Massachusetts State Police Officer Michael Proctor, who was suspended following Karen Reed's acquittal, is not expected to be called as a witness in another high-profile case in the state.
Prosecutors preparing for the 2023 trial of Brian Walsh, who is accused of killing his wife and dismembering her body, told Norfolk Superior Court on Tuesday they have no plans to call Proctor as a witness. The Sun Chronicle reported:.
Proctor, formerly assigned to the Norfolk County District Attorney's Office, was the lead investigator on Reed's case but was suspended after being questioned during Reed's murder trial about unprofessional and vulgar text messages he shared with a group of friends.
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State Police Officer Michael Proctor testified at the trial of Karen Reed, held in Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Massachusetts, on June 12, 2024. (Greg Durr/Patriot Ledger via The Associated Press, Pool)
Reed, 44, is accused of hitting her boyfriend, Boston Police Department officer John O'Keefe, with her SUV outside a party in Canton and leaving him to die in a snowstorm after a night of drinking on Jan. 29, 2022. Her trial began in April, but a mistrial was declared on July 1 after jurors could not agree on a date.
A judge last month declined to dismiss the murder charge against Reed, and prosecutors plan to retry the case in January.
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Proctor's text messages about Reed included calling her a “freak” and a “pussy-less bitch,” expressing suicidal thoughts and joking about searching her phone for nude photos.
He apologised to the jury for his “unprofessional” comments and was subsequently suspended.
Karen Reed murder case: Massachusetts State Police lead investigator fired after acquittal
Brian Walsh, accused of murdering his wife, Anna, who disappeared on New Year's Day 2023, enters a courtroom in Dedham, Massachusetts, on April 27, 2023. (Greg Durr/Patriot Ledger via The Associated Press, Pool)
Proctor was the officer in charge of Walsh's arrest, along with Sergeant Harrison Schmitt of the Cohasset Police Department, and “dozens” of officers from the Cohasset Police Department and Massachusetts State Police also participated in the investigation. WCVB reported.
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Last week, Massachusetts State Police provided copies of Proctor's phone and work cloud data to the team working on Reed's case, but prosecutors have warned that the documents may contain compromising data, including criminal records, information about confidential informants, personal data from grand jury proceedings and information about ongoing investigations.
Karen Reed murder case: Massachusetts State Police lead investigator fired after acquittal
Brian and Anna Walsh pose at Boston Public Garden on their wedding day, Dec. 21, 2015. Walsh is accused of murdering Anna and possibly dismembering her body in January 2023. (Source: Fox News Digital)
Walsh's murder trial is scheduled to begin on Oct. 2. The body of his wife, Anna Walsh, has still not been found, more than a year after she was reported missing in January 2023.
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In June, legal expert Shira Diener predicted that Proctor's rude message could have an impact on Walsh's trial.
“It's hard to imagine this not having an impact on the situation. [Brian Walshe’s case] “It also calls into question the credibility of the district attorney's office,” Diner previously told Fox News Digital.
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Karen Reed leaves Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Massachusetts on August 9, 2024. (Patriot Pix/BackGrid, courtesy of Fox News Digital)
“In some ways, this is a total unknown,” Diner said, because the lawsuit is so detailed and there are so many people following the case.
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“If this was a trial where nobody was paying attention, the cross-examination would have been over, maybe a couple of defense attorneys would have paid attention, but that was it,” Diner said. “But now there's no way to overturn this.”
Fox News Digital's Chris Eberhart contributed to this report.
