A state police officer’s “unprofessional” messages were read aloud during a spectacle in court. Karen Reid The murder trial opened Pandora’s box.
“There’s no way to undo this,” legal expert Shira Diener told Fox News Digital about restoring credibility and trust.
Last week, jurors shook their heads. As Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Proctor, the lead investigator on the case, read his own messages, which called Reed “crazy,” “babe … who didn’t have any a–” and “c—“; “wished she would commit suicide;” and joked about looking at nude photos on her phone.
The scene is ugly, but the consequences could be even worse. Proctor, who works for the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office, also played a key role in the case. Murder case against Brian Walsh.
Karen Reed waits to meet with her legal team at the side bar during her trial in Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Massachusetts, on Friday, June 14, 2024. Reed, 44, is accused of hitting her Boston police officer boyfriend with her SUV in the middle of a Northeaster and leaving him for dead after a night of heavy drinking. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, Pool)
Walsh charged with murder The plan is to murder his wife Ana during an early morning quarrel on New Year’s Day 2023 and dispose of her body, which has never been found.
The Norfolk District Attorney’s Office filed the case Criminal charges against Walsh, and the proctor is the designated case officer.
Proctor said during his testimony that the messages were “unprofessional and regrettable” because he was under heavy fire from defense cross-examination, but he stood by the integrity of the investigation.
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Diener said, “It’s hard for me to understand how this wouldn’t have any impact on (Brian Walsh’s case) and the credibility of the D.A.’s office.”
The Norfolk District Attorney’s Office declined to comment on Reed’s trial or the potential outcome, and the Massachusetts State Police did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.
Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Proctor testifies during the trial of Karen Reed at Norfolk Superior Court on Wednesday, June 12, 2024 in Dedham, Massachusetts. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)
Brian Walsh, who is accused of killing his wife Anna, who disappeared on New Year’s Day 2023, enters court for his arraignment in Dedham, Massachusetts, on Thursday, April 27, 2023. Walsh is charged with first-degree murder as well as misguiding a police investigation/obstructing justice and improper transportation of a human body. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)
Diener is a lecturer and clinical instructor at Boston University School of Law and president of the Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. She is not involved in the cases of Reed or Walsh.
“In some ways, it’s completely unknown,” Diener said, because the texts are so detailed and because there are so many eyes on this particular trial.
WATCH: Dashcam from the night John O’Keefe was found dead
According to prosecutors, during a drunken fight in January 2022, Reed allegedly ran over her boyfriend — Boston police officer John O’Keefe — and left him to die on a front lawn during a blizzard.
He denied the charges and alleged that he was framed by the Albert family, an influential family that owns the home in Canton, Massachusetts where O’Keefe’s body was found.
Brian and Anna Walshe on their wedding day on Monday, December 21, 2015 at Emmanuel Episcopal Church on Newbury Street in Boston, Massachusetts. (Obtained by Fox News Digital)
Karen Reed is accused of killing her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, with her car in January 2022. She has pleaded not guilty. (John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
Reed’s defense team claimed the Alberts planned an elaborate cover-up using their friends in law enforcement agencies and the prosecutor’s office.
A murder or conspiracy trial fit for a TV drama became even more salacious when people of different ideologies came out in a Boston suburb. #FreeKaren billboards appeared and protesters and supporters clashed.
A Reed supporter and controversial blogger with a loyal following – Aidan “Turtleboy” Kearney – was arrested shortly before the trial began and prosecuted for intimidating witnesses.
He pleaded not guilty, but the arrest infuriated Reed supporters and Kearney readers, who call themselves “Turtleriders,” and added fuel to the fire.
“If this were a trial where nobody was paying attention, (Proctor’s) cross-examination would have happened and gone away, and maybe a couple of defense attorneys would have been paying attention, but that was it,” Diener said. “But now, there’s no way to undo it.”
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Hundreds of Karen Reed’s supporters gathered outside Norfolk County Superior Court ahead of her arraignment. (Matt Stone/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald via Getty Images)
Massachusetts blogger Aidan “Turtleboy” Kearney was charged with attempting to intimidate witnesses in a murder case in Massachusetts. (Aidan Kearney (@doctorturleyboy)/X)
Walsh’s attorney, Larry Tipton, has already addressed this, telling local news outlets that, NBC 10 BostonHe said he plans to file new motions that would name Proctor as well as other investigators involved in Reed’s lawsuit.
He said he had not yet reached a conclusion about whether Proctor influenced the investigation against his client, NBC 10 Boston reported.
Brian Walsh is seen in Quincy District Court in connection with the disappearance of his wife, Anna Walsh. (WBZ)
Tipton did not respond to Fox News Digital’s calls for comment, and no new motion has yet been filed. Walsh’s next pre-trial hearing is scheduled for Friday.
As an outside legal expert, Diener said Proctor’s testimony would likely sink the commonwealth’s case, and would likely impact Walsh’s trial and any other cases involving the D.A.’s office and Proctor.
Anna Walsh pictured in front of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel sign in August 2022. (Anna Walshe/Instagram)
Anna Walsh holds her three children in her arms in an October 2022 Instagram post. (Anna Walshe/Instagram)
Diener said that because of credibility concerns, defense attorneys in future cases involving Proctor could move to impeach him.
“This is the extreme end of the spectrum of what we’re dealing with,” he said. “There are police officers who are not credible, whose bias comes out all the time. It happens in most cases.
“But the extent to which defense counsel has information about the actual statements made by this officer is very rare … and what makes this even more unique is that it is very public.”
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Walsh’s attorney did not say what motion he would file.
Diners can only speculate as to what Tipton’s next move will be (which he discusses in detail in the interview below).
WATCH: Diner lays out potential legal strategy in murder case against Walshe
The issue is bigger than the context of the text
According to Diener, it’s important to know how the defense obtained Proctor’s texts.
Did prosecutors voluntarily turn them over during discovery, or did Reed’s lawyers obtain them from somewhere else? That, he said, will determine whether the prosecutor’s office’s credibility is tarnished.
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“As a criminal defense attorney, I would have a lot more respect for the D.A.’s office if they came forward,” Diener said.
“But if it turns out that (Reed’s) defense attorney got this information some other way, and it wasn’t passed on, that’s a blow against the credibility of the D.A.’s office.”
Fox News Digital’s Bonnie Chu contributed to this report.
