Plymouth Superior Court Judge Mark C. Gildea paused discovery on Wednesday in the Karen Read wrongful death attorney case after an apparent leak of sealed Michael Proctor medical information. Karen Read attended the hearing in Plymouth with her parents as attorneys were warned not to carry the case onto social media.
The judge said leaking confidential information is a serious offense that threatens the integrity of the entire judicial process. He also said, “Do not succumb to the attraction of seeking to influence this case through social media.”
Mark C. Gildea in Plymouth
Gildea called the hearing in person because of “the quiet solemnity of the courtroom,” then used it to tell attorneys, “Be what a trial lawyer should be, one who tries their case in the courtroom.” After the apparent leak, he said, “Orders of the court have been violated, either directly, or at the very least, in spirit.”
The material at issue involved Michael Proctor, a former Massachusetts State Police trooper, and came from an emergency motion he filed to delay his deposition in the wrongful death suit. The court granted his request for an impoundment order so the records would remain sealed, a step meant to keep sensitive medical documentation out of public view while the deposition issue was pending.
June 8 and X
About 30 minutes after the sealed material was filed and emailed to attorneys on June 8, similar information appeared on an X account. That sequence is the core problem now: the court treated the records as private, yet they surfaced publicly almost immediately after distribution inside the case.
Gildea’s pause means discovery in the Michael Proctor matter stops for now. He also said the pause could become permanent if the attorneys cannot follow the rules, turning the leak from a single breach into a procedure that could change the pace of the case itself.
Karen Read in the case
The hearing came in a case that already has a long legal trail. Karen Read was acquitted in a second criminal trial last year after the first jury deadlocked, and she still faces the wrongful death suit brought by John O’Keefe’s family. The court’s latest order leaves attorneys under a clear warning: the next step depends on whether they can keep the case inside the courtroom.
