State police forces detective disciplined over Karen Read case to lose vacation days

The Massachusetts State Police have disciplined a detective lieutenant involved in the Karen Read murder investigation.

He'll lose six days of vacation time.

Det. Lt. Brian Tully, alongside several colleagues, has been embroiled in the ongoing scandal surrounding the state police investigation into Read, who's been charged with killing her boyfriend in 2022.

He led the team of investigators working with the Norfolk County district attorney's office until he was removed from the position last month by new State Police Col. Geoffrey Noble.

Tully "failed to conform to work standards established for his rank, title, or position," according to a personnel order dated Nov. 19 and released to the public on Wednesday. The order also said he "did fail to recommend remedial or disciplinary action" for employees in his charge, and instead praised them in the department's employee evaluation system.

The order did not state which employees got positive reviews from Tully. Several other troopers involved in the case, including Sgt. Yuri Bukhenik and lead investigator State Trooper Michael Proctor, are being investigated for their actions gathering evidence for the case.

Internal affairs investigators said there was insufficient evidence to charge Lt. John Fanning, another supervisor on the case.

Proctor in particular has come under fire for the department's actions and comportment during the investigation. He spent several days on the stand in court as defense attorneys tore into him over text messages he wrote about Read, including a suggestion he searched her phone for nude selfies and missives about her health and appearance.

The judge in Read's case declared a mistrial in July when they jury could not come to a verdict after five days of deliberations.

Prosecutors, who say Read backed into John O'Keefe with her SUV during a snowstorm following a night of heavy drinking, plan to retry her. Defense attorneys, meanwhile, have pushed to have the murder charge against her dropped, because they say several jurors told them that they would have acquitted her on the charge.