The state police commander was removed from the prosecutor’s office

The fallout from the Karen Read murder trial continues to rock the Massachusetts State Police, particularly the detective unit assigned to the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office, which announced Friday the removal of the unit’s commander.

Detective Lieutenant Brian Tully, who is under internal investigation by State Police, will no longer lead the agency’s investigators assigned to Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey’s office.

Tully’s removal was announced Friday evening, along with notification that there was a vacancy for his position as unit commander. Tully has been temporarily assigned to MSP’s investigative services division, an agency spokesman said

State Police’s handling of the investigation into the Jan. 29, 2022 death of Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe has drawn intense scrutiny. O’Keefe’s girlfriend Read was charged with murder.

Tully was one of three state police investigators who testified at Read’s high-profile trial and subsequently became the subject of an internal investigation.

Tully’s removal and the vacancy mean more changes for the embattled State Police, which sworn in a new chief earlier this month, the first from outside the department’s ranks.

The agency has been marred by scandals, fraud convictions and the death of a recruit during an exercise this summer. At his swearing-in ceremony Oct. 4, Col. Geoffrey D. Noble vowed to work to build public trust in the beleaguered institution.

In Friday’s statement announcing Tully’s removal, a State Police spokesman said, “Colonel Noble has conducted an initial review and believes this decision is in the best interest of the department’s public safety mission.”

Noble, 51, a retired New Jersey State Police lieutenant colonel, takes the reins of an agency that has undermined itself for years through a series of scandals, from overtime theft to commercial driver’s license fraud.

Read’s controversial and controversial murder case also took its toll on the agency, particularly the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office Detective Division.

Tully and two of the detectives he supervised, Trooper Michael Proctor and Sergeant Yuriy Bukhenik, testified at the trial.

Proctor’s testimony became the centerpiece of the trial after he was required to read out crude and misogynistic text messages he had sent to colleagues and friends about Read.

Proctor’s statement drew immediate criticism, including from Governor Maura Healey, and contributed to the defense theory that Read’s case was mismanaged, involved a police cover-up and that Proctor was a biased investigator.

Shortly after a mistrial was declared on July 1, state police began an internal investigation into Tully, Proctor and Bukhenik. Proctor was relieved of duty and later suspended without pay. He is still under investigation.

The trial also cost state police more than a quarter of a million dollars, mostly in overtime pay, as officers provided security outside the Dedham courthouse for more than two months as the high-profile murder case drew daily crowds of protesters.

The costs also arose to pay soldiers and civilian employees for time spent testifying and preparing in court, the Globe reported.

According to state police, Proctor was paid $835.90 for his time on the witness stand, plus an additional $313.46 for preparation.

A new trial is scheduled for January.

Tonya Alanez can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her @talanez.