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Karen Read prosecutor, ex-trooper called to testify in another murder case. Here’s why.
Defense attorney Rosemary Scapicchio alleged Michael Proctor “thinks he’s above the law” after the ex-trooper skipped a hearing where he was called to testify.
Embattled ex-State Police Trooper Michael Proctor was a no-show Monday after he and a Karen Read trial prosecutor were called to court to answer for evidentiary delays in another murder case.
The lead investigator in Read’s case, Proctor reportedly defied a subpoena to appear for a pretrial hearing for Myles King, a Milton man accused of murdering 25-year-old Marquis Simmons in 2021. Though Proctor sent his lawyer in his place, his absence drew the ire of King’s defense attorney, Rosemary Scapicchio.
“Apparently, [Proctor] thinks he’s above the law,” Scapicchio told reporters Monday, per WCVB. “He was served in hand. He was told to be here this morning. Instead, his attorney showed up and said he left on vacation on Saturday.”
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The hearing did, however, put Read prosecutor Adam Lally in the hot seat. The assistant district attorney took the stand and faced sharp questioning from Scapicchio, who has accused prosecutors of waiting years to turn over key discovery and exculpatory evidence in King’s case.
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“The Commonwealth’s failure to turn over this discovery in a timely fashion is inexcusable, inexplicable, and unconstitutional,” she wrote in a May motion calling for the dismissal of King’s charges and sanctions against prosecutors.
Facing off against Lally, who previously served as lead prosecutor in King’s case, she pressed for an explanation as to why the “voluminous” evidence wasn’t turned over until months before King was slated to go to trial in September. She specifically homed in on search warrants and other evidence handled by Proctor, who was fired in March largely due to his conduct during Read’s case.
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“What happens when you ask for something, let’s just say from the State Police, and they don’t give it to you? What’s the next thing you do?” Scapicchio asked Lally, per a livestream recorded by YouTube channel The Young Jurks.
“The next thing I do would be to ask for it again,” the prosecutor said, explaining he keeps a “running list” of outstanding evidence. Answering a follow-up question, Lally said he would also want to sit down with an investigator and push for answers if he felt something were amiss.
He confirmed he asked Proctor for copies of the search warrants and affidavits in King’s case and said the ex-trooper provided “some” of the requested material. Asked if he followed up by seeking out Proctor, Lally said he met with Proctor several times in connection with King’s case, though he couldn’t recall meeting specifically about the search warrants.
“I entrusted that whatever discovery I was requesting, I would get at some point in a timely fashion and then turn it over,” Lally added.
“But you didn’t get it,” Scapicchio pointed out. “You asked for it five times. You didn’t get it; you had to go see him. You have him right there now, and you still don’t say, ‘Give me your file. Let me go through it’?”
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“No,” Lally acknowledged. “I did not.”
He said he only recently became aware of the issue with the search warrants, after King’s case was transferred to another prosecutor.
“But you had your list, right? You had your list that said six search warrants outstanding, right?” Scapicchio pressed. “You didn’t ever check that off, right? So you knew they were outstanding, right?”
Lally answered her questions in the affirmative.
Monday’s hearing will continue Aug. 5 with additional witnesses. Proctor’s attorney, Daniel J. Moynihan, told the court the ex-trooper will be available then.
King’s case has unleashed a fresh wave of scrutiny on the former detective, whose vulgar texts about Read cast a pall over her two criminal trials. Proctor testified during Read’s 2024 mistrial, admitting he texted friends, family, and coworkers about the case and called Read a “wack job c**t” and “retarded,” made crass remarks about her appearance and health, said he hoped she would kill herself, and joked about searching for nude photos on her phone.
Read was charged in the January 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe. A jury last month acquitted her of murder and manslaughter charges, convicting her only of drunk driving — a misdemeanor for which she received a year of probation.
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Throughout Read’s case, her attorneys frequently accused prosecutors of delays in turning over key evidence.
In calling for sanctions against prosecutors in King’s case, Scapicchio urged the court to “send a message” to the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office regarding “their lax policy and repeated failure to comply with orders of this Court and with the due process rights of defendants.”
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