Karen Read case state trooper who failed to discipline staffer who sent vile messages learns his fate

A Massachusetts State Police detective lieutenant received a slap on the wrist for failing to supervise and discipline a trooper who sent vile text messages about murder suspect Karen Read.

Brian P. Tully learned this week he will lose six days of vacation for his lapses with Trooper Michael Proctor, the lead investigator on Read's case. 

Proctor was infamously forced to read text messages he had sent about Read from the witness stand during her trial, including calling her a 'whack job', a 'c**t', and a 'babe.' 

In other messages, he joked about rummaging through her phone for nude photos during the investigation. 

The sordid messages were used by Read's defense as they claimed she was framed by a vast conspiracy involving the Boston Police Department and Massachusetts State Police. 

Prosecutors claimed Read purposefully hit her boyfriend, Boston Police officer John O'Keefe, with her SUV in January 2022. Her case ended in a mistrial in July, and is scheduled to occur again in January 2025. 

Last month, Tully was transferred out of his leadership position with the state police, and this week a personnel order seen by the Boston Globe said he 'failed to conform to work standards established for his rank, title, or position.' 

'As the result of his actions, Detective Lieutenant Tully, shall: Forfeit Six Days of Accrued Leave,' the order said. 

According to the Globe, it was determined that Tully failed to take 'proper correction action' when Proctor's messages were discovered. 

The internal police investigation into Proctor's messages also found that Tully had also failed to report and document negative performances during evaluations. 

When he was forced to read the messages he had sent about Read during her trail, Proctor revealed that he quickly believed in Read's guilt early in the investigation, including texting: 'She hit him with her car.' 

'We're going to lock this whack job up,' another message said. 

Proctor repeatedly apologized for the messages while on the stand, and insisted that 'these juvenile, unprofessional comments had zero impact on the facts, the evidence and the integrity of the investigation.' 

State police promptly relieved Proctor of his duties after the humiliation, and he has been suspended without pay as the department continues its internal investigation. 

Read has maintained her innocence in the case and says she intends to fight to clear her name when she faces a second murder trial in January. 

Although her jury was deadlocked, the family of John O'Keefe launched a wrongful death lawsuit against her. 

Prosecutors allege that Read hit O'Keefe with her car following a drunken argument as she dropped him off at the home for an after party, and claim to have found pieces of her car's tail light around his body.

She had spent the evening drinking with O'Keefe and a group of friends at the Waterfall Bar and Grill in Canton, around 14 miles south of Boston, and the group were invited to the home of his friend Brian Albert, who was a retired Boston police officer. 

Read, who prosecutors say drank several alcoholic drinks beforehand, decided to drop O'Keefe at the afterparty before she went to his home - that he shared with his orphaned niece and nephew - to sleep at around 1am.

Court documents revealed that the couple had been bitterly arguing for weeks beforehand, and on the night O'Keefe died, Read left him a voicemail calling him a 'f****** loser', and 'John, I f****** hate you.'

The couple had been dating for two years at the time of O'Keefe's death. He had been serving on the Boston Police Department for 16 years.

As the party went on inside Albert's home, Read said she woke up around 4am to find that he was not at home, and told O'Keefe's niece that she was 'distraught.'

Attendees at the party, including some law enforcement, claimed O'Keefe never arrived at the party or entered the home.

Read then searched for O'Keefe with a friend, and prosecutors allege that during the search she told her: 'What if he's dead? What if a plow hit him?… I don't remember anything from last night, we drank so much I don't remember anything.'

At 6am, Read found O'Keefe laying in the snow outside Albert's home, and a first responder on the scene reportedly claimed Read repeatedly cried out, 'I hit him, I hit him', reports CBS News.

O'Keefe was rushed to hospital, where he was pronounced dead. An autopsy found that the cause of death was blunt impact injuries and hypothermia.

Read's defense countered that she is the victim of an extensive conspiracy to frame her, and claimed the police officer may have actually been attacked by other officers and attendees at the party where he was found dead.

Throughout her trial, Read's claims that she was framed also drew a legion of fans, who wore pink to show their support and were often staked out outside the courthouse. 

The judge in her case even filed a ruling at the start of the trial banning supporters from coming within 200 feet of the courthouse. 

Read's courthouse behavior also sparked backlash as she was branded 'America's happiest murder defendant', as she appeared to soak up the attention while winking at the cameras and snacking in court.