An Audit of the Karen Read Murder Investigation Finds 'Protocol' and 'Operation' Errors While Missing the Much Bigger Points by a Mile

Boston Globe. Getty Images.

Yesterday was the first day of jury selection for Commonwealth vs. Karen Read Part 2: The Retrialing, the sequel nobody asked for. By all accounts, the two sides went through about 90 jurors, and seated a grand total of two. Meaning we're going to be at this for a while. And it might take every eligible adult in my former homeland of Norfolk County, MA being summonsed before they can find 12 people good and true to finally decide this thing. 

But that doesn't mean the trial didn't make news. Not by a long road. This is still New England. Where we like our high profile show trials the way we like our Dynasties:

That is, unless you're a state worker like I was, and it's the day before a long weekend. Then you're banging in sick. But I digress. 

By no small coincidence, the same day that the jury empanelment process began, a long-anticipated audit of the Canton Police Department's handling of the investigation into the death of Boston PD Officer John O'Keefe was released:

Source - The death of O’Keefe, a Canton resident, and the controversy surrounding how local police handled the scene spurred a local movement to have the department audited. The town inked a deal last October with 5 Stones intelligence, Inc. — the lowercase “i” is part of the name — for a “comprehensive and exhaustive Independent Police Audit” to be completed by April 30 and at a budget of $198,000.

The 206-page audit delivered by 5 Stones deals with the department as a whole with a scope that included “crime scene protocols, professional standards, accountability processes, organizational structure, and other operational aspects” as well as a review of the finances.

The report wasted no time highlighting its findings of how the Canton Police Department handled the O’Keefe crime scene.

The executive summary of their findings included several recommendations:

– The police failed to photograph O’Keefe’s body where it lay before Canton Fire EMS members moved him to the ambulance.

– Interviews with critical witnesses at the scene should have been conducted at the police department building and “Consensual Recorded Witness Interviews” should have been made. The report mentions Jennifer McCabe and Kerry Roberts, the two women who discovered O’Keefe’s body with Read, by name as examples.

– Both Canton and State Police should have maintained a presence at the crime scene pending secondary crime scene searches.

– Canton Police should have preserved all their surveillance camera video recordings while Read’s Lexus SUV, the alleged murder weapon, “was housed at Canton PD from January 29 through February 2, 2022.” That way, the footage would have been available for the prosecution and defense.

Of course, this report moves the needle for practically no one who's been following this case. Across the Commonwealth, opinions have been reached. Conclusions made. Beliefs cemented. Convictions chiseled in stone for all time. No one is going to budge off their views of what happened on January 29th, 2022 and beyond. Not for $200,000, not for $200 billion. The "Free Karen Read" side and the "Justice for John O'Keefe" people have their minds made all the way up. So the audit is 206 pages of "this changes nothing":

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If you're wondering what I think, and since you're here the chances of that are greater than zero, it's going to take a lot for me to change my mind on this matter too. New prosecutor Hank Brennan is going to need the lawyer equivalent of a Torpedo Bat and start launching tape measure truth bombs into the third deck to move me off my conclusion from the first trial that this investigation was crookeder than a dog's hind leg from the beginning. As soon as O'Keefe was found barely clinging to life in the front yard of … Boston Police Officer Brian Albert, the brother of both Canton Police Officer Kevin Albert and Canton Selectman Chris Albert. Or the exact moment State Trooper Michael Proctor arrived on the scene, recognized the house was owned by friends of his, and still lead the investigation. 

As the lawyers are fond of saying, everything from that point on was "fruit of the poisoned tree." 

The audit focuses on "protocols" and "processes" going wrong. Making it sound like someone at a formal dinner party used the wrong spoon or a kid forgot to carry the 2 in long division. For instance, as mentioned, the fact they didn't take pictures of O'Keefe's body, which would've shown us whether he was buried in snow (i.e. had been lying there all along) or was on top of the snow (had been placed there). That they just left the crime scene to … whatever. It's own devices. For people to come and go to their hearts' content. To organize "TamperFest '22" if they so desired.  Without so much as a roll of yellow "DO NOT CROSS" police tape around the yard. 

Then of course, there was the magic moment where they collected blood samples in Red Solo cups they borrowed from an unspecified Canton cop who lived across the street:

… like they were some ghastly frozen drink you serve at a Twilight themed party, and not forensic investigation into a homicide.

Then the audit offers a few handy tips for information gathering, sounding like a pamphlet in the Canton PD waiting room. “Talking to Your Kids About Conducting Consensual Recorded Witness Interviews." Glossing over the fact that those interviews with McCabe and Roberts were organized by Kevin Albert, in communication with Proctor. After the acting Canton PD Chief supposedly recused his whole department out of fear of a conflict of interest. That's not my opinion. That's what Proctor testified to.

Entirely missing from these 206 pages is the fact that every single (the audit's word) "error" went in the same direction. Pointed directly at the one and only suspect they ever suspected, Karen Read. It wasn't like mistakes were made on both sides and they even out. There were no NBA-style make-up calls in this one. One side kept getting to the free throw line and the other kept getting in foul trouble. 

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Even if you want to just chalk up that reverse-image sally port camera as a "whoopsie" that happens all the time (and why on earth would you?), this whole prosecution is centered on the theory that Read backed into O'Keefe with the back right side of her SUV with the intent to kill him, and was successful. When you flip the video, making port look like starboard, without pointing that out to the jury, so that people watching from home have to point out the signs on the wall read backwards but the timestamp on the bottom doesn't? That's not some rounding error. 

And when you don't give the defense all the footage you have, that doesn't scream "accountability processes, organizational structure, and other operational aspects” to anyone but 5 Stones intelligence, Inc. with a lowercase "i". And the people who've been botching this investigation from the very beginning, intentionally or otherwise. 

On that note, I'll end with this, because Proctor's people asked me to include this disclaimer after he got fired from the Mass. State Police:

"We are truly disappointed with the trial board’s decision as it lacks precedent, and unfairly exploits and scapegoats one of their own, a trooper with a 12-year unblemished record. Despite the Massachusetts State Police's dubious and relentless efforts to find more inculpatory evidence against Michael Proctor on his phones, computers and cruiser data, the messages on his personal phone – referring to the person who killed a fellow beloved Boston Police Officer - are all that they found. The messages prove one thing, and that Michael is human - not corrupt, not incompetent in his role as a homicide detective, and certainly not unfit to continue to be a Massachusetts State Trooper.

Proctor and his detectives led a meticulous and thorough investigation of integrity, and despite today’s wrongful termination, and great harm and defamation this case has inflicted on him and his family, Proctor still believes justice will be served.  He is grateful for the unrelenting support of the union and the men and women of the Massachusetts State Police. His heart is always with the family of Officer John O’Keefe who continue to endure a prolonged and unimaginable nightmare."

-- The family of Michael Proctor

I post that here because, unlike the investigation into the killing of John O'Keefe, I try to keep things fair and on the level.  Strap in. We're in for a wild few months.

PS. Any of the "Free Karen Read" crowd who's running around harassing other members of the Canton police or vandalizing property in service of their cause, don't speak for me. The reason we have courts is specifically not to settle things like fooking savages.