Michael Proctor, a Massachusetts State Police investigator assigned to the Karen Read case whose conduct and vulgar text messages came under scrutiny during Read’s murder trial, was fired from his post Wednesday.
His dismissal followed months of suspension without pay. According to State Police, Proctor was fired for unsatisfactory performance and a charge related to alcoholic beverages.
“My decision to terminate Mr. Proctor follows a thorough, fair, and impartial process,” Colonel Geoffrey D. Noble, who leads the Massachusetts State Police, said in a statement Wednesday. “This decision reflects our unwavering commitment to upholding our values, enhancing public trust and ensuring the highest standards of service and accountability.”
Noble also expressed condolences to the family of John O’Keefe, the Boston Police officer who was killed in 2022. Read, his girlfriend at the time, has been charged in his death. But her first trial resulted in a hung jury. The case became an international media story, the subject of high-profile articles, widespread online theorizing, and now a five-part docuseries . A second trial is scheduled to begin next month.
During Read’s trial last year, Proctor admitted that he sent texts to family, friends and fellow troopers in which he called Read names and profane insults, including “wack job c***,” and admitted to texting his sister that he wished Read would “kill herself.”
He apologized on the stand for some of the language he used, saying that “emotions got the best of me.” He insisted the comments, while “unprofessional and regrettable,” did not impact the integrity of the investigation.
After Proctor was fired Wednesday, his attorney Daniel J. Moynihan said they would be appealing the decision and that Proctor had never been disciplined before this incident during his 12 years of service.
“Michael Proctor’s termination is a decision which was pre- determined months ago by the Department, following the mis-trial on July 1, 2024,” Moynihan wrote. “We look forward to the appeal of the Department’s decision, in a forum where Michael Proctor will received actual due process in a fair and impartial hearing.”
Proctor’s family also issued a statement Wednesday, arguing that he’s being scapegoated.
“The [text] messages prove one thing, and that Michael is human - not corrupt, not incompetent in his role as a homicide detective, and certainly not unfit to continue to be a Massachusetts State Trooper,” they wrote. “Proctor and his detectives led a meticulous and thorough investigation of integrity, and despite today’s wrongful termination, and great harm and defamation this case has inflicted on him and his family, Proctor still believes justice will be served.”
One legal expert celebrated his firing as a win for police accountability.
“I think a lot of conduct that is troubling takes place below the public radar — and conversations between police officers, like the kinds of texting that were at issue with Trooper Proctor ... occurred in the glaring limelight of this highly public trial,” said Suffolk Law professor Rosanna Cavallaro, a former assistant attorney general in Massachusetts and Suffolk Law School professor.
She said that while the vast majority of people in law enforcement work in a professional and respectful way, this type of behavior can’t be tolerated. In her view, the dismissal shows the process worked.
“Speaking that way about the very person he’s charged with — responsible for investigating — in a situation ... an exceptional level of discretion would be expected,” she said. “And instead we get, you know quite the opposite. We get this kind of barroom talk that’s so inappropriate in every way.”
The state’s Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission, or POST Commission, has the power to “decertify” police officers and strip them of their ability to work in law enforcement in Massachusetts. It declined to confirm or deny the existence of an investigation into Proctor, but a spokesperson said that Proctor’s current three-year certification expires in July 2026.
This story uses prior GBH News reporting on Proctor’s conduct.
