← The Stefon Diggs Trial: Commonwealth Confidential
The Stefon Diggs Trial: Commonwealth Confidential
Michael Proctor's vulgar texts read in court, but by his supervisor
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Massachusetts State Police Sgt. Yuri Bukhenik took the stand in the Karen Read trial Thursday, and the key member of the investigation read out evidence in the case — but the defense hammered him on cross-examination after he read out Trooper Michael Proctor's vulgar text messages in court. We asked former prosecutor Emily D. Baker whether she thinks Proctor will be called and what she makes of the strategy of calling Bukhenik — and she pointed out an issue Proctor's involvement presents for a key piece of evidence. And Sue O'Connell and Morjieta Derisier discuss the impact of Proctor's vulgar texts.
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As a top rated online small business lender, Ondeck's team of loan advisors can help you find the right business loan to fit your needs. Visit ondeck.com for more information. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by On Deck or Celtibank. On Deck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amount subject to lender approval. News worthy of you. Tonight, a key figure in the investigation takes the stand. I'm a team, team player. I always want to assist in any which way I A state police sergeant showcases key evidence. Our theory has had evolved to a vehicle strike. But the defense hammers him under cross examination. Do you believe that Michael Proctor his involvement in this case taints the investigation? No. Buchanak reads controversial texts from his now former colleague. No nudes so far. A former prosecutor dives into the logic behind this strategy. Canton Confidential the Karen Reid murder trial starts right now. High stakes evidence coming into play in the courtroom today. Good Evening, everyone. I'm J.C. monahan. And I'm Glenn Jones. From articles of clothing at the crime scene to vulgar text messages from a lead investigator, this was the man who was called to answer for all of it. State police sergeant Yuri Buchanak. Now you may remember him from the first trial. Buchanak supervised the lead investigator in the case, the now former state trooper Michael Proctor. Sergeant Buchanan testified today that he was stripped of five vacation days after in internal review last year. So why was Buchanak disciplined? Investigators found he did not reprimand Trooper Proctor for his Behavior. Behavior Buchanak was forced to confront on the witness stand today. Funny, I am going through his client's phone. No nudes so far. I hate that man. I truly hate him. Do you have any belief that's Michael Proctor who was writing these? Yes. All right, let's bring in NBC 10's Melody Mendez live outside Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham. All right, Melanie. Most of the day was on direct examination. But what happened once the defense took over in court? Glenn? JC really got heated in that courtroom. Alan Jackson really leaned in here on how the police investigation was conducted, the basic police work. At one point, Sergeant Buchanak said, and this is direct, quote, we are professionals and use the utmost integrity in every investigation. Well, at hearing those words, Alan Jackson pounced. Do you believe that this investigation. Now I'm going to turn to. This investigation was conducted with professionalism, with competence, at the highest level of integrity. This investigation was conducted professionally with integrity. This back and forth about integrity coming on the heels of those text messages sent by dishonorably discharged Trooper Michael Porter Proctor being read aloud in court. Do you believe that Michael Proctor, his involvement in this case, taints the investigation, tainted the investigation? No, not at all. The investigation was done with honor, integrity, and all the evidence pointed in one direction, one direction only. Honor and integrity by Michael Proctor. What's that question? The sergeant repeating this one line over and over again. The investigation was conducted with honor and integrity, and all the evidence pointed in one direction and one direction only. So, Sergeant Buchanak, you don't want to answer my question, correct? I will answer your question. Absolutely. Do you think this case was handled with honor and integrity by Michael Proctor? That was the first of many interactions with Sergeant Yuri Buchanak refusing to give Alan Jackson a direct answer. You do know that he touched or had input in nearly every part of this case, Obviously, as the case officer. Correct. He managed the case. Like here, where he tries to say that Proctor, the case manager assigned to the case, what many call a lead investigator, did not have a major role. So you believe as you sit here today, your testimony is Michael Proctor did not have a major role in this investigation? That's the way I understand it, yes. This time, Jackson came with receipts, pages and pages of case documents, all of which were authored or filed by former Trooper Proctor, who's the affiant? Michael Proctor. On this document. The affiant is Michael Proctor. The name at the bottom printed is Michael Proctor. Michael Proctor by Trooper Proctor. At the bottom it says Trooper Michael Proctor. Trooper Proctor secured the cell phone the case officer, Trooper Proctor. Trooper Proctor. It was Trooper Proctor that analyzed the video. This report is authored by Trooper Michael Proctor. It is a Trooper Michael Proctor. And as the questioning went on, the tension didn't subside. So the answer to that question is yes, correct? Yes. So the answer to that question is yes, correct? Yes. If you can answer my question, yes or no, this will go a lot faster. After a brief sidebar, Judge Kenoni stepping in, giving this instruction to Buchanan. So, Sergeant, I'm going to ask you to do your best to answer the question that's asked. Yes, you, Honor. On her way out of court, I asked Karen Reed about the exchanges. Karen, what did you think of the difficulty in getting Sergeant Buchanan to answer a direct question? It was just a little bit worse than it was last year. Sergeant Buchanak will be back on the stand first thing tomorrow morning. Reporting live in dead, I'm Melody Mendez, NBC 10 Boston. Melody, thank you. So Karen Reed is also disputing some of Sergeant Buchanak's testimony. He testified that in the Hours after John O' Keefe died, Reid told him she never saw O' Keefe go into 34 Fairview Road. And here again is what she had to say outside court today. Did John go in the house? I did. You saw him go in the house? I saw John go in the house. Can you describe him going to the house, which door and how and when? No. I have, though. And I'm sure the prosecution will play it. For the first time since the retrial began, we're welcoming a former prosecutor to Canton Confidential, the Karen Reed murder trial. Emily D. Baker practiced in Los Angeles. Now she's traded in the courtroom for the Internet as a legal commentator on YouTube. Take a look. Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye. Today is day 12 at the. It is. I don't know why I can't talk because it's day 12. It is Thursday, May 8, and we are in the retrial of Karen Reed. And I have to wonder if the jury is starting to ask themselves, why don't we know what happened to John o' Keefe? They started a bit earlier this morning, so it seemed like there was no sidebar conversations that were extended. So since the court is on time and, you know, I'm on Emily time, we should just get into it. All right. Joining us now is Emily D. Baker. Emily, it's so great to have you with us. We've got a lot of ground to cover, so let's get right to it. The prosecution had Sergeant Buchanak read A few of Michael Proctor's text messages rather than have Proctor do it himself. Some are saying this is a signal Proctor won't be called to testify by the Commonwealth. One of our viewers, Janet from North Reading, is wondering, do you think Michael Proctor will be called to testify? If so, do you think the prosecution or defense will call him? So, Emily, as you answer that, let me also ask you how you might handle this as a prosecutor. Confront the Proctor problem head on or keep him hidden and try to bring what he knows into evidence through other witnesses. One of the great things about being a prosecutor is you can also choose not to prosecute a case. So when you start seeing what is going on with Trooper Proctor and you have the option to not. But now that they are in the middle of it, I don't know which is worse for the prosecution, calling Proctor or not calling him, because neither is a good option. And reading some of those texts in with Trooper Buchanak might be a signal that they're not calling Proctor, but it also explains his discipline and maybe tries to downplay the discipline to him. Like it was just a thumbs up on a text. He tried to really downplay that he didn't say those things, Proctor did. And maybe it stops the jury from wondering why they haven't heard from Trooper Proctor. But either way, he's going to get called in this case. And we were reminded today that Trooper Proctor found evidence by himself at 34 Fairview. And last trial, they reconstructed that taillight casing and showed the jury all the pieces taped together. All the pieces aren't even in evidence yet because there's no foundation for what Proctor gathered himself and we haven't seen him testify yet, which might make things harder if they're going to try to reconstruct that taillight casing. Again, no good options for the Commonwealth. All right, there was a discrepancy in the presentation of John o' Keefe's shoe from the morning he died. Yesterday, Trooper Keefe testified the left shoe was collected at 34 Fairview. Okay, but today Sergeant Buchanak said it was the right shoe. Emily, how detrimental could confusion about a piece of evidence, a significant one. This is a shoe. Could this be for the prosecutor's case? I think they sorted it out at sidebar about where it really came from. But I don't know if them sorting it out even helps because it's such a bad look for this witness. He was clearly going through evidence that he collected at the hospital. He didn't collect the shoe at 34 Fairview and he's looking at the bag confused, saying, I think this is 34 Fairview. After the prosecution asked him, isn't this what you collected at the hospital? And the defense has a lot of room to argue that even if they don't ask the trooper about it, which I think they probably will, but they can argue, look, they didn't even know where the evidence came from when they were on the stand. The appearance of it is so bad. Even if it was just a misreading of the labeling or if it's labeled wrong, it goes to the defense theory that this was not a good investigation. Emily, let's go back to where we started because you talked about at the top of your show today about whether or not we'll really ever know what happened to John o' Keefe. It made me think about his niece and his nephew who were being raised by John. Are they going to grow up not knowing who's accountable for his death? This prosecution so far has not provided answers about how this happened. And yes, there is the prior trial, but they're bringing in a whole new accident reconstructionist. I don't know if we will get to those answers and at the end of this case, but it is a new trial and they do have new experts. But there are still some questions that loom really large and there are failings in this investigation that are fairly glaring. So I worry that we might not ever have a clear answer. The prosecution clearly thinks they do and the defense thinks that they do as well. But we'll have to see how it plays out during this trial. Love that you are following all this from the West Coast. Emily, thank you for joining us on east coast time. Legal commentator and now YouTuber. Check her out, Emily D. Baker. All right. Despite his absence from the courtroom, Michael Proctor's impact on this case is far reaching. Coming up next, we continue to dive into the possibility of the former trooper evading the witness stand. If that happens, could the defense pull him into the courtroom? Before we go though, we want to take a moment to remember John o' Keefe, the victim in this case. The Braintree native was a police officer who became the legal guardian of his niece and nephew after an unimaginable family tragedy. Kate and Confidential, the Karen Reed murder trial. We'll be back right after this. Hey there everyone in podcast land. I just wanted to thank you all for listening and telling your friends about our little podcast. Let's talk off camera with me, Kelly Ripa. I know there are millions of podcasts out there, so I really, really appreciate you giving us a listen. There are so many gems from season one from Matthew McConaughey disclosing that he and Woody Harrelson might be brothers to Salma Hayek telling us about the argument that started her friendship with Prince. 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Over 500, 000 new listings every month based on average new for sale and rental listings February 2024 through January 2025. Don't miss any of the Karen Reed murder trial. Get the full recap of what happened in court, expert analysis and what we could see next. This is coverage you won't see anywhere else. Canton confidential weeknights at 7 on NBC 10 Boston. While the call Trooper Michael Proctor to the stand. No news so far. Juvenile unprofessional comments have zero impact on the facts and the evidence and the integrity of this investigation. She's a whack job. Everyone around this table remembers that moment. One of the more shocking in the first trial, Michael Proctor reading his text messages. But those texts were handled very differently today. Let's invite in our courtroom insider Sue o' Connell, as well as Morgietta Derichier, a defense attorney. So Sue, I can't imagine the reading of these texts between these two juries could be any different than what we saw today. How did it read in the room? Well, again, it was kind of shocking. It came out of nowhere for the juries at least. And there was sort of a misfire in it because the documents that the trooper had didn't say who sent them and where they came from. So Brennan had to start over and have him read them again, which there was laughter at the defense table, which I'm going to project was because he had to say them again. And when he said the R word, one juror, and they're all paying attention, I want to be very clear. But one juror just really perked up and leaned forward and he was visibly unhappy about hearing the R word. The no nudes yet didn't really hit. I don't think it was in a context that people understood. But again, this is just the tip of the iceberg. If we're going to hear the rest of those text messages, this has set them up to say, ok, this is what you were directly involved in. You were in this text chain. He didn't send them, but he got them. And this person was disciplined for these. And what's coming. Okay, so we already heard Emily D. Baker's take on this how to handle the Michael Proctor situation. But here's another opinion from NBC News legal analyst Danny Savalos. Take a listen to what he told us on Kent Confidential earlier this week. He is sort of the central figure and I think they have to call him because guess what? If they didn't, I might expect the defense to even call him. Or if they didn't call him and the defense didn't call him, they would raise the speaker specter of where is this investigator? Oh, he got fired because he did such a bad job on this case. And in fact, they've already signaled that. So I think the prosecution has to call him. When you have bad facts or a bad witness and you're the prosecution, it's better to get it out in your case in chief, put it out there, act like you're not hiding anything because if you don't, then the defense is going to capitalize that and you're going to look like to the jury as if you were keeping a big secret. Okay, Morgietta, do you agree with that? And then if Proctor is called by the defense, going back to the text messages, we only heard a couple. Are they gonna be limited as to what they can ask your buchanak because Proctor hasn't taken the stand. First of all, I agree the prosecution has to call him to the stand because if you have bad facts, you have to paint them in the way that you think is going to be the most palatable to the jury without looking like you're hiding something. That is absolutely true. And if the defense calls him, they're going to treat them Treat him like what they call a hostile witness. And a hostile witness is when you can go in, he can just ask leading questions and he has to answer yes or no. That's a worse perspective than calling him as a prosecution witness where you have open ended questions and he can explain a little bit more. So I'm just wondering, did they have Buchanan do as much on the stand today to dilute anything they're going to have Proctor do? If they do call him, it was almost like they got all of it out with him. There wouldn't be much left. You know, I think the issue is Proctor is the lead investigator. And so even though they got a lot of that information out, you still have to call him because he was the person that signed all the affidavits, he was the person that interviewed all the witnesses. And so his testimony still is important. I don't think that the testimony today watered anything down. I mean, it was almost just, as sue said, a preview of what else is going to come. Either the prosecution is going to call a Trooper Proctor, a former Trooper Proctor, or the defense is going to call him. But either way, it may not come out that day. And we had two. We had two days today. We had a very good day for the commonwealth in the morning and then a very terrible day almost with two different witnesses for the jury to evaluate. So that comes into play as well. Like, why can't you answer a direct question about an affidavit that you're looking into a book when you just answered a bunch of direct questions for eight hours and put out this tremendous case? It was really jarring. What a good point. Because it seemed like Sergeant Buchanan could not even agree with the defense that Proctor was the lead investigator, something that he would not concede. He also wanted to try to kind of marry himself in a way to Michael Proctor so that everything they did was together on this investigation. Not sure whether or not that's sold to the jury, but here's an example of how he used the word we. Based on the information we had learned and the evidence. We, yes, we had statements made by the defendant. No, we were still in the information and fact finding portion of the investigation. We are not ruling out people as much as. We're not ruling people in as much as we're ruling people out. So there was an objective here. Was it achieved for Buchanan? Did he convince the jury of what he was hoping to convince them of? I don't think so. And I think that it was kind of a slick backdoor way to try to get the information about Proctor in without having to, quote, unquote, call him to the stand. But it just opened more doors than. And looked for more questions than I think was trying to be achieved here. And so that's why there was a lot of objections that were sustained, not we what did you do? And I think that was a really good call by the judges saying, what did you do? Not what did we do? And she directed him to answer the questions after a sidebar. You know, this is a person who, under oath, couldn't define what a team is, couldn't define what supervised means, but is able to say, we did this and we did that, and he reported to me. So it was definitely trying to have it both ways. In the afternoon, let's go to one of our viewer questions. Barbara from Methuen asks, why is the prosecution allowed to intersperse random clips from Ms. Reed's interviews randomly between witness and expert testimonies? You're seeing more of Buchanan there, but we have seen parts of the documentary sort of slipped in over the course of these few weeks. I don't think it's random. I think that attorney Hank Brennan is trying to be strategic about it. And if you look at the way he's presenting the evidence, it's expert testimony, lay witness, a clip. And so he's trying to tie all of them in together. So I wouldn't call it random and strategic. I don't know how well it's working, but it's definitely the strategy that he's using at this time. And they'll see those in when they deliberate. So it's not just what's happening in the courtroom. Whether or not they're landing in the courtroom or not really doesn't matter. In a way, they'll have them to review, and then they can take it in their totality when they're considering it. All right, let's take another viewer question. Angie wants to know if the jury ends up again as a hung jury or mistrial. It will give Sue o' Connell cold sweats, but what she really wants to know is, is there any limit to how many times the Commonwealth can try her? I'll be honest. If they get another hung jury, I don't see them trying this case again. I'm sorry. At this point, they've gotten new witnesses, new strategy, new prosecutor trying this case. The unfortunate part is, as Emily said, we may not ever know, really, the investigation on how John o' Keefe passed away. And that's the sad part about this entire thing. But to be honest with you, I don't see them retrying this case. Because the thing that sits with me every day is that Peggy o' Keefe, John's mom, is right there. If you're watching the livestream of what's happening in court, she went through this once, she's going through it again. She's lost a daughter, a son, a son in law. I can't. I don't. I would imagine I'd want to know if she would even want another bite at the apple if this one doesn't go through. Well, and the other thing is, there's a district attorney who's an elected official who decided to bring this case and charge this case they want. So, as I say all the time, if people are unhappy about this, you can do something about it by voting, registering to vote, ask people to run for office. Pay attention to all of your district attorneys all across the country. We all have people who we elect to make these decisions. And if you're unhappy with them, there are judges who are elected across the country. Pay attention to this. You don't just have to be on social media criticizing people. You can actually vote. You can change things. You can take the government back. If you're unhappy about how this entire trial is going. Yeah, that family has been there the whole time. And I know that they supported the retrial in the first instance. Sure. But it'd be interesting to know if they could do it again. And every time we see his clothing or we see his feet, it's heartbreaking to me. I didn't know the man. And I can see Mrs. O' Keefe with her head down. I can see Paul. It's really, really a terrible thing to go through. And it's just a heartbreak all around for all the families, all the communities, everybody involved. All right, so Sergeant Buchanan, back on the stand tomorrow. How do you expect this cross to go from where it is? Explosive. It's going to be very explosive. And I think a lot of the text messages that weren't fully read are going to get read because remember, he opened the door during direct examination. So all of those pieces of information are definitely going to come out tomorrow. And this stoic jury, they're showing some emotion. There's some facial expressions, and it's all around the same thing that sort of set it off in the last trial. All right, listen, thank you for all your questions. Make sure to keep sending them in to us. We love answering them here. Right. On Canton Confidential. And remember to join us every weeknight at 7 on NBC 10 Boston. We'll have a full recap of the latest developments from Cord as well as legal analysis. Plus, this week's episodes will be streaming on Peacock starting on Sunday. Watch Latoya Edwards and Raul Martinez weekdays at 6am on NBC 10 Boston. Member week is here at Lowe's. Don't miss your chance to get up to 40% off hundreds of items like paint, stain, tools, flooring and more. 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