Defendants in four murder cases in Massachusetts will soon get their hands on new evidence originally produced by federal officials as part of the Karen Read case.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office produced thousands of documents as part of its own investigation into the Karen Read case, and portions of that trove of evidence were found relevant and important enough to be shared with other murder cases investigated by some of the same state troopers from the Read case.
A federal judge on Friday ruled that the federal materials can be shared with defense attorneys in four murder cases and a fifth case involving an accessory after the fact of murder charge under seal — meaning they cannot be shared publicly. The judge’s ruling was discussed during a hearing on Monday afternoon for the cases involved.
First Assistant Norfolk District Attorney Lisa Beatty provided the update in Norfolk County Superior Court and said that she had the federal materials ready to share with the defense attorneys.
For the last several months, prosecutors from the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office — which prosecuted Read — combed through volumes of federal materials to determine whether there is information relevant to other criminal cases yet to go to trial.
Prosecutors are also producing what they call an “index” of federal documents that were part of the Read case but are not relevant to these other criminal cases.
The federal investigation did not lead to any charges or arrests to date, and the investigation ended before Read’s second trial in the spring, according to Hank Brennan, a special prosecutor appointed by the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office.
Federal investigators provided 3,000-plus pages of evidence, including more than 100 pages of communications from former Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor, as part of the Read case.
Brian Walshe’s murder case — the trial for which was recently delayed from starting this week — is among the cases that could benefit from the new evidence. Other cases include defendants Myles King, Shawn Johnson, Jovani Delossantos and Bianca Chionchio. All but Chionchio are charged with murder.
The trove of federal materials also included personal text messages sent by former Proctor, who was fired after an internal investigation into derogatory messages that made fun of Read and shared details of the investigation in its early stages.
Proctor fought to get his job back, but ultimately decided to withdraw his petition over the weekend, days ahead of hearings set for this week.
Proctor is expected to become a contentious part of Walshe’s upcoming trial since he was involved in the investigation into Ana Walshe’s disappearance. Investigators determined she was killed and dismembered and named Brian Walshe as their suspect.
Prosecutors say there is ‘discoverable information’ on Proctor’s phone
In court documents filed on Friday, prosecutors indicated that they’ve found “discoverable information” from Proctor’s personal cellphone that they plan on sharing with Walshe’s defense lawyers.
Norfolk officials wrote that due to the unexpected volume of files found on his cellphone, the review is incomplete, and that they need until Oct. 24 to complete the process.
Prosecutors wrote that they are working to share texts, chats, video and audio files extracted from Proctor’s phone that they are obligated to share with defense attorneys in various cases under Massachusetts criminal law.
A Norfolk County Superior Court judge previously ordered Proctor to preserve all the data on his personal cellphone and turn it over to prosecutors, but his attorney claimed that he changed his phone in 2024 and that his data automatically deleted every 30 days.
Walshe is currently being evaluated at Bridgewater State Hospital for competency to stand trial after being stabbed by another inmate last month and then briefly hospitalized.
His trial, expected to last three to four weeks, is set to start on Nov. 18 if he’s deemed competent.
Defense attorneys for Walshe plan on calling Proctor to the witness stand, according to court filings. Prosecutors intend to call some investigators involved in the Read case, including Sgt. Yuriy Bukhenik and Det. Lt. Brian Tully.
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