A Massachusetts State Trooper, dismissed for misconduct during the Karen Read investigation, has decided to retract his appeal against the termination.
Michael Proctor’s legal representative, Daniel J. Moynihan, informed the Boston Globe that they submitted a withdrawal notice following “disclosures made available to our office on Friday,” although he didn’t elaborate further.
According to the Globe, recent court documents reveal that prosecutors are currently examining an “unexpected volume of files” discovered on Proctor’s cell phone, which are relevant to several murder cases he handled.
Prosecutors stated that the “volume of items was unexpectedly larger than the representations of Proctor’s counsel regarding the cell phone.”
Proctor faced suspension and subsequent dismissal in July 2024 after the first trial of Karen Read, accused of murdering her Boston police officer boyfriend John O’Keefe, resulted in a mistrial. Although Read was acquitted in a second trial earlier this year, she was found guilty of driving under the influence of alcohol. Testimony from the initial trial revealed that Proctor had made derogatory remarks about Read, referring to her as a “whack job,” expressing a wish for her to “kill herself,” and noting the absence of nude photos on her phone, according to a report by CrimeOnline.
The Trial Board decided to terminate Proctor, who was the chief investigator in the Read case, after determining he was guilty of unsatisfactory performance and drinking on duty, as reported by the Globe. He had been contesting to regain his position ever since.
