Beyond the Karen Read Verdict: DA Michael Morrissey and the Scandal Still Haunting Massachusetts

Last month, Karen Read was acquitted of second-degree murder and vehicular manslaughter, ending a Massachusetts legal saga containing enough John Grisham–style plot twists to captivate international interest. The verdict ended Norfolk County district attorney Michael Morrissey’s three-and-a-half-year, two-trial pursuit of convicting Read, who was charged with fatally hitting her Boston police officer boyfriend, John O’Keefe, in 2022.

After the first trial ended with a hung jury last summer, Morrissey hired a special prosecutor to lead the charge against Read a second time. The county paid Whitey Bulger’s former defense lawyer Hank Brennan $566,000 to try the case—because top prosecutors in the DA’s office wouldn’t touch it, sources told VF last year. Djuna Perkins, a former assistant district attorney in Suffolk County hoping to unseat Morrissey in the 2026 election, estimates that Morrissey spent about $1 million on the second trial—more than a third of his office’s entire operating budget. (Asked about this claim, Morrissey’s office told VF it did not yet know the total cost of the trial.) In the end, the jury only found Read guilty of operating under the influence of liquor. For that misdemeanor, Read was sentenced to one year probation.

After the acquittal, one of Read’s lawyers, Alan Jackson, told VF, “This is not how DAs are supposed to conduct themselves. Morrissey had an ethical obligation to review the first trial in detail and make a reasonable determination: whether he believed the case could be put in front of 12 independent thinkers, a jury, and the charges be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.” (In response to the claim that Read’s second trial was a matter of ego, a representative for Morrissey said, “It is not uncommon for district attorneys in Massachusetts to retry cases that initially end in a mistrial.”)

Some jurors, and the public, were irked by three elements of the trial: its extreme cost, the staggeringly inept investigation into O’Keefe’s death by the state police officers working in Morrissey’s office and by local law enforcement, and the agony the second high-profile court proceeding inflicted on O’Keefe’s family. “I’m a mother and I saw her pain through all those days,” juror Paula Prado told CBS News after the verdict.

Rachael Rollins, the former US attorney for Massachusetts, told VF, “Obviously this outcome is a tragedy for the O’Keefe family. As a prosecutor, you always seek to secure a verdict for the victim and their loved ones…but we are left with the undisputed fact that multiple juries rejected the prosecution’s case.” Read’s allegations of law enforcement corruption and incompetence outraged a snowballing legion of supporters, in the state and beyond. Many watched live as Read’s legal team—which included Jackson, David Yannetti, Elizabeth Little, Robert Alessi, and Victoria George—subjected prosecution witnesses, many of whom were law enforcement, to withering cross-examinations about their handling of Read’s investigation. Says Rollins, “The now documented misconduct or questionable actions by members of law enforcement—both within and outside the Norfolk County DA’s office—has had real consequences.”

Suspicious death investigations in Norfolk County are handled by Massachusetts State Police troopers working out of Morrissey’s office. Since the first Read trial, some of those troopers have been fired or relocated following internal investigations directly relating to their conduct on the case. Michael Proctor, the lead detective who Read says masterminded her framing, was dishonorably discharged in March. (He denies the allegation and his appeal is pending, according to his attorney.) Proctor testified about wrapping up his investigation within hours of it starting without even stepping foot on the crime scene. He also read aloud texts he’d sent to coworkers saying he was searching Read’s phone for nudes, in a string of messages in which he also deemed Read, the suspect of his investigation, “a whackjob cunt.” Among Proctor’s supervisors was Brian Tully, who headed the unit investigating Read, and who failed to discipline Proctor. Tully was later transferred out of the DA’s unit, and in November 2024, an internal investigation found he had violated rules and regulations. Yuri Bukhenik, a Proctor supervisor on the case who gave a thumbs-up to that text chain, was moved out of Morrissey’s office and reassigned to an administrative role. During the first trial, he testified about critical video evidence that, he acknowledged under cross-examination, had been inverted. Another investigator on the case, David DiCicco, was also recently moved out of Morrissey’s office.

After the verdict, Geoffrey Noble, the leader of the Massachusetts State Police—an organization so famous for corruption that Martin Scorsese made a movie about them—accepted some responsibility in a statement: “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.”

According to Rollins, law enforcement officers and others involved in the case could still face criminal charges, state or federal administrative investigations and proceedings, and other “career-altering or ending determinations” from regulators. There have been repercussions for Morrissey too: “The current Norfolk DA—who has never faced a challenger since assuming his position in 2010—now has multiple challengers in his upcoming 2026 election. The fallout is real.” So far, Morrissey’s competition for the 2026 election is Perkins and Craig MacLellan, another former assistant district attorney in Suffolk County.

Rollins led the US attorney’s office of Massachusetts when a federal probe into law enforcement’s investigation of O’Keefe’s death was initiated. A federal grand jury was convened but no law enforcement officer has been charged with federal crimes. (Rollins resigned in May 2023 after an internal investigation alleged she committed ethical breaches and misused her power in office.) While Rollins would not comment on the federal investigation, she has thoughts on special prosecutor Brennan’s assertion this March that the investigation is over.

“Hank Brennan is not a member of the Department of Justice. His statement that the investigation is closed is meaningless,” she says. “The silence of the federal government can be just that, silence and inaction because they have closed an investigation and will never tell the public, or DOJ in stealth mode putting the finishing touches on arrest and search warrants and editing press releases before the impending press conference. You never know until it happens. Or doesn’t.”

The O’Keefe case was not the first time in recent years that a suspicious death involving law enforcement in Morrissey’s jurisdiction necessitated federal intervention.

In 2021, Sandra Birchmore, a 23-year-old pregnant woman, was found hanging from a door handle in her Canton apartment. The Massachusetts Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled the death a suicide. Then the feds stepped in—alleging that, not only had Birchmore been murdered, but that a Norfolk County police officer, Stoughton’s Matthew Farwell, who believed Birchmore was pregnant with his child, was her killer. (Farwell was indicted on one count of killing a witness or victim, which carries a maximum punishment of the death penalty; he has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.)

“If people are outraged about what happened to Karen Read, they will be devastated by Sandra Birchmore’s case,” says Rollins. “The facts as alleged are heartwrenching, depraved, and will make your blood boil.” The indictment found that Farwell groomed Birchmore as a child after meeting her via the police force’s youth program, and that he began a sexual relationship with her when she was 15. According to the indictment, their sexual relationship continued for years, with Farwell meeting Birchmore while on-duty as a Stoughton police officer. After Birchmore threatened to tell authorities about his crimes, the US attorney’s office alleged, Farwell killed the young woman and staged the death as a suicide. Says Rollins, “Many people and news publications in Massachusetts have voiced bewilderment and concern that the United States attorney’s office had to step in to protect Sandra and her unborn child—charging the married police officer who allegedly groomed, sexually assaulted, and murdered her with a death-penalty-eligible crime—killing a witness or victim. The elected DA, meanwhile, ruled her death a suicide and brought no charges as a result of her death.” Like in the Read case, Rollins notes that Birchmore’s death is a second circumstance “where the DA’s experts are finding something completely inconsistent with the federal government’s experts.

A 45-page affidavit written by Chenee Castruita, a rookie FBI agent of two years, contained staggering evidence that troopers in Morrissey’s unit missed. Investigators found 32,709 text messages between Birchmore and Farwell, including messages showing Farwell believed Birchmore was pregnant with his child and he was unhappy with the situation.

After Farwell was arrested by the FBI, Morrissey’s office released a statement: “We look forward to supporting and assisting federal authorities as they pursue this prosecution.” At a caucus in Quincy this May, though, according to Perkins, Morrissey said he still believed Birchmore’s death to be a suicide, as the state’s medical examiner ruled it. (A representative for Morrissey told VF, “In Massachusetts it is up to the medical examiner’s office to determine cause and manner of death.”)

Speaking about the DA’s decision not to take action against Farwell, Perkins says, “It was basically like the community saying, ‘We don’t care about this person enough.” She says Morrissey’s allocation of resources to the Read case “comes at the expense of all these other families who want justice” for their loved ones. (A representative for Morrissey declined to comment on this allegation, but said the DA’s office continues to cooperate with the US attorney’s office. The spokesperson said he cannot comment further given the case’s pending status.)

There was another controversial investigation into a suspicious death involving law enforcement in Norfolk County. In 2020, 41-year-old Juston Root was shot at 31 times in three seconds after Boston police mistook a paintball gun that the victim was holding, which Root’s family says was clear, for a lethal weapon. A 2020 report by Morrissey’s office about Root’s death determined that Boston police officers were justified in their use of force to apprehend Root, who, according to his family, was leaving a hospital seeking help. (Because the shooting was preceded by a chase that stretched into two different jurisdictions, the Suffolk County DA’s office also conducted an investigation—determining no charges should be brought on officers.)

Both Proctor and Bukhenik were also involved in the Root investigation. In an interview with VF, Root’s sister Jennifer Root Bannon says that Proctor told her family that police had to shoot Root because he shot at someone and refused to put down his gun. In Morrissey’s report on Root’s death, the DA said, “More than one officer yelled ‘gun.’ Simultaneously, six officers opened fire to stop the threat.”

Contrary to that finding, The Boston Globe later reported that officers did not appear to discuss or warn of a gun on body-camera footage reviewed. (A rep for Morrissey defended the report, telling the Globe that the detail came from witness statements.) But the body-cam footage revealed other disturbing details. According to Boston’s WUBR, “In the immediate moments after the shooting, the officers congratulated each other with phrases like, ‘Yeah, I killed that motherfucker’ and ‘I emptied my magazine on him.’ The officers also appeared to discuss how to cover up their actions: ‘You got a [union] rep coming?’ ‘I won’t talk,’ ‘I gotta get out of here,’ according to the court filing.”

When Read was declared not guilty last month, Bannon was standing outside the Dedham district courthouse; in her view, Read and Birchmore’s cases signal that Norfolk County can no longer bury patterns of misconduct and institutional failure under the rug. In a written statement, Root says the Read case “isn’t just about one verdict; It reflects a broken system where police investigate themselves, eroding transparency and making accountability nearly impossible. Karen’s case exposed what we already knew: the Norfolk County DA’s office, under Michael Morrissey, and investigators like former trooper Michael Proctor, prioritize protecting their own over seeking the truth.” Root’s family has been demanding an independent investigation for five years with no success. Now, she adds, “Proctor’s termination only strengthens why it’s absolutely imperative that Juston’s case be reopened and thoroughly investigated—free from the bias that has tainted this process from the start.”

On Monday, Proctor defied a subpoena to testify at a Norfolk Superior Court evidentiary hearing for another case he investigated—a 2021 Milton murder for which Myles King was charged in the first degree by Morrissey’s office. (King has pleaded not guilty.) Though Proctor was “served in hand,” according to King’s lawyer Rosemary Scapicchio, he still left for a previously scheduled vacation: “Apparently, he thinks he’s above the law,” she told reporters after the hearing. (The hearing was continued to August 5, and Proctor’s lawyer, who was at the hearing, said his client would be available to appear.)

During the hearing, another familiar figure from the Read trial, Norfolk County prosecutor Adam Lally, was faced with another familiar question, also from the Read trial: Why did it take the DA’s office years to turn over critical evidence? Scapicchio said hundreds of pages of evidence, including six search warrants, hadn’t been shared with the defense until this spring. (King was released on bail last month after nearly four years in jail.) Lally said at the hearing that he’d repeatedly requested evidence from Proctor but never received it.

Scapicchio said she is “concerned for every defendant out there as to whether or not they’re getting appropriate discovery through the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office.” Read was given new video evidence in October 2024 and January 2025, more than two and a half years after the videos had been recorded and months after Read’s first trial ended.

In court, Scapicchio added, “Was the Karen Read case a one-off? I would say it doesn’t appear to be.” She requested that the prosecutors be sanctioned and the case dismissed.

Since the Read verdict, Perkins has called for Morrissey to resign—and publicly criticized him for giving the O’Keefe family “false hope” about a conviction. Craig MacLellan, Morrisey’s other challenger in the coming election, has also been pushing for the DA to leave office, blaming Morrissey for Read trial’s becoming such a circus: “This incendiary drama that has engulfed this case has overshadowed the loss of human life, and that’s because the DA’s office has allowed that to fall completely out of focus.” Adds Perkins, “All of the controversy that has arisen out of the prosecution of Karen Read lay at the feet of the district attorney.”

Earlier this month, O’Keefe’s family members clutched tissues as Read was declared not guilty of killing their son John three years ago. Outside the courthouse, protesters held signs and wore T-shirts deriding the DA’s leadership: “Criminals Control Norfolk County.” Morrissey, meanwhile, was unreachable by reporters who called, emailed, and visited his office in person.

Jackson says of the costly second trial, “It was an ego issue with him—he was not going to accept the idea that his office got it wrong.” (A representative for Morrissey did not respond to VF’s request for comment.) Adds Jackson of the DA, “He would rather put Karen through this horrifying crucible of a second trial with some hired gun and say, ‘I’m going to leave it to the jurors to figure it out. Well they did, Mr. Morrissey, and it should cost you your job and your career.”

Two days after the verdict, Morrissey finally released a statement. He had spent nearly three and a half years pursuing and prosecuting Read in the most high-profile case of his 14-year DA career, but he only had four words to offer: “the jury has spoken.” (A representative for Morrissey declined to comment further on the verdict to VF.) In an interview last week, one of Read’s lawyers, David Yannetti, reflected on Read’s hard-fought victory: “The scary thing for me is that, had there been a holdout, had there been a mistrial, I think he would’ve done it again.”