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By Lilith Foster-Collins
News Reporter
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The lead investigator in the Karen Read murder probe has been questioned in court over a series of texts he wrote about Read.
Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Proctor admitted he called Read a series of names including "wack job" in texts to friends, family and colleagues.
Karen Read is accused of hitting her police officer boyfriend John O'Keefe with her SUV in Canton, near Boston, and leaving him for dead in a snowbank. Read has pleaded not guilty to second degree murder and manslaughter and claims law enforcement officers are trying to frame her.
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The trial, at Norfolk Superior Court, has gripped Boston and America more broadly, with campaigns from both sides supporting or opposing Read.
Proctor took the stand on Monday and will continue to be cross-examined on Wednesday.
In some texts Proctor joked about a medical condition of Read's. He also told contacts by text that he believed she had killed O'Keefe.
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Proctor wrote that he hated one of Read's attorneys, and joked about not finding nude photos when he was going through Read's phone.
Read's defense attorney Alan Jackson said "You weren't so much as objectively investigating her as objectifying her in those moments."
Proctor denied he was looking for nude photos of Read, and repeatedly apologized for the language used in the texts on Monday.
They were "unprofessional and regrettable comments, are something I am not proud of, and shouldn't have wrote in private or any type of setting," he said.
However he claimed the comments had no influence on his investigation.
"These juvenile, unprofessional comments had zero impact on the facts and evidence and integrity of the investigation," he said.
The trial has entered its seventh week.
Prosecutors said Read struck O'Keefe with her car in January, 2022, while making a three-point turn after a night of drinking, outside the home of O'Keefe's colleague, police officer Brian Albert.
The medical examiner ruled that O'Keefe's cause of death was hypothermia and blunt-force impact injuries to the head.
Read's lawyers allege that O'Keefe was beaten inside the home, where a house party was taking place, bitten by a dog and then left outside.
They have suggested the investigation was undermined by the relationship investigators had with law enforcement agents at the house party.
Proctor acknowledged he is friends with the brother of Brian Albert and his wife. He said that it had no influence on the investigation and that he had never been to their house before O'Keefe's death.
The defense have also suggested pieces of glass found on the bumper of Read's SUV and hair found on the car may have been planted.
Prosecutors have pointed to evidence Proctor and other state troopers found at the crime scene, including pieces of clear and red plastic found at the scene after O'Keefe's death, which they argue are from the broken taillight on Read's SUV.
They produced video evidence on Monday in an attempt to refute defence claims that Read backed into O'Keefe's car and damaged the taillight.
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