Days after the jury cleared Karen Learn of homicide and manslaughter, a state police union is preventing again towards accusations that the investigation into John O’Keefe’s demise was “compromised.”
The State Police Affiliation of Massachusetts, made up of all Troopers and Sergeants within the State Police, has damaged its silence after the jury within the prolonged retrial convicted Learn of simply working beneath the affect, the least severe cost.
“As our current and former members continue to be the subjects of baseless accusations,” the state police union acknowledged in a social media put up on Saturday, “you will need to keep in mind that the investigation into the demise of John O’Keefe has been investigated with nice scrutiny by each members of the State Police Inside Affairs and the FBI.
“To date, there has yet to be any information that this investigation was compromised in any way,” it added.
Prosecutors accused Learn of backing up into O’Keefe, her Boston Police officer boyfriend of two years, along with her SUV, leaving him to freeze and die on the entrance yard of a Canton house the place the pair was alleged to proceed an evening out after the bars closed, within the early morning of Jan. 29, 2022.
The jury didn’t purchase the argument. Jurors who’ve spoken to the media after the decision got here out on Wednesday have highlighted that they assume O’Keefe went inside the house at 34 Fairview Highway throughout a blizzard.
The protection has argued that others presumably killed O’Keefe inside that house and that the police have been both too incompetent or corrupt to research that angle.
A Massachusetts State Police board fired Trooper Michael Proctor, the lead investigator in O’Keefe’s demise, over inappropriate habits and self-described “inappropriate” and “regrettable” textual content messages about Learn revealed through the first trial.
Sgt. Yuriy Bukhenik, Proctor’s supervisor, and Bukhenik’s boss, Lt. Brian Tully, have been additionally positioned beneath inner investigation at one level within the aftermath of final yr’s mistrial.
“The Association continues to send its sincere condolences to the family of Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe,” the union acknowledged in its social media put up. “The jury has spoken, and we remain respectful of the process.”
“However, since the beginning of this trial there have been numerous attacks and accusations against our Troopers and Sergeants,” it added. “Careers have been lost, families have been devastated, and many lives have been changed forever.”
In a press release on Thursday, MSP Col. Geoffrey Noble vowed to proceed reforming the embattled company that Gov. Maura Healey appointed him to guide final fall.
“The events of the last three years have challenged our Department to thoroughly review our actions and take concrete steps to deliver advanced investigative training, ensure appropriate oversight, and enhance accountability,” Noble wrote.
His efforts embody terminating Proctor, offering MSP members extra coaching and enhancing supervision, the company says.
When requested about how the governor is helping the State Police with its reforms on Saturday, a spokesperson for her workplace referred the Herald to Noble’s assertion and feedback Healey made a day earlier than in regards to the Learn verdict.
“The trial ran its course,” Healey advised reporters on Friday. “I always reflect on the family of John O’Keefe and feel very sorry for them. The criminal justice system has run its course, and there is finality in that. My best to members of the O’Keefe family.”
A reporter requested the governor about whether or not Norfolk County District Legal professional Michael Morrissey ought to have mentioned extra following the decision than his four-word assertion: “The jury has spoken.”
“I’m not going to comment on that,” Healey mentioned. “The criminal justice process has been resolved. Again, I extend my condolences to the O’Keefe family and hope that they can find an inner resolution and move on.”
The governor walked away after being requested, “Is there still an unsolved murder to investigate?”
Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Kenneally advised the Herald that he appears ahead to working with State Police in “seeing those (reforms) through” if elected governor in 2026.
“Public trust in law enforcement and the criminal justice system is paramount,” he mentioned Saturday.
Solely 4% of 1,170 Norfolk County residents who met the {qualifications} to be chosen as jurors and responded to a post-verdict survey imagine that the investigation into O’Keefe’s demise was “full, thorough, and fair,” based on Opinion Diagnostics, a Massachusetts-based polling and market analysis agency.
Proctor has additionally come ahead, talking out towards the concept that he framed Learn. In an interview with NBC’s “Dateline” aired post-verdict, the disgraced trooper known as the accusation that he cracked Learn’s taillight to make it appear to be she backed into O’Keefe “ridiculous.”
Proctor additionally mentioned that the textual content messages that led to his downfall don’t signify him as an entire or his investigation and that he’s “fighting” to get his job again by means of the appeals course of.
“I’ve never had a single complaint,” Proctor advised Dateline. “I’ve never been the subject of any disciplinary actions. All my employee evaluations are either outstanding or excellent. And I still love the job. I still want to be a trooper.”
Juror #11, Walpole mom Paula Prado, who has made her media rounds after the decision, shared her opinions on Proctor throughout an interview on the Howie Carr Present on Friday.
“I saw the text messages, unprofessional, of course,” she mentioned. “Immature, horrifying. … I am glad he is fired.”
