NOTE: Proctor is due back in court Wednesday. Details and livestream here. Testimony in the Karen Read murder trial resumed Monday with Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor, the lead investigator in the case, taking the stand. Read is accused of striking John O’Keefe, her Boston...
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Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor takes the stand
Proctor took the stand and began recounting his response to the scene of 34 Fairview Road on the day of O'Keefe's death. He said he and Bukhenik went to the home of Matthew and Jennifer McCabe and interviewed them there, along with Brian Albert. They then went to Good Samaritan Hospital in Brockton in an attempt to interview Read, but she had already been released several hours earlier.
He also testified about viewing O'Keefe's body, and examining the injuries he had suffered. He also spoke of several items of O'Keefe's clothing that were in the room, including one of his sneakers. He also retrieved O'Keefe's phone.
From the hospital, Proctor said they traveled to Read's parents' home in Dighton to speak with Read, who was at that location. He said Read's SUV was parked in the driveway when they arrived.
Proctor also testified about how Read's SUV was towed to the Canton Police Department sallyport for further investigation. Asked by Lally if he had any contact with the rear taillight, he said he and Bukhenik "never touched that vehicle."
Lally played video of the SUV in the sallyport, then asked Proctor to display the vehicle's broken taillight in court.
Shown another picture of the taillight, Proctor said, "as you can see, large pieces of it are missing."
Proctor described subsequent trips to the scene, explaining, "as the snow started to melt, more evidence started to present itself."
He and another trooper also went to O'Keefe's home on Meadows Avenue to document some of what was there, and to look at Ring camera video showing the driveway, he said. Lally played that video, which was played previously in the trial as well, showing Read pulling out of her garage the morning O'Keefe's body was found, and coming close to and possibly coming into contact with O'Keefe's SUV.
Proctor said he wanted to document whether there was any damage to the SUV, and after watching the video be played, said there was no indication of snow coming off the vehicle when Read's SUV stopped next to it, nor, when Read's SUV puilled away, any "red pieces of taillight which would show up in contrast in the white snow."
As Read's SUV pulls away in the video, Proctor said, he was able to see inconsistent lighting — "there's a gap right there," he said.
Lally showed further images of O'Keefe's vehicle, which didn't have any damage.
Lally asked Proctor to display pieces of broken taillight that were found outside the Fairview Road in the following days, in the grass between the home's flagpole and the fire hydrant.
The motion-activated Ring camera at O'Keefe's home didn't have a recording of her returning home that night, Proctor noted. He inquired with Ring about whether a video might have been deleted, but never received video where he anticipated one might have been.
Cannone sustained an objection from the defense about what Proctor heard from Ring employees about any "digital footprint" that might have been left by a video that was deleted.
The prosecution's questioning turned to Proctor's relationship with some witnesses in the case — the defense has claimed, as they argued Read was framed, that the investigator is close with some members of the Albert family.
Proctor noted that Julie Albert, the wife of Chris Albert, is friends with his sister, Courtney, whom he is very close with.
"On occasion, they would be over at my sister's house or at my parents' backyard, Julie and Chris and their kid Colin, and I would happen to be there," Proctor said.
He grew up in Canton and graduated high school there, he testified, but didn't go to school with witnesses in the case, and said there was a large age gap between him and Chris and Julie Albert, and with Colin as well. He characterized them as acquaintances.
