Attorneys for Read say she has been framed for the crime and that O’Keefe entered the Fairview home, where he was fatally beaten in the basem*nt before his body was planted on the lawn.
Jurors on Monday heard testimony from State Police Trooper Michael Proctor, a lead investigator on the case, who admitted to sending crude and “unprofessional” text messages about Read to his coworkers, friends, and relatives.
Related: Say More Podcast: Catch up on the Karen Read trial
Here’s a rundown of key witnesses who’ve testified so far in the high-profile trial.
Here’s how testimony unfolded on Wednesday.
3:45 p.m. — State Police investigator continues his testimony
State Police Detective Lieutenant Brian Tully identified photographs he took of items recovered at the Fairview Road scene on Jan. 29.
He used a laser pointer to identify red plastic that was found. A team member had picked that piece with a shovel, so Tully directed him to put it back so he could document where it was recovered.
Tully also identified O’Keefe’s black Nike sneaker recovered in a snowbank in front of the home. The shoe in the snow was a left shoe, Tully said, and the shoe at the hospital was a right sneaker.
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Tully said a clear plastic piece found at Fairview was curved with raised “dimples” on one side of it.
The items were placed in evidence bags and “brought back to our office to be secured,” he said.
Tully said he’s the evidence officer for his unit.
He said evidence bags are taped and dated to mark “when the taping occurred.”
Tully said there’s an evidence tracking system for all items. The evidence room is locked and troopers need an ID pass to enter. Only he and two other evidence officers have access to the secure area, Tully said.
He said troopers without access to the permanent secure area can deposit items in a separate temporary area before they’re placed in the permanent storage room.
The items found at Fairview were in a “5-foot area” on the front lawn, he said.
From the stand, Tully removed O’Keefe’s shoe that was found at Fairview from an evidence bag and displayed it for jurors. He donned gloves as he did so.
Tully later removed red and clear plastic pieces from additional evidence bags and displayed them for jurors as well.
Tully said the first item on the lawn was found at 5:45 p.m. Neither Proctor nor Bukhenik were present because they were following a tow truck that took Read’s SUV from her parents’ home in Dighton to Canton.
“We had discussion about how much taillight” was missing from Read’s vehicle, Tully said.
He said he didn’t know how much of the broken taillight authorities needed to look for at the scene. He pointed out the “ridges” on the clear plastic pieces recovered from the scene.
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Judge Beverly Cannone sent jurors home for the day shortly before 4 p.m. Testimony resumes Thursday.
3:15 p.m. — Brian Tully takes the stand
State Police Detective Lieutenant Brian Tully testified that each district attorney’s office has a State Police detective unit to serve as prosecutors’ “representative” in death investigations, except in Boston, Worcester, and Springfield, where city police fulfill that role.
On Jan. 29, 2022, Tully said he learned shortly after 7 a.m. that John O’Keefe had been found unresponsive in Canton. State Police Sgt. Yuri Bukhenik had told him over the phone.
”Normally I would not get a call like that, but we learned that Mr. O’Keefe was an active police officer,” Tully said.
Tully said troopers have “constant communication” with the medical examiner’s office during death investigations.
“We forward reports in every case to the doctors,” Tully said. The doctors will often respond with questions and have a law enforcement representative present during autopsies, he said.
Outside of providing information, “we have little to no role” in the doctors’ findings, he said.
He said the medical examiner’s office often makes the determination on manner of death early in an investigation, before all the facts are known.
During the morning of Jan. 29, 2022, he spoke with the Canton police chief and decided the local police would recuse themselves from the investigation because of the connection between Brian Albert, who owned the home where O’Keefe’s body was found outside, and his brother Kevin, a Canton police detective.
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Norfolk District Attorney Michael W. Morrissey was also involved in that conversation, Tully said.
“It’s not abnormal for him to be involved,” Tully said. “They were the same conversations.”
He said he became aware of Proctor’s text messages on his personal phone and “expressed my displeasure” at his subordinate’s lack of professionalism.
“I reported it up my chain of command,” Tully said.
He said O’Keefe’s and Read’s phones were seized on Jan. 29, and authorities also took possession of Jennifer McCabe’s phone and the device belonging to Kerry Roberts for review, since both women had information relevant to the probe on their phones.
Tully said he called another State Police lieutenant around 2 p.m. on Jan. 29 to see who on a crime scene services team was available to respond to Fairview Road.
Tully said he arrived there around 5:30 p.m. He said Yuri Bukhenik, another State Police investigator, told him O’Keefe had been found on the lawn between a flagpole and a fire hydrant, so the search team decided to focus their efforts there. The seven-member team used shovels to sift through a snow bank in front of the home, Tully said.
He said they were looking for pieces of taillight and O’Keefe’s shoe, since only one shoe was present at the hospital.
Witnesses had said Read had a broken taillight. He said he took photographs of the items, which were “collected in evidence bags.”
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3 p.m. — Michael Proctor concludes his testimony
On redirect, Proctor said “absolutely not” when Adam Lally asked if he had deleted any video footage from John O’Keefe’s home.
Ring “informed me if the video was deleted, there’s no digital footprint of that,” Proctor testified.
He told Lally he arrived at the Canton police garage shortly after 5:30 p.m. on Jan. 29, 2022. He said he has seen Ring video and cruiser dashboard footage from O’Keefe’s driveway on the morning of Jan. 29 showing Read’s damaged taillight. That footage was played earlier at trial.
When he was texting his friends late on Jan. 29, he had seen Read’s damaged taillight and knew that investigators had found broken pieces of plastic, along with O’Keefe’s shoe, near where his body was found, Proctor testified. Proctor said he was also aware of inculpatory statements Read had made that morning.
He noted that Jennifer McCabe and another woman who was with Read when she saw O’Keefe’s body in the snow initially could not see him in the blizzard conditions.
“We knew the last person seen with Mr. O’Keefe alive was Ms. Read,” Proctor said. “Witnesses stated they saw an SUV in front of the house. ... John never went into the house, and then the following morning” O’Keefe was found on the lawn.
“So at the time that you made those ... disparaging comments,” Lally said, “what did you believe the defendant had done to Mr. O’Keefe?”
Proctor said he believed Read struck O’Keefe with her vehicle “and then left.”
Jackson asked if Proctor felt his personal assessment gave him license to call Read the c-word.
“My emotions got the best of me,” Proctor said.
Jackson asked if he was “the one responsible for gathering the evidence” and Proctor said he’s part of a team of detectives.
“Sort of like the fox guarding the henhouse,” Jackson said to describe Proctor’s role.
Cannone sustained a government objection and Proctor stepped down.
“Thank you, jurors,” he said.
2:45 p.m. — State Police investigator testifies on redirect
Prosecutor Adam Lally asked Michael Proctor, a State Police investigator, about the animus he voiced in texts toward Read attorney David Yannetti. Proctor said Yannetti had publicly impugned his reputation in pretrial proceedings with “lie after lie” about the case.
Proctor said Yannetti’s “false accusations” of his corruption motivated his harsh words.
In addition, the defense had included a photo of his younger cousins in a court filing and indicated falsely that they were “the McCabes’ children.”
Proctor said authorities had “developed compelling evidence against Ms. Read.”
“All the information gathered,” he said, “indicated no one else was responsible for Mr. O’Keefe’s death.”
“There was just no evidence that Mr. [Brian] Albert was involved in any way.”
Lally asked Proctor what he would have done if he had found evidence indicating Albert was involved.
Proctor said his office “would have pursued that ... regardless of his profession,” referencing that Brian Albert at the time was a Boston police officer. He has since retired.
Lally showed Proctor additional texts he exchanged with his high school friends.
On Jan. 29, 2022, at 11 p.m., Proctor wrote that “they arrived at the house together, got into an argument,” and Read dropped O’Keefe off “and left.”
Proctor said he learned that information “during the course of the 29th” as he investigated the case.
He told Lally State Police troopers “don’t make any charging decisions. We’re essentially fact-finders.”
Proctor told Lally that on Jan. 29, 2022, he knew Julie Albert, her husband Chris, their son Colin, and Kevin Albert, a Canton police detective.
Before interviewing Julie and Chris Albert on Feb. 10, 2022, Proctor said he “can’t remember” when he may have spoken with them.
Proctor said he later communicated with Julie Albert about her upcoming grand jury investigation. He said multiple witnesses had questions about “the process.”
He said he shared just “general information” about the probe with his sister via text but “nothing specific about the case.”
Proctor said he didn’t recall “sharing anything” with his sister before she texted him that the afterparty had been at Brian Albert’s home.
He also stressed that neither he nor his wife ever received a gift from Julie Albert.
Regarding Colin Albert, Proctor said he learned that he had stayed about an hour at the Alberts home and left around 12:10 a.m.
“The timing was provided by Colin,” Proctor said. “Based on Mr. O’Keefe’s cellphone location data,” O’Keefe was about a half mile from the Fairview house at 12:20 a.m.
“They did not cross paths,” Proctor said.
Lally asked why Colin Albert was interviewed.
“Colin was the subject of a third-party culprit [claim] that had no evidence to back that up,” Proctor said. “My office felt the need to interview Colin ... [and] get his story” about when he left.
The lawyers were then called to a sidebar.
2 p.m. — Cross-examination of Michael Proctor continues
After lunch, Proctor told Read lawyer Alan Jackson he did not “retrieve any” video from the Canton police garage.
They were retrieved by State Police Detective Lieutenant Brian Tully, Proctor said.
Regarding the Ring video from John O’Keefe’s home, Jackson asked if Proctor retained and controlled the footage as the case officer.
“Yes they were archived,” Proctor said.
He said he had access to O’Keefe’s Ring account via his cell phone.
“You had full access to the app,” Jackson said. “You could delete videos, you could do anything you wanted to.”
Proctor said “absolutely not” when asked if he deleted any Ring videos, including the footage of Read arriving in O’Keefe’s driveway at 12:41 a.m. on Jan. 29, 2022.
He said he wrote a report on the Ring video footage “off of my notes.”
Jackson presented Proctor with a copy of another trooper’s notes on the footage.
Those notes stated that at 12:41 a.m. “I think she arrived home,” Jackson said.
Proctor wrote a report on the footage on June 1, 2022, Jackson said.
“Correct,” Proctor said.
Jackson said the report makes “no mention of the footage” of Read arriving at 12:41 a.m., even though the other trooper had previously noted he thought she arrived home at that time.
“It’s something I’ve tried to find through Ring for months,” Proctor said of the missing footage.
“There’s no video at 12:41 ... is there?” Jackson asked.
“No, there isn’t,” Proctor said.
He said Read was “absolutely not” treated differently from the other witnesses in the case.
“Did you develop some sort of hatred for Ms. Read?” Jackson asked.
“We followed the facts of the evidence ... and yes at times I got emotional” and said things he should not have, Proctor replied.
On Feb. 4, 2022, Proctor texted his sister that he hoped Read “kills herself,” Jackson said.
Proctor confirmed that he said that.
”A figure of speech,” Proctor said.
Jackson asked if Read was “an issue” for Proctor’s investigation.
”No, absolutely not,” Proctor said. “There’s a lot of pressure in every case, sir.”
Jackson asked if Proctor believed his life would be easier if Read were “just dead.”
“My emotions got the best of me with that figure of speech,” Proctor said.
Jackson noted that Proctor referred to Read crudely in texts and wrote “[expletive] her” at one point.
Asked if he “dehumanized” Read in the texts, Proctor said, “I would say based off that language, yes.”
Proctor said he also texted that the homeowner wouldn’t “catch any [expletive] because Mr. Albert had nothing to do” with O’Keefe’s death.
”Shame on you, sir,” Jackson said, referring to Proctor’s c-word remark.
Judge Beverly Cannone struck Jackson’s line from the record.
12:45 p.m. — Michael Proctor testifies about early stages of investigation
Read lawyer Alan Jackson asked Proctor, a lead State Police investigator in the case, about John O’Keefe’s clothing that he gathered at the Brockton hospital where O’Keefe had been pronounced dead.
Proctor identified a photo of O’Keefe’s clothing in the hospital room. Proctor said troopers bagged O’Keefe’s clothes and later took them to an evidence processing area in their office and put the items on butcher paper so they could dry.
Jackson asked Proctor if authorities have a “physical log” laying out the chain of custody of the items. Proctor said they did, but he’s “not the evidence officer” and didn’t have details about the log.
The first record of the clothes being formally processed was Feb. 4, according to previous testimony.
Turning to Read’s SUV, Jackson noted that investigators seized it an hour and 20 minutes earlier than initially noted in a warrant affidavit.
Proctor said he had incorrectly transcribed the time.
“There were typos, sir,” Proctor said.
He told Jackson that the SUV was taken to the Canton police garage before any pieces of plastic were found.
Proctor said he didn’t know who decided to bring the SUV to the Canton garage and confirmed that State Police had bypassed two of their own facilities used for processing cars.
He told Jackson authorities pulled a number of video clips from a security camera at O’Keefe’s home, the Waterfall bar in Canton, police dashboard footage, surveillance cameras from local businesses, and other clips.
Jackson asked if Proctor withheld any videos from the defense.
“I did not,” Proctor said, adding that some footage from inside the police garage was “discovered later on” and turned over.
On April 4, 2024, Jackson said, Proctor turned over one video from the interior of the garage.
“Correct,” Proctor said.
Jackson asked if that clip is missing the precise time that the SUV was delivered.
“I don’t recall,” Proctor said.
Jackson asked if he noted the timestamp in the video jumped about 42 minutes.
“Approximately, yes,” Proctor said.
He told Jackson he did not recover the video footage from the garage that was inverted. That video was recently played for jurors.
“I was made aware that video had essentially existed from the interior of the sally port area,” Proctor said. “I was probably informed by [State Police] Detective Lieutenant [Brian] Tully.”
He said Tully informed him about the interior footage a few weeks ago.
“I’m sure he watched it,” Proctor said.
He said he first saw the interior footage a few weeks ago as well.
“The SUV being brought into the garage,” Proctor said when asked what he saw in the clip.
He said he is shown in the clip, as well as other officers, including now-retired Canton police Chief Kenneth Berkowitz.
Jackson noted that Berkowitz at one point appears “out of nowhere” in the clip when the footage skips. Proctor agreed.
Judge Cannone called a lunch recess shortly before 1 p.m., with testimony resuming around 1:45 p.m.
12:20 p.m. — Michael Proctor continues his testimony
Proctor said he texted Kevin Albert, a Canton police detective who is Brian Albert’s brother, to see if there was a conference room in the police station to interview witnesses.
On Jan. 30, 2022, Kevin Albert texted Proctor about interviewing witnesses. Jackson asked Proctor if he told Kevin Albert not to contact him, since Canton police had been recused from the investigation.
“I did not,” Proctor said.
Kevin Albert had offered an interview room outfitted with recording devices. Proctor said they didn’t use the room since Canton police would then have access to the data.
Jackson asked Proctor if he was “concerned” Kevin Albert would have used the access to improperly update Brian Albert, the owner of the home where John O’Keefe’s body was found outside.
“No,” Proctor said. “Typically we don’t record our interviews.”
Proctor said he and Kevin Albert had previously worked on a “cold case together.”
He said he and Albert socialized and drank together on “several occasions.”
“I don’t consider that a relationship,” Proctor said.
On July 19, 2022, Jackson said, Proctor and Kevin Albert went out drinking together.
“I don’t recall that,” Proctor said. “The date itself, sir.”
Jackson said “the two of you got so drunk” that Kevin Albert left his badge in Proctor’s cruiser and couldn’t find his gun the next day.
Proctor said he didn’t recall their level of intoxication but conceded that he found Albert’s badge in his cruiser the next day and texted him.
Albert responded, “did I take my gun” and added a wince emoji, Jackson said.
“Which means you were drinking and driving in your cruiser, right?” Jackson said.
Proctor said the men had been working the case on Cape Cod, stopped for dinner, and “had a few beers.”
Kevin Albert later texted that he was hungover and would have a couple more drinks that night “to make me feel good,” Jackson noted, reading from the records.
“This was ... Brian Albert’s brother, Trooper Proctor,” Jackson said.
“Correct,” Proctor said.
12:10 p.m. — Cross-examination of Michael Proctor continues
Proctor, a State Police investigator, said he didn’t recall a text Brian Higgins sent to John O’Keefe after they left the Waterfall bar that Jackson said showed he was “coaxing” O’Keefe to Fairview.
Higgins, an ATF agent who was at the Fairview Road home the night of O’Keefe’s death, had engaged in flirtatious texts with Read in the preceding weeks.
Read lawyer Alan Jackson noted that Higgins was a “big guy” and a “big dude.”
“Yeah he’s a big guy,” Proctor said.
“You knew that he was former military,” Jackson said.
Proctor said he did.
He said he interpreted video footage from the Waterfall bar of Higgins and Brian Albert briefly taking fighting stances as being “playful.”
Proctor said he did not get a warrant to search Higgins’s phone and wasn’t aware of a call between Higgins and Brian Albert early on Jan. 29 before Read discovered O’Keefe’s body.
“Typically we don’t get witnesses’ phones, sir,” Proctor said.
Jackson said the medical examiner’s office notified Proctor in April 2022 that the manner of O’Keefe’s death was undetermined. Proctor said that determination did not influence the investigation.
Jackson cited a text Proctor sent to another State Police trooper that said, “Of course it’s undetermined. She was a whack job.”
Jackson asked Proctor if he was referring to the female medical examiner when he made the comment. Proctor said he wasn’t sure who he meant when he made the remark. The earlier comment was “sarcastic,” he said.
Jackson asked if Proctor was “displeased” with the finding that the manner of death was undetermined, rather than a homicide.
“At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter to my office,” Proctor said. He said he “absolutely” did not try to pressure the medical examiner’s office to change the finding.
“Ultimately did the medical examiner change her opinion?” Jackson asked.
“No,” Proctor said.
“You were going to make it cut and dry ... notwithstanding what the medical examiner” found, Jackson said.
Judge Beverly Cannone sustained a prosecution objection.
Jackson said Proctor testified in February 2024 that “either way, Ms. Read was going to be charged,” so he wasn’t concerned with the medical examiner’s determination.
Proctor said he also wasn’t aware of multiple deletions made on Jennifer McCabe’s phone. Read’s lawyers have said McCabe searched “hos [sic] to die in cold” around 2:30 a.m. on Jan. 29, hours before O’Keefe’s body was found. McCabe testified she made that search at Read’s request four hours later when Read found O’Keefe’s body in the snow.
“Did you ever ask Jennifer McCabe whether she altered” material on her phone before “turning it in” to authorities, Jackson asked.
Proctor said he did not handle the extraction of her phone.
11:45 a.m. — State Police investigator continues his testimony
Following the morning recess, Read lawyer Alan Jackson asked Michael Proctor, a lead investigator in the case, if he reviewed Aly McCabe’s Life360 app to determine whether she was telling the truth about going straight home after picking Colin Albert up from the Fairview Road house.
Proctor said he did not and that he also did not seek video surveillance footage in the vicinity of Canton High School.
The defense has previously cited Life360 data indicating Aly McCabe was near the school when she said she was home after dropping Colin off at his residence.
Jackson cited a text Proctor sent in February 2022 to a Canton police officer asking if there were surveillance cameras in the area of the Fairview Road home.
“They have more knowledge in the area as far as useful cameras,” Proctor said.
“Whom you knew to be recused,” Jackson said of the Canton officers.
“Yes,” Proctor said.
He said authorities did not retrieve video from the locations cited by the Canton officer in the text thread.
Proctor said every homicide case involves a “group effort” in determining whom to interview.
Jackson noted a number of people in the Fairview Road home weren’t interviewed until months later, some as long as 18 months.
When asked if he was avoiding talking to witnesses who contradicted the official narrative, Proctor said “absolutely not.”
He said he couldn’t recall the exact date when he interviewed a plow driver who indicated he did not see a body on the front lawn of the Alberts’ home when he drove by early on Jan. 29.
Jackson asked if Proctor was initially concerned with obtaining physical evidence and decided he would figure out the potential motive “later.”
“Yes,” Proctor said.
Jackson asked if he investigated all potential suspects with the motive, means, and opportunity to kill O’Keefe. Proctor said he did and that the evidence pointed to Read.
Proctor said he and another trooper interviewed Brian Higgins, an ATF agent who was at the Fairview house and who had engaged in flirtatious texts with Read in the weeks before O’Keefe’s death.
“He told you that he was engaged in a flirtatious relationship with Ms. Read,” Jackson said.
“He did,” Proctor said.
He said Higgins had printed out a copy of the messages he shared with Read.
“It’s not uncommon for witnesses” to send investigators screenshots or emails of digital communications, Proctor said.
He said he knew Read had ignored a text from Higgins at the Waterfall bar on the night of Jan. 28 before the group made their way to Fairview Road after midnight.
11 a.m. — Investigator Michael Proctor continues his testimony
Read lawyer Alan Jackson asked Proctor if any members of the Albert family have ever been to his parents’ house and he said they had, including Chris, his wife Julie, and their son Colin.
Proctor said he “wouldn’t classify” himself as a close friend of Julie Albert, though he had her number stored in his cell phone.
Jackson asked about another text thread Proctor had with Julie Albert.
On Feb. 24, 2022, Julie Albert had texted Proctor about “the weekend I’ve been waiting for” involving his sister, whom she referred to as “CP,” the initials for his sister Courtney Proctor, Jackson said.
On Jan. 19, 2022, Jackson said, Proctor was texting with his sister about whether Julie Albert could babysit his toddler child.
“I’ve hired babysitters,” Proctor said. “She was an option to watch my child.”
Jackson asked if he had ever mentioned his ties to the Alberts in any official reports.
“No, sir,” Proctor said.
After John O’Keefe’s death, Proctor said he and another trooper interviewed Julie and Chris Albert.
Jackson noted that Julie Albert called him shortly after their formal interview, citing phone records.
Proctor said he never noted that call in his reports.
His sister later texted him, “how did it go at Julie’s? She was so nervous,” Jackson said, adding that Proctor replied “hahahaha” and said the talk was “fine,” just a brief conversation.
Jackson asked if he was reporting the status of the investigation to his sister. Prosecutors objected and the lawyers were called back to a sidebar.
“No, absolutely not,” Proctor replied after the sidebar.
“Julie and Chris Albert were ... treated more like friends” in their interviews, Jackson said.
“Absolutely not,” Proctor said.
He said he made his sister “aware of newsworthy stuff” as the probe progressed.
“The day of the incident, you began letting her know,” Jackson said.
“Yes,” Proctor said.
“You discussed who the players were,” Jackson said.
“I just mentioned Julie and Chris,” Proctor said, later adding that he also mentioned the McCabes. Jennifer McCabe was with Read when Read found O’Keefe’s body and was with the group at the bar the night before.
At another point, Proctor told his sister, “don’t say a word to anyone” after she asked if the “Canton thing” was a homicide, Jackson said.
Jackson asked if Proctor at the time believed the case might involve the Alberts. He replied, “absolutely not.”
Jackson noted that Proctor also told his sister on Jan. 29 that Julie and Chris Albert were at the bar with Read and O’Keefe and he had to interview them.
Courtney Proctor wrote “gotta be kidding me,” Jackson noted.
On Jan. 30, Jackson said, Courtney Proctor texted her brother “Jesus Christ, the party was at one of the Alberts!!”
He asked Proctor how he “took that.” Proctor said he interpreted it as “surprise” that O’Keefe was found on the Alberts’ lawn.
On Feb. 1, 2022, Courtney Proctor texted her brother that she was meeting Julie Albert.
“You don’t deny that Courtney was meeting with Julie before you interviewed her,” Jackson said.
“Correct,” Proctor said.
Jackson asked if Proctor shared any additional information about the case with his sister verbally.
“On the phone I’m sure there have been conversations” regarding “newsworthy” developments, Proctor said.
Jackson also keyed on a text from Proctor’s sister where she said Julie Albert wanted to get Proctor a thank-you gift.
Proctor responded, “get Elizabeth one,” referring to his wife, he testified.
Courtney Proctor had texted her brother that Julie Albert was “so proud of you for leading this,” referring to the investigation, records show.
Jackson asked Proctor if he was using his sister as an “intermediary” between him and Julie Albert.
“Absolutely not,” Proctor said.
Proctor told Jackson he knew Colin Albert had been at Fairview Road on Jan. 28. Jackson asked why Colin Albert’s name didn’t appear in any police reports until 2023.
Colin Albert had left the home before O’Keefe arrived on the street, Proctor said.
Jackson also asked about an Oct. 5, 2022, interview with Julie Nagel, one of the women at the Fairview home early on Jan. 29, 2022.
In his handwritten notes from the interview, Proctor listed several people, including Colin Albert, as being at the Fairview house that night, Jackson said.
In a later report, Jackson noted, Colin Albert’s name is left out.
“Because he arrived later in the evening,” Proctor said. “The other females were there from the start.”
10:15 a.m. — State Police investigator continues testimony under aggressive questioning from defense
Defense lawyer Alan Jackson asked Michael Proctor to define integrity, and Proctor said “doing the right thing when no one’s looking.”
Jackson asked Proctor if he was displaying “strong moral principles” during the probe. Proctor said he “absolutely” was in the performance of his duties.
The texts, he said, were inappropriate and regrettable.
During the investigation, Proctor denied having a conflict of interest in the case, Jackson said.
“Correct,” Proctor said.
Jackson noted that Proctor had previously testified that he didn’t know any members of the Albert or McCabe families. Proctor, who testified Monday that he knew Chris Albert, the brother of the Fairview Road homeowner, and his wife and son, said he couldn’t recall what he said “during that [earlier] proceeding.”
It was an apparent reference to a federal grand jury convened to investigate the state law enforcement handling of the case, which the Read jury is barred from hearing about. The lawyers were then called back to a sidebar.
On the night O’Keefe was killed, some members of both families returned to the Fairview Road home after spending hours at a bar.
After the sidebar, Proctor said he didn’t know the McCabes or most of the Alberts but had a limited relationship with Chris and Julie Albert. Julie Albert is friendly with his sister, he has testified. Julie Albert is Brian Albert’s sister-in-law.
Jackson asked if Proctor testified that he never told any of his supervisors about potential conflicts in the case, and he said, “correct.”
”I don’t know the McCabe family, sir,” Proctor said.
His prior testimony that he didn’t know the Alberts was “a lie,” Jackson said.
”Chris, Julie, and Colin” were the Alberts he knew, Proctor said.
The lawyers were then called back to a sidebar.
Chris and Julie Albert were at a local bar with the group that included Read and O’Keefe on the night of his death, according to prior testimony. Their son Colin testified that he left the Fairview Road home about 20 minutes before Read dropped O’Keefe off on the street. The defense has alleged that Colin Albert may have been involved in a fight with O’Keefe inside the house.
10 a.m. — State Police Trooper Michael Proctor continues testimony
Read attorney Alan Jackson noted that Proctor did not name Brian Albert as the owner of the Fairview Road home where O’Keefe’s body was found on the lawn on the text thread, although a friend asked for his name.
He asked if Proctor was trying to shield Albert from scrutiny and Proctor said he was not.
Proctor texted the friends that Boston and Canton police would “have to recuse themselves” from the probe, he said. Albert at the time was a Boston police officer. A brother of Brian Albert is a detective for the Canton police department.
“It was my understanding they were not going to be involved,” Proctor said.
Jackson said a friend texted that “you guys are out to make it cut and dry” since the matter involved police officers. Another friend wrote “something stinks.”
Proctor replied, “yeah,” and added that some “serious charges [will be] brought on the girl,” Jackson said.
“The way you were gonna make it cut and dry ... just pin it on the girl,” Jackson said.
“Absolutely not,” Proctor said, adding that authorities planned to follow the “facts and the evidence.”
Another friend wrote “I can only imagine what BPD internal affairs are trying to get out there,” Jackson noted.
“I wasn’t sure how to interpret that one,” Proctor said.
When another friend asked if Read was “hot,” Proctor replied the homeowner “didn’t do a thing wrong,” and that Read was “a whack job [expletive],” using a crude word for women, he testified.
Jackson said the decision that Brian Albert did nothing wrong was made 16 hours into the investigation. Proctor said that was accurate.
He said he also texted that Read was “a babe” with a “weird Fall River accent” who had “no ass.”
Another friend replied, “not newsworthy then,” Jackson noted.
Proctor later texted the group that Read had “zero chance” of avoiding charges and that “she’s [expletive],” Jackson said.
“She was gonna catch the case, correct?” Jackson said.
It was an apparent reference to a federal grand jury convened to investigate the state law enforcement handling of the case, which the Read jury is barred from hearing about. The lawyers were then called back to sidebar.
Another friend replied, “Good. No ass [expletive],” and Proctor replied with a laugh emoji, Jackson noted.
“It was unprofessional of me,” Proctor said.
On Feb. 2, 2022, one of Proctor’s friends asked via text if Read was a “smoke,” and Proctor described her as a “nut bag” with “a leaky balloon knot,” Jackson said.
Proctor said the balloon knot was “essentially” the “rectum area.” Read suffers from Crohn’s disease.
“Ms. Read was just reduced to a punch line with you, wasn’t she?” Jackson asked.
Judge Beverly Cannone sustained an objection from the prosecution.
Later in the Feb. 2 text thread, Proctor said he was writing a warrant and a friend shared a video of a 1980s band called Warrant, Jackson noted.
9:45 a.m. — State Police Trooper Michael Proctor continues testimony under cross-examination
Read attorney Alan Jackson had Proctor read more text messages that he sent. Some texts were with “high school friends,” Proctor said.
He told Jackson he did not anticipate the texts becoming public when he sent them.
In one chat on the night of Jan. 29, 2022, Proctor identified O’Keefe as the officer who was killed.
”You were willing to tell a bunch of high school buddies ... the name of the victim,” Jackson said.
”It was about 16 hours later, sir,” Proctor said.
Jackson noted that Proctor texted “all the powers that be want answers ASAP,” at one point.
”People wanted answers, sir,” Proctor said.
One friend texted that the Fairview Road homeowners will “receive some [expletive],” Jackson said.
Proctor replied “nope” and said “homeowner’s a Boston cop too,” according to the phone records.
”He’s not going to receive any [expletive] sir, because Mr. Albert the homeowner” had nothing to do with O’Keefe’s death, Proctor testified.
He told Jackson he hadn’t been to the crime scene or been inside the Fairview Road home at the time of the text thread, and had interviewed just three witnesses at that point.
Proctor also wrote that O’Keefe was “banged up,” and when another friend asked if he had been beaten, he replied, “nope.”
”You had this case nice and wrapped up, didn’t you?” Jackson asked.
”Based on the evidence my office recovered that day,” Proctor said.
”Was it cut and dry in your mind?” Jackson asked.
“Yes,” Proctor said.
He also wrote that he initially thought the Fairview homeowner was a female officer and that O’Keefe had been beaten to death.
”It was given to me as a medical situation,” Proctor said. “We saw his injuries and were kind of working through how these injuries occurred.”
Jackson asked if both Proctor and his supervisor initially thought O’Keefe had been beaten.
”Initially, we didn’t know what we had,” Proctor said.
But initially, authorities suspected a physical altercation, Jackson said,
“Correct,” Proctor said.
He said O’Keefe had lacerations on his eye and on his nose and patterned scratches on his right arm.
Jackson asked if O’Keefe had no injuries “below the neck,” and Proctor said, “not that I observed.”
Proctor also texted his friends that “she hit him with her car,” records show.
Jackson asked if Proctor had ever seen a pedestrian struck by a vehicle with no bruises. Proctor said he couldn’t recall.
Proctor also texted “intentional or not,” it was distressing that O’Keefe was fatally struck.
Proctor also wrote “that’s another animal we won’t be able to prove,” when a friend asked if O’Keefe was intentionally struck and the driver knowingly fled.
That statement “references the intentional or not part,” Proctor said.
”You didn’t care what you could or could not prove, didn’t you?” Jackson said.
Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com.
