The unprofessional conduct a Massachusetts state police trooper admitted to on the stand of the high-profile murder Karen Read trial, a woman accused of killing her cop boyfriend, can potentially play a major role now in another homicide case.
The attorney representing Brian Walshe, the husband accused of killing his wife Ana in early 2023, said he plans to file a motion over State Police Trooper Michael Proctor's questionable conduct.
Proctor was on the stand in Read's trial last week. He is the case officer for Read's case, the same role he held in the Walshe murder investigation.
Read's defense team is accusing Proctor of having a role in framing Read for the murder of her boyfriend, John O'Keefe.
Proctor testified to making several insulting comments about Read over text during the beginning of the investigation into O'Keefe's death. He wrote that he hated one of Read's attorneys and joked about not finding nude photos when he was going through Read's phone. Messages include remarks on Read's medical condition, her "ass" and that he hoped Read "kills herself."
"She's a wack job," he wrote in texts according to court. "Yes, she's a babe. Weird Fall River accent, though. No ass."
Jurors shook their heads as the texts were read.
Proctor testified his "juvenile" texts had "zero impact on the facts and the evidence and the integrity of this investigation."
Walshe's attorney, Larry Tipton, told local media outlets that he does not know if Proctor's bias also plays a role in his client's case.
Tipton's new motion is to name Proctor as well as other investigators in the Read case.
Tipton did not respond to outreach by Newsweek.
The Massachusetts State Police is still Proctor's employer. He is under an open investigation, however.
Gov. Maura Healey said last week she was "disgusted" by Proctor's actions, noting that the texts do "harm" to the "integrity of the work men and women across the state police and law enforcement."
Who is Karen Read?
Read, 44, is accused of murdering John O'Keefe on Jan. 29, 2022 with her car after he was found dead in a fellow police officer's driveway on Fairview Road after a night out drinking.
Read's defense has argued that she is the victim of an elaborate cover-up, noting wounds and a potential fight O'Keefe had with other officers. The prosecutors, however, have pointed to her drunk driving and alleged conversations including one where she frantically cried that she might have killed O'Keefe.
"She was framed. Her car never struck O'Keefe," said defense attorney David Yannetti in his opening statement. "She did not cause his death. That means that somebody else did."
A Norfolk grand jury had previously indicted Read in 2022 on charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence and leaving the scene of a personal injury and death.
Read and O'Keefe, 46, along with a group of friends went to the Water Bar and Grill in Canton on Jan. 28, 2022. After a night of drinking, according to prosecutors, Read drove O'Keefe to Boston police officer Brian Albert's home.
Around 1 a.m. on Jan. 29, Read allegedly left O'Keefe a voicemail that called him an "f---ing loser." Read allegedly told O'Keefe "John, I f---ing hate you."
A few hours later at 4:23 a.m., O'Keefe's niece called Albert's sister-in-law, telling him Read was "distraught" because O'Keefe did not come home and wasn't answering his cellphone.
Read and two women went looking for O'Keefe shortly after 5 a.m.
Around 6 a.m., Read sees O'Keefe lying in the snow outside of Albert's home. An emergency responder said Read was hysterical and inconsolable and kept repeating "I hit him."
Prosecutors said the medical examiner ruled O'Keefe's cause of death as hypothermia as well as blunt impact injuries to the head.
Opening statements and testimony started on April 29. There are full days of court proceedings scheduled this week on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday with a half day on Friday.
No jurors will be present in the courtroom Tuesday as attorneys question potential defense witnesses to determine if they are allowed to testify.
The Brian Walshe case
Walshe was arrested and indicted by a Norfolk County grand jury on charges of first-degree murder, misleading a police investigation and the improper conveyance of a human body.
His wife Ana Walshe went missing on New Year's Day in 2023. The 39-year-old mom to three children was supposed to leave her family home in Cohasset, Massachusetts to travel to Washington, D.C. for work.
She was reported missing on Jan. 4 when her worried co-workers called the police.
Walshe has denied killing his wife. He told police she had flown to D.C. for a work emergency.
He instead said he was taking his son out for ice cream on Jan. 2. Police, however, allege he was captured on surveillance footage buying over $400 of cleaning supplies. They also said that a damaged knife and traces of blood were found in the family's basement.
Internet searches on a family iPad were for "how long before a body starts to smell?" "Can you be charged with murder without a body?" as well as "10 ways to dump a body." There was also apparently a search on the effects of ammonia on a corpse.
Prosecutors said in January 2023 that they believed Ana's remains were thrown in a dumpster in Abington before they were shredded and incinerated.
Walshe was already in an ongoing court case at the time of Ana's disappearance. He was sentenced in February for his role a major art fraud scheme involving two so-called Andy Warhol paintings. He was described by a witness as "a sociopath but also a very angry and physically violent person."
He was sentenced to 37 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release and must pay $475,000 in restitution.
Experts said Ana may have been a victim of domestic abuse.
Walshe's next hearing is schedule for 2 p.m. Friday in Norfolk Superior Court on Friday.
The District Attorney's Office told Newsweek Walshe is not expected to appear physically in court. It will be an "administrative date relative to scheduling and discovery."
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