A defense attorney in Karen Read's second murder case on Friday grilled a top police investigator about delays in booking critical evidence connected to the death of Read's boyfriend, a Boston police officer.
Prosecutors say Read, 45, backed her SUV into John O’Keefe, 46, and left him to die on a snowy night in the front yard of another officer's home after she dropped him off at a party there in January 2022. Her lawyers say she was framed in a police conspiracy and that someone inside the home that night must have killed him.
A mistrial was declared last year. Read's second trial on charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter and leaving the scene has so far appeared to follow similar contours to the first.
On Friday, Read’s attorney Alan Jackson pressed one of the investigators, Sgt. Yuriy Bukhenik, about how the evidence including pieces of Read's taillight were processed.
Jackson repeatedly suggested the evidence was collected at the scene by Michael Proctor, the disgraced state trooper who led the investigation. Bukhenik kept saying he wasn't sure who did what.
Proctor was suspended for sending sexist and lewd text about Read soon after the first trial and subsequently fired in March. The State Police Trial Board also found Proctor guilty of providing sensitive and confidential information about the case to people outside of law enforcement and consuming alcohol while on duty.
Bukhenik was disciplined but not fired for failing to reprimand Proctor for offensive text messages, some of which were read aloud on Friday.
Jackson then questioned Bukhenik why about six pieces of Read's taillight — from a total of 46 pieces — collected in February 2022 weren't logged into evidence for another two months. Bukhenik was shown an evidence bag with the items but couldn't say who filled out the evidence bag.
“Can you point to any documentation indicating where those items went, whose possession they were in and what circumstance between Feb. 10 and March 14,” Jackson said, later displaying an evidence bag that had Proctor's signature showing evidence collected Feb. 11.
Bukhenik insisted the evidence was handled appropriately, saying “you claiming it wasn't booked into something doesn't mean it wasn't properly handled in custody and under our control."
The defense on Friday also had Bukhenik read aloud text messages between Read and Brian Higgins, a special agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The text messages took place in the weeks leading up to O'Keefe's death.
According to the texts, Read initiated the conversation with Higgins, eventually calling him “hot” and telling him that she liked how much they were alike.
“We're single,” Read at one point wrote to Higgins. “We can do whatever we want.”
Higgins also called Read “hot” and asked, “where did these feelings come from?”
During the initial trial last year, Jackson suggested Higgins lured O’Keefe to the house party, where the two got into a fight.
The texts on Friday also showed Read explaining she was discontent with her relationship with O'Keefe and unhappy having to manage O'Keefe's children when she never wanted kids.
“I have issues with John and things are far from perfect," Read texted Higgins.
On the night of Jan. 28, 2022, Higgins wrote “well?” after seeing Read and O'Keefe at the Waterfall Bar and Grille, the last bar the two were spotted at before going to the party.
“John died," Read responded the next day.
Jackson kicked off questioning Thursday by focusing on the integrity of the case, which Bukhenik defended. However, when the questioning turned to Proctor’s involvement, Bukhenik downplayed his former colleague's role and denied Proctor was considered the lead investigator on the O’Keefe case. Instead, he said Proctor was assigned the case because he was the person on call.
“The investigation was conducted with honor and integrity, and all the evidence pointed in one direction,” Bukhenik said. “The investigation was handled with integrity by Michael Proctor.”
Proctor did not have a “major role,” Bukhenik said, explaining that would mean that Proctor was in charge of more than 50% of the case.
Jackson then had Bukhenik read several search warrants that allegedly were spearheaded by Proctor but Bukhenik said he could not validate the forms. He later told Jackson that Proctor was keeping the team informed about what was happening, which search warrants were issued and which interviews were conducted.
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