Karen Read case: Brian Tully, ex-chief of Norfolk detective unit, to forfeit 6 days of leave

The Massachusetts State Police lieutenant who oversaw the detectives who investigated and then charged Karen Read with murder must forfeit six days of accrued leave following an internal review.

MSP Lt. Detective Brian Tully, who has been under internal review at the agency at least as far back as July, was found to have made two violations of the State Police’s rules and regulations, both of which appear to be related to his supervision of Trooper Michael Proctor, who served as case officer for the Read investigation and who is himself suspended without pay.

Tully oversaw the MSP detective bureau posted at the Norfolk District Attorney’s office, which is tasked with investigating homicides within that county’s boundaries. He was removed from this position in October while under review, according to previous Herald reporting.

On Tuesday, the MSP issued a personnel order indicating two infractions: that he let employees make inappropriate text message exchanges about the subject of their investigation and that he failed to properly evaluate his employees’ own negative performances.

The first, a “Class B” violation, states that Tully on Feb. 1 “did fail to conform to work standards established for his rank, title, or position” by failing to supervise employees “who were involved with inappropriate text messages relative to an ongoing homicide investigation.”

The second, a “Class C” violation, states that Tully on Feb. 1, May 6, and May 10 “did fail to recommend remedial or disciplinary action for inefficient, incompetent, or unsuitable employees by giving praise in several anchors of the Employee Evaluation System (EES) despite evidence to the contrary, and failing to document negative performance.”

The infractions are specifically based on the conduct of Trooper Proctor, who described his actions as “regrettable and unprofessional” when questioned about them on the stand at Read’s murder trial earlier this year. Over two days of testimony, jurors and viewers across the nation heard Proctor describe his text exchanges about Read to friends and co-workers, in which he called her “a babe” and a “whack job” and expressed hope that she kills herself.

Proctor is still under internal review by the MSP. MSP spokesman Timothy McGuirk told the Herald last month that “Trooper Proctor remains on unpaid leave as he awaits the outcome of an internal affairs investigation.”

Another member of the Norfolk County State Police Detective Unit who worked on the Read investigation, Sgt. Yuriy Bukhenik, was made to forfeit five days of accrued leave for his participation in the infractions. He admitted on the stand during the Read trial that he was in the text change in which Proctor texted “so far no nudes” of Read as he searched through her cell phone.

The findings of his internal review were nearly identical to that of Tully’s.

Read, 44, of Mansfield, is charged with second-degree murder, motor vehicle manslaughter and leaving the scene of a collision causing the death of John O’Keefe, a 16-year member of the Boston police force and Read’s boyfriend of two years, in the early morning of Jan. 29, 2022.

A trial earlier this year ended with a hung jury and a new trial is scheduled to begin in January. Both sides are pushing to postpone that start date until April, but Judge Beverly J. Cannone has not yet ruled on whether that will happen.

This is a developing story.