Embattled MA State Trooper linked to two murder cases
2/14/25
During a December hearing in the Walshe case, his defense team raised red flags about potential police bias from a group of Massachusetts state troopers, including Proctor, the lead investigator who was a key figure in Read's mistrial.
The Norfolk District Attorney's Office, which is handling the Walshe case, declined to comment.
Prosecutors have downplayed Proctor's involvement as minimal and said they do not plan to call him to the stand, but the defense told the court he was present for numerous witness interviews and for evidence collection from the start of the case and onward.
The defense also argued that the Read case suggests Proctor could have been biased in other cases, including Walshe's, and they requested internal affairs reports regarding the trooper. They accused
state police of cherry-picking evidence.
"The defendant has a right to show that the investigation has flaws in it, and what we're hearing from the government is they don't want to call Proctor the case officer," defense attorney Larry Tipton told the court at a hearing last month. "It's not because he didn't do important things. It's because Proctor, along with the other troopers he worked with, seemed to be engaged, at least in the Read case … engaged in this type of professional misconduct that they got investigated for."
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Judge Diane Freniere took the defense arguments under advisement but said she may not make a decision until closer to trial.
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Walshe's trial is scheduled to begin on Oct. 20.
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