MISTRIAL MA - Professor Karen Read, 43, charged with murdering police officer boyfriend John O'Keefe by hitting him with car, Canton, 14 Apr 2023 #18

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Trooper Proctor has been fired from MSP. This comes from a court filing in the Brian Walshe case. Page 12, line 15

" The proctor debacle resulted in Proctor first being suspended and then terminated from the State Police, but only after defense counsel exposed the serious issues."

 
New prosecutor in the Karen Read trial, Hank Brennan will be paid $250 an hour and have his salary capped at $75,000 according to a new report. That is a pretty substantial handicap if you ask me. He's going to need to trim A LOT of fat from Lally's game-plan to come in under budget. I'm thinking that some charges are going to have to be dropped but we'll see. There is a lot of movement going on behind the scenes. I think it's also worth noting that Mr Brennan represented Whitey Bulger in his Federal Trial and lost. Just saying.

Here's how much Hank Brennan will get paid to prosecute Karen Read in second trial
 
Trooper Proctor has been fired from MSP. This comes from a court filing in the Brian Walshe case. Page 12, line 15

" The proctor debacle resulted in Proctor first being suspended and then terminated from the State Police, but only after defense counsel exposed the serious issues."


Unfortunately, Walshe's attorney is incorrect. He hasn't been terminated. Still on unpaid leave.
 
New prosecutor in the Karen Read trial, Hank Brennan will be paid $250 an hour and have his salary capped at $75,000 according to a new report. That is a pretty substantial handicap if you ask me. He's going to need to trim A LOT of fat from Lally's game-plan to come in under budget. I'm thinking that some charges are going to have to be dropped but we'll see. There is a lot of movement going on behind the scenes. I think it's also worth noting that Mr Brennan represented Whitey Bulger in his Federal Trial and lost. Just saying.

Here's how much Hank Brennan will get paid to prosecute Karen Read in second trial

Except from the article:
He is being compensated under a "maximum obligation" contract which expires on June 30, 2025. If his fees exceed that amount or the case goes on past June 30, a new contract will be written, per the agreement.

It doesn't look like the 75K is a real limit, just a placeholder that will keep getting enlarged.
 
Trooper Proctor has been fired from MSP. This comes from a court filing in the Brian Walshe case. Page 12, line 15

" The proctor debacle resulted in Proctor first being suspended and then terminated from the State Police, but only after defense counsel exposed the serious issues."


The Defense Motion wasn't filed until Sept 24 but I'll be curious to see if the Common Wealth Corrects the Defense here that Proctor hasn't been terminated -- given they are the ones who first sent their golden boy packing after transferring him out of the DA's Investigative Unit to field services division in South Boston as a formality.

In July, State police said the decision was separate from an ongoing internal investigation into the entire Read case. Proctor had been placed on leave, which means while he was technically on the force and being paid, he was not allowed to function as a state trooper. He was still technically a trooper until his disciplinary hearing.

That hearing could end in one of four ways:
  • He gets his job back.
  • He could be suspended with pay.
  • He could be suspended without pay.
  • He could receive restricted duties.
Per the state police union, State Police Association of Massachusetts, Proctor cannot be fired as a result of the hearing. It's the first step in the process that could lead to his eventual termination from the force.

On July 8, Trooper Proctor was suspended without pay following a duty hearing on Monday.

Massachusetts State Police response

Last week, Mawn spoke about Proctor's conduct, but said the department is limited to how it can discipline him by its collective bargaining agreement with the union.

In other words, somebody needs to inform Walshe's defense attorney-- Larry Tipton, to check with the union before declaring the status of a MSP in his Motions. JMO

Trooper Proctor Suspended Without Pay
 
Trooper Proctor has been fired from MSP. This comes from a court filing in the Brian Walshe case. Page 12, line 15

" The proctor debacle resulted in Proctor first being suspended and then terminated from the State Police, but only after defense counsel exposed the serious issues."

His actions were indefensible. Good on Yanetti and AJ. MOO. I am donating to the JR fund. But darn it Jusge Cannone was also “randomly” hmm… assigned to this case. MOO.
 
Correction: Trooper Prictor was NOT fired! He remains ‘on leave’.

Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Proctor faces a tough cross examination by lawyer Alan Jackson during the Karen Read trial. (Greg Derr/Pool)
A single line in a defense filing in the Brian Walshe murder case has Karen Read case fanatics reeling: Was Trooper Michael Proctor, the case officer for both, fired from the Massachusetts State Police?

“There is a court filing in the (Walshe) case that is not correct. Trooper Proctor remains on unpaid leave as he awaits the outcome of an internal affairs investigation,” MSP spokesman Timothy McGuirk told the Herald today.

The confusion comes from a filing by Walshe defense attorney Larry Tipton, who made an error in his summary of the career trajectory of Proctor. Proctor was almost immediately placed on leave when the Read trial earlier this year ended in mistrial as behavior that he admitted was extremely unprofessional came to light when he took the stand in that case. He was later suspended without pay, but has not been outright fired from the organization.

 

Massachusetts' highest court is scheduled to hear arguments on the day after the presidential election about Karen Read's ongoing effort to get two charges dismissed in her high-profile murder case.

The Supreme Judicial Court docket shows her case is ordered for argument on Nov. 6.


I'm surprised at how fast they're moving on this. I would have thought oral arguments on the appeal wouldn't happen until 2025.
 
I suspect that they are waiting until the spotlight is off the KR case, and the union will get him back in. MOO

IMO, that was probably the goal had all eyes of the universe not been watching!

We know that following the KR trial, Proctor was transferred out of the DA's Investigative Unit to field services division in South Boston where he was still being paid but was technically in MSP purgatory until his hearing. (The disciplinary hearing was said independent of an ongoing internal affairs investigation of the department resulting from the KR trial).

Just before Proctor's hearing -- the Union went all 'points bulletin' with the media as if to throw their weight around that regardless of the results of the hearing (which could conclude in only one of 4 ways), Proctor getting fired was NOT one of them! Obviously, the hearing examiners decided on option 3 for Proctor: suspended without pay.

Per the state police union, State Police Association of Massachusetts, Proctor cannot be fired as a result of the hearing. It's the first step in the process that could lead to his eventual termination from the force.

But somewhere buried in that collective bargaining agreement is the language that defines how long "suspensions" last. They can't be perpetual or go on forever! JMO
 
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Massachusetts' highest court is scheduled to hear arguments on the day after the presidential election about Karen Read's ongoing effort to get two charges dismissed in her high-profile murder case.

The Supreme Judicial Court docket shows her case is ordered for argument on Nov. 6.


I'm surprised at how fast they're moving on this. I would have thought oral arguments on the appeal wouldn't happen until 2025.

This is quick! Per the quoted link, according to a schedule published by the SJC, the prosecution will be given until Oct. 16 to file its brief, and Read's attorneys will have until Oct. 25 to file a reply.
 
This is quick! Per the quoted link, according to a schedule published by the SJC, the prosecution will be given until Oct. 16 to file its brief, and Read's attorneys will have until Oct. 25 to file a reply.

I'm not surprised about the quick scheduling. It's the decision itself that sometimes takes many months. With that said, if the SJC knows where they're going with this after oral arguments (as in no dissention amongst the justices), we may see a decision by early 2025. It's just hard to know.

From what I've read and heard, this is likely a long shot for the defense although we may see some changes in courtrooms going forward.
 
I'm not surprised about the quick scheduling. It's the decision itself that sometimes takes many months. With that said, if the SJC knows where they're going with this after oral arguments (as in no dissention amongst the justices), we may see a decision by early 2025. It's just hard to know.

From what I've read and heard, this is likely a long shot for the defense although we may see some changes in courtrooms going forward.

The schedule is what's allowing the November 6 oral argument which I think populated to the oral calendar quicker than most anticipated.

For criminal cases, decisions are generally about five months after the appellant's brief is filed (or within 130 days of oral argument).

 
From what I've read and heard, this is likely a long shot for the defense although we may see some changes in courtrooms going forward.
I'm hoping from the questions asked during oral arguments we'll get a good idea which way the court is leaning.

For criminal cases, decisions are generally about five months after the appellant's brief is filed (or within 130 days of oral argument).
So 130 days from November 5 puts us in mid-March. Karen's retrial is slated for January. That will have to get pushed back.
 
I'm hoping from the questions asked during oral arguments we'll get a good idea which way the court is leaning.


So 130 days from November 5 puts us in mid-March. Karen's retrial is slated for January. That will have to get pushed back.
I'd check the oral argument calendar closer to year end. If they had few arguments in the last quarter, this could be decided sooner. 5 months from the date of the brief filed or 130 days from argument is "generally" the term. I think this will be decided as a matter of law, and the decision won't be delayed. Nonetheless, I think a retrial date of Jan 27 will be pushed back. MOO
 

Back in March, the state tried to charge Karen Read and Turtleboy with witness intimidation but the grand jury refused to indict. It's a notoriously low bar to get a grand jury indictment, so the evidence must have been pretty weak.
 

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