When Victoria Brophey George received a jury summons for the first Karen Read murder trial in 2024, she didn’t hesitate.
A Princeton graduate with a lifelong fascination with the Supreme Court, George had interned with a federal judge and later earned her JD from Northeastern University School of Law in Boston.
Unlike many who try to avoid jury duty, she considers it a civic duty. By 34, the employment lawyer had already served on two prior juries and even acted as a foreperson.
A High-Profile Case
George had heard about the Karen Read case, which dominated Boston media. Read, a Massachusetts woman, was accused of causing the 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe.
Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey charged the then-42-year-old equity analyst with second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence, and leaving the scene of a personal injury or death.
Prosecutors claimed that Read, in a drunken rage, fatally backed her SUV into O’Keefe and left him to die in a blizzard.
However, Read has maintained her innocence, telling Vanity Fair in a two-part feature that she believed she was being framed as part of a cover-up involving Morrissey and Massachusetts State Police detective Michael Proctor.
Despite the media attention, George qualified as a juror because she was preoccupied with caring for her two young children and grieving the loss of her mother, who had passed away in 2023.
“I was able to be a juror because I believed that the state court system was going to give her a fair trial,” she told Vanity Fair weeks before joining Read’s defense team. “I’ve been trying to continue to believe in justice for a while.”
Karen Read Murder Trial (Photo: AP)
A Rule-Follower Committed to Fairness
George is meticulous about following rules. During the trial, she noticed a “Free Karen Read” billboard outside Gillette Stadium and immediately reported it to Norfolk County Superior Court judge Beverly Cannone, ensuring she was in compliance with court guidelines. The court assured her she was.
For nine weeks, George and her fellow jurors carefully avoided discussing the case until deliberations.
When one juror openly criticized Read before deliberations, George and several others reported the violation to Judge Cannone, resulting in that juror’s dismissal.
The Moment That Changed Everything
For George, the turning point of the trial came when Massachusetts State Police trooper Michael Proctor, the lead investigator in Read’s case, read aloud his own text messages—sent just 16 hours into the investigation.
“There will be serious charges brought on the girl…. She’s a whack job cunt. Zero chance she skates. She’s fucked.”
When another person in the text chain suggested that the homeowner—on whose property O’Keefe was found—would likely face consequences, Proctor dismissed the idea, responding:
“Nope. Homeowner’s a Boston cop too.”
Proctor later admitted the texts were “unprofessional and regrettable.” Earlier this month, the Massachusetts State Police fired Proctor for “unprofessional” conduct during the Read investigation.
Now, George has taken a step beyond jury duty, officially joining Karen Read’s defense team as the case moves forward.
