Another high-profile murder case has been sidetracked due to a Massachusetts investigator's inappropriate text messages.
Investigating the Read and murder case against Brian Walshe was State Trooper Michael Proctor.
Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Proctor, who was suspended following Karen Read's mistrial, is not anticipated to be called as a witness in another significant case in the state.
According to The Sun Chronicle, prosecutors informed Norfolk Superior Court on Tuesday that they will not be calling Proctor as a witness in the trial against Brian Walshe, who is accused of killing and dismembering his wife in 2023.
Proctor, a former investigator at the Norfolk County District Attorney's Office and the lead investigator in Read's case, was suspended after being questioned at her murder trial about unprofessional, vulgar text messages he exchanged with a group of friends.
On January 29, 2022, outside a party in Canton, Boston police officer John O'Keefe was hit by his girlfriend, 44, with her SUV, and left to die in a snowstorm after a night of heavy drinking. Her trial began in April and ended in a mistrial on July 1 when jurors were unable to reach a unanimous decision.
Last month, a judge rejected the dismissal of the murder case against Read, and prosecutors have announced plans to retry her in January.
Proctor's text messages to Read contained derogatory language, including calling her a "wack job," a "babe... with no a--," and a "c---." He also wished she would kill herself and joked about searching for nudes on her phone.
He has been suspended after apologizing to the jury for his "unprofessional" comments.
WCVB reported that Sgt. Harrison Schmidt of the Cohasset Police Department was also assigned as a designated case officer in Walshe's arrest, along with "dozens" of other officers from that department and the Massachusetts State Police who were also involved in the investigation.
The Massachusetts State Police gave the team working on the Read case access to Proctor's phone and work cloud data last week. However, prosecutors caution that sensitive information, such as criminal offender records, confidential informant information, private data from grand jury proceedings, and ongoing investigation content, could be contained within the filing.
Ana Walshe's body is still missing more than a year after she was reported missing in January 2023, and her husband's murder trial is set to begin on Oct. 2.
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In June, Shira Diner, a law expert, predicted that the unprofessional messages of Proctor could affect the outcome of Walshe's trial.
"I can't understand how this doesn't affect Brian Walshe's case and the reputation of the DA's office," the diner said to Planet Chronicle Digital.
Due to the extensive details and numerous viewers, this trial is uncharted territory, according to Diner.
"If this was a trial where no one was paying attention, the cross-examination of Proctor would have been brief, and only a few defense lawyers would have been paying attention. However, now it's too late to undo this."
Planet Chronicle Digital's Chris Eberhart contributed to this report.
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