BOSTON (WHDH) - The Committee for Public Counsel Services is asking the Massachusetts State Police and the Norfolk District Attorney to provide information about all open and closed cases involving disgraced trooper Michael Proctor, and former Canton police Sgt. Sean Goode, who are both mentioned in Karen Read’s recent lawsuit filed against both agencies.
Read, who was tried twice and acquitted for the murder of her ex-boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, filed suit against the Massachusetts State Police and the Canton Police Department Thursday. Read is also currently being sued by O’Keefe’s family.
The 87-page complaint was filed in Bristol Superior Court in Fall River. According to Read’s attorneys, the case is about “a culture of bias and corruption that they built, tolerated, and hid from the public for years” by both law enforcement agencies. It revealed text and audio messages that Read says were sent by Proctor and Goode.
Read’s legal team accuses Proctor of sending disparaging texts about Read, as well as other sexist, racist, and homophobic messages.
In a press release, Read’s attorneys identified Proctor and Goode as “emblematic of the failure to responsibly exercise the trust and faith the public puts in these institutions.”
Proctor, who was the lead investigator in the Read case, was fired and dishonorably discharged by the Massachusetts State Police in March 2025. State Police Col. Geoffrey Noble accepted the Trial Board’s recommendation to terminate Proctor after the board found him guilty of unsatisfactory performance and inappropriate consumption of alcoholic beverages.
Goode, who resigned from the Canton Police Department Wednesday, was on the scene in January 2022 the night O’Keefe died in a snowstorm outside a home in Canton. He also testified during Read’s first trial.
The Committee for Public Counsel Services said the messages revealed in Read’s recent lawsuit raise concerns about a fair investigation in any case that Proctor and Goode were involved in.
In a statement, the Committee for Public Counsel Services’ Chief Counsel Anthony Benedetti wrote, “Every person accused of a crime has a constitutional right to due process and a fair trial and they are entitled to information that could undermine the credibility of government witnesses or reveal bias affecting the investigation of their case.”
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