to a hung jury.

“Regarding the outcome of yesterday’s duty status hearing for Trooper Proctor: The State Police Association of Massachusetts will never condone the unacceptable language used in personal text messages presented as evidence during the trial,” Williams said. “To date, we have received no information to indicate that his suspension was the result of anything other than these text message exchanges. We would like to reiterate that unless the Department’s ongoing investigation proves otherwise, yesterday’s actions have no relationship to salacious allegations of cover-ups, collusion or conspiracies offered by the defense.”

“We certainly support the actions that Col. [John] Mawn has taken, the internal investigation will continue, but I think the appropriate actions have been taken to date,” Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll said Tuesday.

John Jackson, a longtime friend of O’Keefe, spoke with NBC10 Boston about the outcome of this first trial. He’s upset, but he’s especially concerned about the impact on the O’Keefe family.

“It’s tough to put into a short interview like this, but he was a tremendous man,” Jackson said of O’Keefe. “I met him in college. Best friend college, you know. We did everything together.”

Jackson says he does not look forward to the prospects of a second trial for Karen Read.

”The worst part about this is for the O’Keefes, really. You just feel so bad. You don’t want to see them go through this again. It was devastating.”

Jackson says he’s known the O’Keefe family for years and that they are being treated unfairly, especially online.

“Stop talking about the O’Keeffe in a negative way. Pray for them, support them, do what you can for the O’Keefe family. They just don’t deserve this,” he said.

Jackson says O’Keefe was godfather to his now 16-year-old daughter. The former Boston police officer also raised his own niece and nephew after his sister and brother-in-law passed away.

”It didn’t surprise us at all, but it certainly changed his life in a lot of great ways. Those kids are amazing.”

Jackson owns a ball cap with his friend’s badge number. He says he watched the entire trial and can’t understand how people can ignore the evidence.

”The story was made up by Karen and the defense team. The defense attorneys made up a story and people listening to these defense attorneys like, like whatever they say is gospel. They’re defense attorneys. They’re selling a story and these people bought it.”

Jackson knows Karen Read, but declined to comment on his opinion of her when we asked.

The state has said it intends to retry the case. Meanwhile, the former lead investigator, Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Proctor, has been relieved of his duty and reassigned.

More on the Karen Read mistrial

Karen Read Jul 2

Gov. Healey says state police ‘made the right decision' by relieving Michael Proctor of duty

Karen Read Jul 1

Read the deadlocked Karen Read jury's note that impressed Judge Cannone

Karen Read Jul 2

What could a second Karen Read trial look like?

Proctor, the lead investigator in the Karen Read case, was roundly criticized after his testimony at her murder trial. The high-profile proceedings brought to light a series of text messages he sent about Read as he investigated the 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, in Canton.

The trooper was the subject of an internal investigation before the start of the trial against Read, accused of hitting O’Keefe with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow.

State police determined at a duty status hearing Monday that Proctor would be off the job without pay during the investigation.

“The decision to suspend him without pay pending the outcome of the investigation is disappointing because it shifts Trooper Proctor’s punishment to his young family,” Brian Williams, president of the State Police Association of Massachusetts, said in a statement. “His children will lose access to benefits such as health insurance. To mitigate the impact on them, a more reasonable action would have been a suspension that did not affect their medical coverage.”

Williams said as the internal investigation continues, the police association has not received any new information that Proctor’s punishment was for anything other than those texts.

Proctor admitted during his testimony during the nine-week trial that he sent texts that were “unprofessional and regrettable,” but claimed they had no bearing on the integrity of his investigation.

The texts — sent to fellow members of the state police, including superiors, as well as friends and family — featured derogatory remarks about Read, calling her a “whack job c***.” They made disparaging remarks about her medical conditions. He said after searching her phone, he had found “no nudes so far.”

When a friend suggested the owner of the home outside of which O’Keefe was found could “receive some s***,” Proctor replied, “Nope, homeowner is a Boston cop, too.”

The homeowner is Brian Albert, a fellow Boston police officer. The state police took over the investigation because Albert’s brother, Kevin, is with the Canton Police Department.

Proctor testified that he and Kevin Albert went out drinking about five months into the Read investigation on July 19, 2022.

After a night of drinking, Kevin Albert left his badge in Proctor’s cruiser and reportedly couldn’t find his gun.

“Found your badge in my cruiser this morning,” Proctor texted Albert the next morning.

Albert told him to leave it in his mailbox, and then said, “Did I take my gun?” and included a wincing face emoji.

At a Canton Select Board meeting Tuesday, Chair Michael Loughran said Kevin Albert had been placed on paid administrative leave June 13, the day after Proctor’s testimony about him.

Proctor’s sister, Courtney — with whom he testified he is close — is the best friend of Julie Albert, who is married to Brian’s other brother, Chris Albert. The couple was present at a bar with Brian Albert, Read, O’Keefe and others hours before O’Keefe’s body was found in the snow.

In one text to Courtney Proctor, the trooper said of Read, “Hopefully she kills herself.”

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.

Read’s defense claimed she was framed in a coverup, questioning the actions of Proctor, members of the Albert family and others. Last week, a mistrial was declared due to a hung jury.

“Regarding the outcome of yesterday’s duty status hearing for Trooper Proctor: The State Police Association of Massachusetts will never condone the unacceptable language used in personal text messages presented as evidence during the trial,” Williams said. “To date, we have received no information to indicate that his suspension was the result of anything other than these text message exchanges. We would like to reiterate that unless the Department’s ongoing investigation proves otherwise, yesterday’s actions have no relationship to salacious allegations of cover-ups, collusion or conspiracies offered by the defense.”

“We certainly support the actions that Col. [John] Mawn has taken, the internal investigation will continue, but I think the appropriate actions have been taken to date,” Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll said Tuesday.

Proctor, the lead investigator in the Karen Read case, was roundly criticized after his testimony at her murder trial. The high-profile proceedings brought to light a series of text messages he sent about Read as he investigated the 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, in Canton.

The trooper was the subject of an internal investigation before the start of the trial against Read, accused of hitting O’Keefe with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow.

State police determined at a duty status hearing Monday that Proctor would be off the job without pay during the investigation.

“The decision to suspend him without pay pending the outcome of the investigation is disappointing because it shifts Trooper Proctor’s punishment to his young family,” Brian Williams, president of the State Police Association of Massachusetts, said in a statement. “His children will lose access to benefits such as health insurance. To mitigate the impact on them, a more reasonable action would have been a suspension that did not affect their medical coverage.”

Williams said as the internal investigation continues, the police association has not received any new information that Proctor’s punishment was for anything other than those texts.

Proctor admitted during his testimony during the nine-week trial that he sent texts that were “unprofessional and regrettable,” but claimed they had no bearing on the integrity of his investigation.

The texts — sent to fellow members of the state police, including superiors, as well as friends and family — featured derogatory remarks about Read, calling her a “whack job c***.” They made disparaging remarks about her medical conditions. He said after searching her phone, he had found “no nudes so far.”

When a friend suggested the owner of the home outside of which O’Keefe was found could “receive some s***,” Proctor replied, “Nope, homeowner is a Boston cop, too.”

The homeowner is Brian Albert, a fellow Boston police officer. The state police took over the investigation because Albert’s brother, Kevin, is with the Canton Police Department.

Proctor testified that he and Kevin Albert went out drinking about five months into the Read investigation on July 19, 2022.

After a night of drinking, Kevin Albert left his badge in Proctor’s cruiser and reportedly couldn’t find his gun.

“Found your badge in my cruiser this morning,” Proctor texted Albert the next morning.

Albert told him to leave it in his mailbox, and then said, “Did I take my gun?” and included a wincing face emoji.

At a Canton Select Board meeting Tuesday, Chair Michael Loughran said Kevin Albert had been placed on paid administrative leave June 13, the day after Proctor’s testimony about him.

Proctor’s sister, Courtney — with whom he testified he is close — is the best friend of Julie Albert, who is married to Brian’s other brother, Chris Albert. The couple was present at a bar with Brian Albert, Read, O’Keefe and others hours before O’Keefe’s body was found in the snow.

In one text to Courtney Proctor, the trooper said of Read, “Hopefully she kills herself.”

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.

Read’s defense claimed she was framed in a coverup, questioning the actions of Proctor, members of the Albert family and others. Last week, a mistrial was declared due to a hung jury.

“Regarding the outcome of yesterday’s duty status hearing for Trooper Proctor: The State Police Association of Massachusetts will never condone the unacceptable language used in personal text messages presented as evidence during the trial,” Williams said. “To date, we have received no information to indicate that his suspension was the result of anything other than these text message exchanges. We would like to reiterate that unless the Department’s ongoing investigation proves otherwise, yesterday’s actions have no relationship to salacious allegations of cover-ups, collusion or conspiracies offered by the defense.”

“We certainly support the actions that Col. [John] Mawn has taken, the internal investigation will continue, but I think the appropriate actions have been taken to date,” Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll said Tuesday.

Proctor, the lead investigator in the Karen Read case, was roundly criticized after his testimony at her murder trial. The high-profile proceedings brought to light a series of text messages he sent about Read as he investigated the 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, in Canton.

The trooper was the subject of an internal investigation before the start of the trial against Read, accused of hitting O’Keefe with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow.

State police determined at a duty status hearing Monday that Proctor would be off the job without pay during the investigation.

“The decision to suspend him without pay pending the outcome of the investigation is disappointing because it shifts Trooper Proctor’s punishment to his young family,” Brian Williams, president of the State Police Association of Massachusetts, said in a statement. “His children will lose access to benefits such as health insurance. To mitigate the impact on them, a more reasonable action would have been a suspension that did not affect their medical coverage.”

Williams said as the internal investigation continues, the police association has not received any new information that Proctor’s punishment was for anything other than those texts.

Proctor admitted during his testimony during the nine-week trial that he sent texts that were “unprofessional and regrettable,” but claimed they had no bearing on the integrity of his investigation.

The texts — sent to fellow members of the state police, including superiors, as well as friends and family — featured derogatory remarks about Read, calling her a “whack job c***.” They made disparaging remarks about her medical conditions. He said after searching her phone, he had found “no nudes so far.”

When a friend suggested the owner of the home outside of which O’Keefe was found could “receive some s***,” Proctor replied, “Nope, homeowner is a Boston cop, too.”

The homeowner is Brian Albert, a fellow Boston police officer. The state police took over the investigation because Albert’s brother, Kevin, is with the Canton Police Department.

Proctor testified that he and Kevin Albert went out drinking about five months into the Read investigation on July 19, 2022.

After a night of drinking, Kevin Albert left his badge in Proctor’s cruiser and reportedly couldn’t find his gun.

“Found your badge in my cruiser this morning,” Proctor texted Albert the next morning.

Albert told him to leave it in his mailbox, and then said, “Did I take my gun?” and included a wincing face emoji.

At a Canton Select Board meeting Tuesday, Chair Michael Loughran said Kevin Albert had been placed on paid administrative leave June 13, the day after Proctor’s testimony about him.

Proctor’s sister, Courtney — with whom he testified he is close — is the best friend of Julie Albert, who is married to Brian’s other brother, Chris Albert. The couple was present at a bar with Brian Albert, Read, O’Keefe and others hours before O’Keefe’s body was found in the snow.

In one text to Courtney Proctor, the trooper said of Read, “Hopefully she kills herself.”

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.

Read’s defense claimed she was framed in a coverup, questioning the actions of Proctor, members of the Albert family and others. Last week, a mistrial was declared due to a hung jury.

“Regarding the outcome of yesterday’s duty status hearing for Trooper Proctor: The State Police Association of Massachusetts will never condone the unacceptable language used in personal text messages presented as evidence during the trial,” Williams said. “To date, we have received no information to indicate that his suspension was the result of anything other than these text message exchanges. We would like to reiterate that unless the Department’s ongoing investigation proves otherwise, yesterday’s actions have no relationship to salacious allegations of cover-ups, collusion or conspiracies offered by the defense.”

“We certainly support the actions that Col. [John] Mawn has taken, the internal investigation will continue, but I think the appropriate actions have been taken to date,” Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll said Tuesday.

Proctor, the lead investigator in the Karen Read case, was roundly criticized after his testimony at her murder trial. The high-profile proceedings brought to light a series of text messages he sent about Read as he investigated the 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, in Canton.

The trooper was the subject of an internal investigation before the start of the trial against Read, accused of hitting O’Keefe with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow.

State police determined at a duty status hearing Monday that Proctor would be off the job without pay during the investigation.

“The decision to suspend him without pay pending the outcome of the investigation is disappointing because it shifts Trooper Proctor’s punishment to his young family,” Brian Williams, president of the State Police Association of Massachusetts, said in a statement. “His children will lose access to benefits such as health insurance. To mitigate the impact on them, a more reasonable action would have been a suspension that did not affect their medical coverage.”

Williams said as the internal investigation continues, the police association has not received any new information that Proctor’s punishment was for anything other than those texts.

Proctor admitted during his testimony during the nine-week trial that he sent texts that were “unprofessional and regrettable,” but claimed they had no bearing on the integrity of his investigation.

The texts — sent to fellow members of the state police, including superiors, as well as friends and family — featured derogatory remarks about Read, calling her a “whack job c***.” They made disparaging remarks about her medical conditions. He said after searching her phone, he had found “no nudes so far.”

When a friend suggested the owner of the home outside of which O’Keefe was found could “receive some s***,” Proctor replied, “Nope, homeowner is a Boston cop, too.”

The homeowner is Brian Albert, a fellow Boston police officer. The state police took over the investigation because Albert’s brother, Kevin, is with the Canton Police Department.

Proctor testified that he and Kevin Albert went out drinking about five months into the Read investigation on July 19, 2022.

After a night of drinking, Kevin Albert left his badge in Proctor’s cruiser and reportedly couldn’t find his gun.

“Found your badge in my cruiser this morning,” Proctor texted Albert the next morning.

Albert told him to leave it in his mailbox, and then said, “Did I take my gun?” and included a wincing face emoji.

At a Canton Select Board meeting Tuesday, Chair Michael Loughran said Kevin Albert had been placed on paid administrative leave June 13, the day after Proctor’s testimony about him.

Proctor’s sister, Courtney — with whom he testified he is close — is the best friend of Julie Albert, who is married to Brian’s other brother, Chris Albert. The couple was present at a bar with Brian Albert, Read, O’Keefe and others hours before O’Keefe’s body was found in the snow.

In one text to Courtney Proctor, the trooper said of Read, “Hopefully she kills herself.”

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.

Read’s defense claimed she was framed in a coverup, questioning the actions of Proctor, members of the Albert family and others. Last week, a mistrial was declared due to a hung jury.

“Regarding the outcome of yesterday’s duty status hearing for Trooper Proctor: The State Police Association of Massachusetts will never condone the unacceptable language used in personal text messages presented as evidence during the trial,” Williams said. “To date, we have received no information to indicate that his suspension was the result of anything other than these text message exchanges. We would like to reiterate that unless the Department’s ongoing investigation proves otherwise, yesterday’s actions have no relationship to salacious allegations of cover-ups, collusion or conspiracies offered by the defense.”

“We certainly support the actions that Col. [John] Mawn has taken, the internal investigation will continue, but I think the appropriate actions have been taken to date,” Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll said Tuesday.

Proctor, the lead investigator in the Karen Read case, was roundly criticized after his testimony at her murder trial. The high-profile proceedings brought to light a series of text messages he sent about Read as he investigated the 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, in Canton.

The trooper was the subject of an internal investigation before the start of the trial against Read, accused of hitting O’Keefe with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow.

State police determined at a duty status hearing Monday that Proctor would be off the job without pay during the investigation.

“The decision to suspend him without pay pending the outcome of the investigation is disappointing because it shifts Trooper Proctor’s punishment to his young family,” Brian Williams, president of the State Police Association of Massachusetts, said in a statement. “His children will lose access to benefits such as health insurance. To mitigate the impact on them, a more reasonable action would have been a suspension that did not affect their medical coverage.”

Williams said as the internal investigation continues, the police association has not received any new information that Proctor’s punishment was for anything other than those texts.

Proctor admitted during his testimony during the nine-week trial that he sent texts that were “unprofessional and regrettable,” but claimed they had no bearing on the integrity of his investigation.

The texts — sent to fellow members of the state police, including superiors, as well as friends and family — featured derogatory remarks about Read, calling her a “whack job c***.” They made disparaging remarks about her medical conditions. He said after searching her phone, he had found “no nudes so far.”

When a friend suggested the owner of the home outside of which O’Keefe was found could “receive some s***,” Proctor replied, “Nope, homeowner is a Boston cop, too.”

The homeowner is Brian Albert, a fellow Boston police officer. The state police took over the investigation because Albert’s brother, Kevin, is with the Canton Police Department.

Proctor testified that he and Kevin Albert went out drinking about five months into the Read investigation on July 19, 2022.

After a night of drinking, Kevin Albert left his badge in Proctor’s cruiser and reportedly couldn’t find his gun.

“Found your badge in my cruiser this morning,” Proctor texted Albert the next morning.

Albert told him to leave it in his mailbox, and then said, “Did I take my gun?” and included a wincing face emoji.

At a Canton Select Board meeting Tuesday, Chair Michael Loughran said Kevin Albert had been placed on paid administrative leave June 13, the day after Proctor’s testimony about him.

Proctor’s sister, Courtney — with whom he testified he is close — is the best friend of Julie Albert, who is married to Brian’s other brother, Chris Albert. The couple was present at a bar with Brian Albert, Read, O’Keefe and others hours before O’Keefe’s body was found in the snow.

In one text to Courtney Proctor, the trooper said of Read, “Hopefully she kills herself.”

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.

Read’s defense claimed she was framed in a coverup, questioning the actions of Proctor, members of the Albert family and others. Last week, a mistrial was declared due to a hung jury.

“Regarding the outcome of yesterday’s duty status hearing for Trooper Proctor: The State Police Association of Massachusetts will never condone the unacceptable language used in personal text messages presented as evidence during the trial,” Williams said. “To date, we have received no information to indicate that his suspension was the result of anything other than these text message exchanges. We would like to reiterate that unless the Department’s ongoing investigation proves otherwise, yesterday’s actions have no relationship to salacious allegations of cover-ups, collusion or conspiracies offered by the defense.”

“We certainly support the actions that Col. [John] Mawn has taken, the internal investigation will continue, but I think the appropriate actions have been taken to date,” Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll said Tuesday.

Proctor, the lead investigator in the Karen Read case, was roundly criticized after his testimony at her murder trial. The high-profile proceedings brought to light a series of text messages he sent about Read as he investigated the 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, in Canton.

The trooper was the subject of an internal investigation before the start of the trial against Read, accused of hitting O’Keefe with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow.

State police determined at a duty status hearing Monday that Proctor would be off the job without pay during the investigation.

“The decision to suspend him without pay pending the outcome of the investigation is disappointing because it shifts Trooper Proctor’s punishment to his young family,” Brian Williams, president of the State Police Association of Massachusetts, said in a statement. “His children will lose access to benefits such as health insurance. To mitigate the impact on them, a more reasonable action would have been a suspension that did not affect their medical coverage.”

Williams said as the internal investigation continues, the police association has not received any new information that Proctor’s punishment was for anything other than those texts.

Proctor admitted during his testimony during the nine-week trial that he sent texts that were “unprofessional and regrettable,” but claimed they had no bearing on the integrity of his investigation.

The texts — sent to fellow members of the state police, including superiors, as well as friends and family — featured derogatory remarks about Read, calling her a “whack job c***.” They made disparaging remarks about her medical conditions. He said after searching her phone, he had found “no nudes so far.”

When a friend suggested the owner of the home outside of which O’Keefe was found could “receive some s***,” Proctor replied, “Nope, homeowner is a Boston cop, too.”

The homeowner is Brian Albert, a fellow Boston police officer. The state police took over the investigation because Albert’s brother, Kevin, is with the Canton Police Department.

Proctor testified that he and Kevin Albert went out drinking about five months into the Read investigation on July 19, 2022.

After a night of drinking, Kevin Albert left his badge in Proctor’s cruiser and reportedly couldn’t find his gun.

“Found your badge in my cruiser this morning,” Proctor texted Albert the next morning.

Albert told him to leave it in his mailbox, and then said, “Did I take my gun?” and included a wincing face emoji.

At a Canton Select Board meeting Tuesday, Chair Michael Loughran said Kevin Albert had been placed on paid administrative leave June 13, the day after Proctor’s testimony about him.

Proctor’s sister, Courtney — with whom he testified he is close — is the best friend of Julie Albert, who is married to Brian’s other brother, Chris Albert. The couple was present at a bar with Brian Albert, Read, O’Keefe and others hours before O’Keefe’s body was found in the snow.

In one text to Courtney Proctor, the trooper said of Read, “Hopefully she kills herself.”

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.

Read’s defense claimed she was framed in a coverup, questioning the actions of Proctor, members of the Albert family and others. Last week, a mistrial was declared due to a hung jury.

“Regarding the outcome of yesterday’s duty status hearing for Trooper Proctor: The State Police Association of Massachusetts will never condone the unacceptable language used in personal text messages presented as evidence during the trial,” Williams said. “To date, we have received no information to indicate that his suspension was the result of anything other than these text message exchanges. We would like to reiterate that unless the Department’s ongoing investigation proves otherwise, yesterday’s actions have no relationship to salacious allegations of cover-ups, collusion or conspiracies offered by the defense.”

“We certainly support the actions that Col. [John] Mawn has taken, the internal investigation will continue, but I think the appropriate actions have been taken to date,” Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll said Tuesday.

“First, we thank the O’Keefe family for their commitment and dedication to this long process. They maintained sight of the true core of this case — to find justice for John O’Keefe,” the district attorney’s office said in a statement. “The Commonwealth intends to re-try the case.”

The next step in the case will be a status conference scheduled by Judge Beverly Cannone on July 22 at 2 p.m. in Norfolk Superior Court.

A jury foreperson told the judge Friday that they hadn’t reached a unanimous verdict despite an “exhaustive review of the evidence.” They were told to continue deliberating. They did but came back Monday afternoon and said it would be futile to continue.

The jury was tasked with deciding whether prosecutors proved that Read drunkenly and intentionally slammed into her Boston police officer boyfriend with her Lexus SUV and left him to die. The defense challenged the evidence and suggested that one or more law enforcement colleagues killed John O’Keefe, dumped his body outside in a panic, and then framed Read to cover it up.

Read was charged with second-degree murder, punishable in Massachusetts by life in prison with the possibility of parole. She also faced lesser charges of manslaughter while operating a vehicle under the influence, punishable by five to 20 years, and leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death, punishable by up to 10 years.

More Karen Read news

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Read the deadlocked Karen Read jury's note that impressed Judge Cannone

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In a hearing shortly before reading out the note, Judge Beverly Cannone called the jury “extraordinary.” She later sent the jury back to continue deliberating, after reading what’s known as Tuey-Rodriguez instructions, which Massachusetts judges often read to juries that are at an impasse.

Here is the jury’s full note, as read by Cannone:

Judge Cannone,

Despite our commitment to the duty entrusted in us, we find ourselves deeply divided by fundamental differences in our opinions and state of mind. The divergence in our views are not rooted in a lack of understanding or effort but deeply held convictions that each of us carry, ultimately leading to a point where consensus is unattainable. We recognize the weight of this admissions, and the implications it holds.

In the Tuey-Rodriguez response, Cannone told the jurors that they “should consider that it is desirable that this case be decided,” to trust in their ability to judge the case and that each juror should reconsider their beliefs.

Before the jury received the instructions, Cannone heard arguments from both sides on whether to give the Tuey-Rodriguez instructions, noting, based in part on the note they sent in, that “this has been an extraordinary jury.” She told the lawyers, “I’ve never seen a note like this, reporting to be at an impasse.”

Assistant District Attorney Adam Lally opposed giving the jury additional instructions, saying it’s too soon given they have only been deliberating for 22-23 hours.

“They really haven’t even had one hour of deliberation equivalent to each of the days of testimony they’ve heard,” he said. “So while they have been at it for a while, I would submit that based on the evidence and testimony of witnesses and complexity in this case, I would submit they have not done a throughout deliberation up until this point.”

Watch the Karen Read trial live on nbcboston.com, NECN, NBC Boston streaming platforms (including Roku, Peacock and Samsung TV) and NBC10 Boston’s YouTube page. Every night of the trial at 7 p.m., come back for analysis and more.

Email questions to canton.confidential@nbcuni.com.

Defense attorney David Yannetti, on the other hand, said his view was that it was time for Tuey-Rodriguez.

“They’ve come back twice indicating essentially that they’re hopelessly deadlocked,” he said. “They said they’ve been over all the evidence. At this time they say they have fundamental disagreements of what the evidence means. It’s a matter of opinion, it’s not a matter of understanding.”

Cannone ultimately decided it was time.

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Judge Cannone said she had never seen a note like the one she received Monday, and it prompted her to read a set of instructions to the jurors known as the Tuey-Rodriguez charge.

These special instructions are read by a judge at their discretion, when a jury remains in a state of deadlock. The text read by the judge essentially sends jurors back to deliberation with a series of reminders — namely that it is their “duty to decide this case if you can do so conscientiously,” and that there is no reason to believe another set of jurors would be more competent to decide a case.

Footnotes included in the instruction provide some direction as to when they should be read to a jury that cannot decide a verdict. The note states that, “it is appropriate for the judge to give such a charge when a jury is deadlocked, but because it ‘has a certain ‘sting’ to it,’ it should not be given prematurely, and digression from the recommended language is discouraged.”

Judge Cannone read the full text of the charge to the jurors, and sent them back to the deliberation table.

You can read a 2009 copy of the instructions here. The version that Judge Cannone read Monday morning had slight variations to it to make it applicable to the case at hand.

More on Karen Read's murder trial

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With a mistrial declared, what's next in the Karen Read case?

But what is is about this case in particular that is generating such interest? We asked Brandi Churchwell, host of the “13th Juror Podcast,” for her thoughts during Friday’s episode of NBC10 Boston’s “Canton Confidential,” and she explained that there are multiple reasons.

Read is charged with second-degree murder in the January 2022 death of O’Keefe, her Boston police officer boyfriend. She’s accused of dropping him off at another officer’s house party in Canton, Massachusetts, after a night of drinking, and then hitting him with her SUV and leaving him to die in a snowstorm. Her defense team argues she was framed, and that the evidence shows O’Keefe was beaten up by someone else inside the house, bitten by a dog and left outside.

“I think the first thing that grabs your attention is it’s a female defendant,” Churchwell said. “Female murder defendants are maybe 10-15% of what we see, so an attractive female definitely is the first thing.”

She said the fact that the victim, O’Keefe, was “an attractive Boston cop with a heart of gold” also plays into it, expecially given that he took in his niece and nephew after the death of his brother and sister-in-law.

“And then I think what makes this one so different is that there’s also this alternate theory, and we normally don’t have that. We have the theory that maybe somebody else did it or maybe it was an accident, but a whole different scenario of who’s responsible is something that we normally dn’t have, so many people have gotten really invested in this.”

Adding to the intrigue is the defense argument that the Alberts, owners of the home where O’Keefe was found dead, were involved in some way but used their considerable influence in Canton to steer investigators away from them.

“Especially because it’s this family we’re told is using their political and law enforcement connections to set up this outsider for whatever people think happened,” Churchwell said. “Instead of just, ‘Are they guilty, are they not?’ it’s become ‘Which one of these is guilty?’ and she’s fighting against this system, and then people get emotionally invested in it because it becomes everybody’s fight. They’re looking at her as she’s getting railroaded by the corrupt police system and they want to look at it as this could be me, this could be my family members. People become invested in feeling like they’re fighting with her.”

The tension is even more apparent online, Churchwell said, where people can hide behind their anonymity.

“People have gotten very emotinally invested, and online it’s almost like that protection of being anonymous behind the keyboard and you don’t have to take responsibility for how low you go when fighting I think that has caused a level that goes beyond passion at this point,” she said. “There is a level of almost toxicity where people are so angry and wanting to tell everyone else why their version of what happened is right and anybody else could not possibly have any idea of what’s going on.”

Jurors were scheduled to return to court Monday morning to continue their deliberations.

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The state has decided to try the case again. Legal experts say they will streamline their line of questioning and get ready to do this all over again.

What could change for a new trial?

The retrial must begin within one year under state law, but lawyers have reason to move it along faster.

“You do want to move while the evidence is fresh and while witnesses memories are intact,” explained Northeastern Law professor Daniel Medwed.

In this case, a federal investigation is underway and there is an ongoing probe into the former state police lead investigator Michael Proctor. This means much could change between now and the next trial.

“You know that trooper’s testimony really blew up in the commonwealth’s face,” said Suffolk Law professor Rosanna Cavallaro. “If in fact he is suspended or any kind of consequence for his misconduct then that’s going to make it really hard for the commonwealth to decide how to present their case,” she continued.

Just hours after the mistrial was declared, Massachusetts State Police announced they were taking action against Proctor.

“Upon learning today’s result, the Department took immediate action to relieve Trooper Michael Proctor of duty and formally transfer him out of the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office State Police Detective’s Unit,” Col. John Mawn, interim superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police, wrote in a statement. “This follows our previous decision to open an internal affairs investigation after information about serious misconduct emerged in testimony at the trial. This investigation is ongoing.”

The expense of another trial

“There could be a lot of things that happen in the interim. On the defense side as well because finances are going to pose a problem,” NBC10 Boston Legal Analyst Michael Coyne said.

Legal experts say trying a high-profile case like this won’t be cheap.

“The first trial was an enormous expense. The next one will probably be just as expensive,” Coyne pointed out.

After this trial, can they find an unbiased jury for Karen Read?

The state will also need to find an unbiased jury, which, after the extensive attention the trial received, will prove challenging.

“I think it’s going to be hard to find a jury and even harder after a case like this but not impossible,” Medwed said.

“I think you’re gonna be surprised at just how easy it is to find people who are living their lives, they’re busy they have other things to do,” Cavallaro said.

Legal experts say we could learn more from the jury about what happened in their deliberations but only they decide to speak out, which could be putting themselves at risk. Because the case ended in a mistrial, the juror list will not be released.

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Boston officer John O'Keefe was called a ‘patron saint' by the girlfriend accused of killing him

Proctor, the lead investigator in the Karen Read case, was roundly criticized after his testimony at her murder trial. The high-profile proceedings brought to light a series of text messages he sent about Read as he investigated the 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, in Canton.

The trooper was the subject of an internal investigation before the start of the trial against Read, accused of hitting O’Keefe with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow.

State police determined at a duty status hearing Monday that Proctor would be off the job without pay during the investigation.

“The decision to suspend him without pay pending the outcome of the investigation is disappointing because it shifts Trooper Proctor’s punishment to his young family,” Brian Williams, president of the State Police Association of Massachusetts, said in a statement. “His children will lose access to benefits such as health insurance. To mitigate the impact on them, a more reasonable action would have been a suspension that did not affect their medical coverage.”

Williams said as the internal investigation continues, the police association has not received any new information that Proctor’s punishment was for anything other than those texts.

Proctor admitted during his testimony during the nine-week trial that he sent texts that were “unprofessional and regrettable,” but claimed they had no bearing on the integrity of his investigation.

The texts — sent to fellow members of the state police, including superiors, as well as friends and family — featured derogatory remarks about Read, calling her a “whack job c***.” They made disparaging remarks about her medical conditions. He said after searching her phone, he had found “no nudes so far.”

When a friend suggested the owner of the home outside of which O’Keefe was found could “receive some s***,” Proctor replied, “Nope, homeowner is a Boston cop, too.”

The homeowner is Brian Albert, a fellow Boston police officer. The state police took over the investigation because Albert’s brother, Kevin, is with the Canton Police Department.

Proctor testified that he and Kevin Albert went out drinking about five months into the Read investigation on July 19, 2022.

After a night of drinking, Kevin Albert left his badge in Proctor’s cruiser and reportedly couldn’t find his gun.

“Found your badge in my cruiser this morning,” Proctor texted Albert the next morning.

Albert told him to leave it in his mailbox, and then said, “Did I take my gun?” and included a wincing face emoji.

At a Canton Select Board meeting Tuesday, Chair Michael Loughran said Kevin Albert had been placed on paid administrative leave June 13, the day after Proctor’s testimony about him.

Proctor’s sister, Courtney — with whom he testified he is close — is the best friend of Julie Albert, who is married to Brian’s other brother, Chris Albert. The couple was present at a bar with Brian Albert, Read, O’Keefe and others hours before O’Keefe’s body was found in the snow.

In one text to Courtney Proctor, the trooper said of Read, “Hopefully she kills herself.”

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.

Read’s defense claimed she was framed in a coverup, questioning the actions of Proctor, members of the Albert family and others. Last week, a mistrial was declared due to a hung jury.

“Regarding the outcome of yesterday’s duty status hearing for Trooper Proctor: The State Police Association of Massachusetts will never condone the unacceptable language used in personal text messages presented as evidence during the trial,” Williams said. “To date, we have received no information to indicate that his suspension was the result of anything other than these text message exchanges. We would like to reiterate that unless the Department’s ongoing investigation proves otherwise, yesterday’s actions have no relationship to salacious allegations of cover-ups, collusion or conspiracies offered by the defense.”

“We certainly support the actions that Col. [John] Mawn has taken, the internal investigation will continue, but I think the appropriate actions have been taken to date,” Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll said Tuesday.

Proctor, the lead investigator in the Karen Read case, was roundly criticized after his testimony at her murder trial. The high-profile proceedings brought to light a series of text messages he sent about Read as he investigated the 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, in Canton.

The trooper was the subject of an internal investigation before the start of the trial against Read, accused of hitting O’Keefe with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow.

State police determined at a duty status hearing Monday that Proctor would be off the job without pay during the investigation.

“The decision to suspend him without pay pending the outcome of the investigation is disappointing because it shifts Trooper Proctor’s punishment to his young family,” Brian Williams, president of the State Police Association of Massachusetts, said in a statement. “His children will lose access to benefits such as health insurance. To mitigate the impact on them, a more reasonable action would have been a suspension that did not affect their medical coverage.”

Williams said as the internal investigation continues, the police association has not received any new information that Proctor’s punishment was for anything other than those texts.

Proctor admitted during his testimony during the nine-week trial that he sent texts that were “unprofessional and regrettable,” but claimed they had no bearing on the integrity of his investigation.

The texts — sent to fellow members of the state police, including superiors, as well as friends and family — featured derogatory remarks about Read, calling her a “whack job c***.” They made disparaging remarks about her medical conditions. He said after searching her phone, he had found “no nudes so far.”

When a friend suggested the owner of the home outside of which O’Keefe was found could “receive some s***,” Proctor replied, “Nope, homeowner is a Boston cop, too.”

The homeowner is Brian Albert, a fellow Boston police officer. The state police took over the investigation because Albert’s brother, Kevin, is with the Canton Police Department.

Proctor testified that he and Kevin Albert went out drinking about five months into the Read investigation on July 19, 2022.

After a night of drinking, Kevin Albert left his badge in Proctor’s cruiser and reportedly couldn’t find his gun.

“Found your badge in my cruiser this morning,” Proctor texted Albert the next morning.

Albert told him to leave it in his mailbox, and then said, “Did I take my gun?” and included a wincing face emoji.

At a Canton Select Board meeting Tuesday, Chair Michael Loughran said Kevin Albert had been placed on paid administrative leave June 13, the day after Proctor’s testimony about him.

Proctor’s sister, Courtney — with whom he testified he is close — is the best friend of Julie Albert, who is married to Brian’s other brother, Chris Albert. The couple was present at a bar with Brian Albert, Read, O’Keefe and others hours before O’Keefe’s body was found in the snow.

In one text to Courtney Proctor, the trooper said of Read, “Hopefully she kills herself.”

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.

Read’s defense claimed she was framed in a coverup, questioning the actions of Proctor, members of the Albert family and others. Last week, a mistrial was declared due to a hung jury.

“Regarding the outcome of yesterday’s duty status hearing for Trooper Proctor: The State Police Association of Massachusetts will never condone the unacceptable language used in personal text messages presented as evidence during the trial,” Williams said. “To date, we have received no information to indicate that his suspension was the result of anything other than these text message exchanges. We would like to reiterate that unless the Department’s ongoing investigation proves otherwise, yesterday’s actions have no relationship to salacious allegations of cover-ups, collusion or conspiracies offered by the defense.”

“We certainly support the actions that Col. [John] Mawn has taken, the internal investigation will continue, but I think the appropriate actions have been taken to date,” Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll said Tuesday.

The jury must decide whether prosecutors have proven that Read drunkenly and angrily slammed into her Boston police officer boyfriend with her Lexus SUV and left him to die. The defense challenged the evidence and suggested that one or more colleagues killed John O’Keefe, dumped his body outside in a panic and then framed Read to cover it up.

On their fourth day of deliberations in the two-month murder trial, a foreperson told the judge that they hadn’t reached a unanimous verdict despite an “exhaustive review of the evidence and our diligent consideration of all disputed evidence.

But Judge Beverly Cannone told the six men and six women to take lunch and try again, and they did for several more hours. “Clear your heads, we’ll start fresh on Monday,” Cannone told them later Friday.

Watch the Karen Read trial live on nbcboston.com, NECN, NBC Boston streaming platforms (including Roku, Peacock and Samsung TV) and NBC10 Boston’s YouTube page. Every night of the trial at 7 p.m., come back for analysis and more.

Email questions to canton.confidential@nbcuni.com.

Tuey-Rodriguez instructions

After the note was submitted, Karen Read’s defense asked the judge to take the first step towards a mistrial.

The jury had the incentive of getting this done before the holiday weekend and still couldn’t come to a conclusion. Now there’s talk of implementing what’s called the dynamite instruction, something legal experts say usually results in a quick verdict.

“Our position is the jury should be read the Tuey-Rodriguez instruction and go from there.” said defense attorney David Yannetti.

“I will submit that it is far far far too early to give them Tuey-Rodriguez instruction or anything close to that.” said ADA Adam Lally.

Legal experts say the rare step is only taken when jurors are at a hopeless impasse because it runs the risk of encouraging those who may be holding out on one side or the other to change their opinions and go along with the majority.

“What the instruction is saying is that if we were to empanel another group of 12 jurors there’s no reason to think they’d decide the case any differently than you so please consider the viewpoints of your fellow jurors.” said retired justice Jay Blitzman

Blitzman says if the case does have to be retried it would likely happen within the year.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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That girlfriend, Karen Read, is now on trial, accused of killing O’Keefe in a case that has attracted national attention and called into question the integrity of a wide swath of Massachusetts’ law enforcement community and even some of O’Keefe’s friends.

Born and raised in suburban Braintree, O’Keefe graduated from Northeastern University and earned a master’s in criminal justice from the University of Massachusetts. He was 46 at the time of his death, and had been a Boston police officer for 16 years.

For much of that time, O’Keefe also had been raising his niece and nephew in Canton after his sister and her husband died just months apart. He also lost his best friend, fellow Boston Officer Pat Rogers, to suicide. Rogers’ girlfriend was pregnant at the time, and O’Keefe quickly stepped up to support her as well, acting as godfather to her son.

“He was the first person in my delivery room after I gave birth,” Laura Sullivan testified during the trial, describing O’Keefe as a “constant” presence in her son’s life.

“Every birthday, Christmas, he was always in contact. He was the first person in my delivery room after i gave birth. he was a constant,” she added.

Watch the Karen Read trial live on nbcboston.com, NECN, NBC Boston streaming platforms (including Roku, Peacock and Samsung TV) and NBC10 Boston’s YouTube page. Every night of the trial at 7 p.m., come back for analysis and more.

Email questions to canton.confidential@nbcuni.com.

Other witnesses described O’Keefe’s devotion to his niece and nephew, who called him J-J and were just 6 and 3 when he became their guardian.

O’Keefe’s sister-in-law, Erin, testified that she and her husband had been prepared to take in the children as well, but O’Keefe stepped up.

”We had kind of assumed because Johnny was out, you know, on the streets doing his job, that Paul and I would take the kids,” she said. “Johnny said he was going to do it.”

O’Keefe was known as a father figure to his family, and was also involved with his friends’ families.

“Him and my husband would always do the games. The kids use to call them my two dads. It was, they had a lot of fun together,” added Katherine Camerano.

O’Keefe’s younger brother, Paul, was the first witness called by the prosecution. Asked to name his siblings, he struggled to stay composed when naming his late sister and “my brother John.” Everyone called him Johnny, he said, “especially if you were family.”

Paul O’Keefe said he had planned to see his brother the day before he died, but they canceled because of a coming snowstorm. Their last communication was in a group text with family members. John O’Keefe was excited, he said, because their niece had been accepted to a private high school.

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Canton Confidential brings you highlights from each day in court, expert analysis and in-depth details surrounding the death of John O’Keefe, charges against Read and the defense’s claims of a massive coverup that frames Read in the murder of her boyfriend in January 2022.

You can watch Canton Confidential daily at 7 p.m. on NBC10 Boston, as well as on our website and app. You can also listen to it in podcast form on our website, or anywhere you stream and download your podcasts.

As jury deliberations continue in the Read case, anticipation is growing as to what the verdict will be for 44-year-old, who is charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating a vehicle under the influence and leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death.

The charges stem from the death of Boston police officer O’Keefe, whom Read was dating. He was found dead in the lawn of another Boston officer in Canton on a snowy morning, after a night of drinking at local bars with a group of people. Read was accused of backing into him with her Lexus SUV, but her team of lawyers have alleged a large-scale coverup by law enforcement, saying that someone else is responsible for O’Keefe’s killing.

Stay with NBC10 Boston’s Canton Confidential for the very latest as the case develops.

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“I am writing to inform you on behalf of the jury that despite our exhaustive review of the evidence and our diligent consideration of all disputed evidence we have been unable to reach a unanimous verdict,” the foreperson wrote to Cannone just after noon Friday.

The jury first got the case on Tuesday, deliberating for several hours. On Wednesday, they deliberated for much of the day but then broke early because a juror had a prior commitment. Thursday’s deliberations ended around 3 p.m. and the jury was just three hours into deliberations on Friday when they submitted their note.

Cannone gave both sides a chance to argue their case before making her ruling.

Assistant District Attorney Adam Lally argued that given the length of the trial and the fact that jurors had several early days this week, he does not believe they have spent enough time deliberating.

“My answer would be no,” Lally said. “There simply hasn’t been sufficient time. The jury received this case earlier this week. They’ve had slightly shortened days. I’m not suggesting they haven’t conducted their due diligence… but I submit it is far, far, far too early to even consider giving them any Tuey-Rodriguez instruction or anything even close to that.”

The Tuey-Rodriguez model is a special set of instructions often read to deadlocked juries.

“Furthermore,” he said, “the note doesn’t indicate affirmatively is that they can’t come to a conclusion through their deliberative process at this time. They’re not even asking for one is what I would say.”

Defense attorney David Yannetti, however, argued that the jurors have been working nonstop and with a weekend approaching they should be given additional guidance.

“I would disagree with Mr. Lally’s characterization of the note,” he said. “The word exhaustive is the word that I think is operative here. They’re communicating to the court that they’ve exhausted all manner of compromise, all manner of persuasion and they’re at an impasse. You know, this is a case where the jury has the legal instructions — they’ve only really asked one question, which was to try to get a report they were not allowed to get, and I think the message has ben received that the evidence is closed and they won’t be getting anything more.”

“They’ve been working essentially nonstop over the last three, four days,” Yannetti added. “We’re approaching a weekend. They didn’t come back with this at 3 o’ clock or 4 o’ clock — they’re at 12 o’ clock and they have nowhere to turn. So our position is the jury should be read the Tuey-Rodriguez model instruction and go from there.”

Ultimately, Cannone ruled that the jurors had not deliberated enough, with multiple shortened days, and given that the trial lasted nearly two months and included dozens of witnesses and hundreds of exhibits.

“This note arrived with less than three hours of deliberations today, so the length of the trial, the length of the deliberations — we heard from 74 witnesses, there are 657 exhibits, very complex issues in this case. I’m not prepared to find that there have been due and thorough deliberations at this point.”

She then brought the jurors back into court to give them their instructions.

“Lunch will be arriving shortly. When it comes, I’d ask you to clear your heads. Have lunch, and begin your deliberations again, or continue your deliberations,” she said. “I’m sending you back out.”

The jury must decide whether prosecutors have proven that she drunkenly and angrily slammed into her Boston police officer boyfriend with her Lexus SUV and left him to die. The defense challenged the evidence and suggested that one or more colleagues killed John O’Keefe, dumped his body outside in a panic and then framed Read to cover it up.

“Clearly, they’re saying they’re at loggerheads,” Boston defense attorney Douglas Louison said Friday. “The message is they have not been able to reach a verdict, which is slightly different than ‘We are hopelessly deadlocked,’ which is really the standard for the judge to declare a mistrial due to a hung jury.”

Louison says a hung jury would be considered a victory for Read.

“Not getting a guilty verdict is a win when you’re playing defense in a criminal case,” he said.

On the flip side, it would be a blow for prosecutors.

“Their only goal is to get a conviction, and if they finish without a conviction, there’s no way you can spin that as a win,” he said. “They didn’t lose, but they didn’t win.”

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Judge says keep trying after jurors in Karen Read trial say they can't agree on verdict

Proctor, the lead investigator in the Karen Read case, was roundly criticized after his testimony at her murder trial. The high-profile proceedings brought to light a series of text messages he sent about Read as he investigated the 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, in Canton.

The trooper was the subject of an internal investigation before the start of the trial against Read, accused of hitting O’Keefe with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow.

State police determined at a duty status hearing Monday that Proctor would be off the job without pay during the investigation.

“The decision to suspend him without pay pending the outcome of the investigation is disappointing because it shifts Trooper Proctor’s punishment to his young family,” Brian Williams, president of the State Police Association of Massachusetts, said in a statement. “His children will lose access to benefits such as health insurance. To mitigate the impact on them, a more reasonable action would have been a suspension that did not affect their medical coverage.”

Williams said as the internal investigation continues, the police association has not received any new information that Proctor’s punishment was for anything other than those texts.

Proctor admitted during his testimony during the nine-week trial that he sent texts that were “unprofessional and regrettable,” but claimed they had no bearing on the integrity of his investigation.

The texts — sent to fellow members of the state police, including superiors, as well as friends and family — featured derogatory remarks about Read, calling her a “whack job c***.” They made disparaging remarks about her medical conditions. He said after searching her phone, he had found “no nudes so far.”

When a friend suggested the owner of the home outside of which O’Keefe was found could “receive some s***,” Proctor replied, “Nope, homeowner is a Boston cop, too.”

The homeowner is Brian Albert, a fellow Boston police officer. The state police took over the investigation because Albert’s brother, Kevin, is with the Canton Police Department.

Proctor testified that he and Kevin Albert went out drinking about five months into the Read investigation on July 19, 2022.

After a night of drinking, Kevin Albert left his badge in Proctor’s cruiser and reportedly couldn’t find his gun.

“Found your badge in my cruiser this morning,” Proctor texted Albert the next morning.

Albert told him to leave it in his mailbox, and then said, “Did I take my gun?” and included a wincing face emoji.

At a Canton Select Board meeting Tuesday, Chair Michael Loughran said Kevin Albert had been placed on paid administrative leave June 13, the day after Proctor’s testimony about him.

Proctor’s sister, Courtney — with whom he testified he is close — is the best friend of Julie Albert, who is married to Brian’s other brother, Chris Albert. The couple was present at a bar with Brian Albert, Read, O’Keefe and others hours before O’Keefe’s body was found in the snow.

In one text to Courtney Proctor, the trooper said of Read, “Hopefully she kills herself.”

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.

Read’s defense claimed she was framed in a coverup, questioning the actions of Proctor, members of the Albert family and others. Last week, a mistrial was declared due to a hung jury.

“Regarding the outcome of yesterday’s duty status hearing for Trooper Proctor: The State Police Association of Massachusetts will never condone the unacceptable language used in personal text messages presented as evidence during the trial,” Williams said. “To date, we have received no information to indicate that his suspension was the result of anything other than these text message exchanges. We would like to reiterate that unless the Department’s ongoing investigation proves otherwise, yesterday’s actions have no relationship to salacious allegations of cover-ups, collusion or conspiracies offered by the defense.”

“We certainly support the actions that Col. [John] Mawn has taken, the internal investigation will continue, but I think the appropriate actions have been taken to date,” Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll said Tuesday.