Within hours of a mistrial being declared in the Karen Read murder trial, Massachusetts State Police announced that Trooper Michael Proctor, the lead investigator in the case, had been relieved of duty and reassigned from his role as an investigator with the Norfolk District Attorney's Office.
That's just the start of a process that is expected to result in a "duty status" hearing to determine his work status during the ongoing internal affairs investigation. His car, gun and gear have been taken away, which is standard practice.
The NBC10 Boston Investigators learned Tuesday that Proctor had been sent to Troop H, but will not be working while he is relieved of duty.
The trooper's fate with the department will be determined by an internal investigation and the state's POST Commission, which handles allegations of police misconduct. Sources tell the NBC10 Boston Investigators Proctor is also part of a federal probe looking into the handling of the case.
Security expert Todd McGhee, a former state police trooper, said on Tuesday night's "Canton Confidential" that if the POST Commission submits Proctor's name for inclusion on the Brady List, which includes all known issues of police misconduct, it could make any future testimony by him extremely problematic.
"The commonwealth can call him based on his involvement in the first trial, but I think it's important to understand that the POST Commission is the state agency that will submit police officers who have committed misconduct to the Brady List," he said. "In this particular case, if Trooper Proctor ends up on the Brady List, essentially any testimony he has in a court of law is useless, to be frank."
In the past, McGhee said a trooper in a situation similar to Proctor's would have likely resigned or retired to avoid a worse outcome, but now with the POST Commission there are changes in the guidelines where police officers are licensed. And it would also look bad for state police if Proctor were allowed to step aside quietly.
"The world is watching how this case plays out," he said. "So I believe there's going to be very little options available other than what the trial board and the duty status hearing will yield with results."
McGhee said the punishment could be anywhere from a 30-day suspension all the way up to termination.
The damage done to the Massachusetts State Police as an agency is also considerable, he said.
"We can see where the impact was specifically with the Karen Read trial, but we don't know about the other trials he's been a part of in the investigation," McGhee said. "The other high profile case of course is the Brian Walshe trial. Trials like that we will have to wait to see what the outcome will be. Each and every case has different factors, different evidence. We can only hope there was the utmost of integrity performed with his other investigations, but right now that remains to be seen."
