Michael Proctor’s firing from the Massachusetts State Police over his handling of the Karen Read investigation could be a wake-up call to defense attorneys around the state whose clients have been convicted based on his work.

Proctor, a 12-year veteran, lost his job after an investigation into his handling of the case kicked off following Read’s mistrial last year. During his testimony, a series of rude and lewd text messages he sent about Read were read in court, tanking his credibility in the eyes of at least some jurors. 

The internal review found he had improperly shared “sensitive or confidential information” about the homicide investigation on top of the “derogatory texts.”

Karen Read and John O’Keefe (Karen Read)

Edwards is predicting a number of surprises the second time around and that Read’s fate will hinge on how jurors respond to evidence the defense hopes will demonstrate an abundance of reasonable doubt in the case.

Special prosecutor Hank Brennan is a high-powered Massachusetts defense attorney who once represented mobster James “Whitey” Bulger in federal court. Read’s defense keeps adding new players, and her lawyers recently petitioned the Supreme Court to throw out two of the three charges against her.

Proctor declined to discuss the case himself, but family members told Fox News Digital last month that he had an “unblemished record” prior to the Read texts.

Michael Proctor (Kayla Bartkowski/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

The review and a federal investigation into the fiasco both opened and closed without criminal charges against Proctor. 

“The messages prove one thing, and that Michael is human, not corrupt, not incompetent in his role as a homicide detective, and certainly not unfit to continue to be a Massachusetts state yrooper,” his sister, Courtney Proctor, said at the time.

Fox News’ Andrew Fone contributed to this report.