Seven Democrats vying to be Norfolk County DA on Karen Read, Sandra Birchmore investigations

In an unusually crowded field, seven candidates will run for the Democratic nomination to be the Norfolk County District Attorney in a primary on September 1st.

The winner of the primary will go up against independent candidate Joe Pagliarulo in November. 

The race is so crowded for one obvious reason: the public spotlight on Norfolk County prosecutions in the last several years. The current District Attorney, Michael Morrissey, is not seeking reelection after 16 years in office.

WBZ asked each candidate their take on the Karen Read trials, the death of Sandra Birchmore, the upcoming trial of Aidan "Turtleboy" Kearney, fired state trooper Michael Proctor, and what they hope to bring to the future of the office.

Full videos of each interview can be found on the WBZ YouTube page.

Greg Connor

Greg Connor is the candidate other candidates refer to as an "insider." A top prosecutor in the Norfolk County District Attorney's Office for the last 25 years, he resigned in March to run for district attorney. Connor has lived in Norfolk County for most of his life, and says he's been working "his entire career to serve the people of this county." Still, he disagrees with the way the office approached some cases in recent years.

Connor's campaign finance records show donations from employees inside Norfolk County and prominent area defense attorneys. Connor says he was motivated to run when he was encouraged by Chuck and Mimi Chesna, the parents of Sgt. Michael Chesna of Weymouth, whose killer Connors prosecuted.

Regarding his former boss, outgoing District Attorney Michael Morrissey, Connor says he "had the opportunity to see Michael Morrissey create initiatives that saved lives, and so a person who lives in Norfolk County and grew up in Norfolk County, I'll be forever grateful for that," but that he disagrees with how the office oversaw two cases in particular: Karen Read and Sandra Birchmore.

• The trials of Karen Read: Connor, who was not involved in the prosecution team in Read's case, told WBZ that had he been in charge, he would have sought to charge Read with lesser charges than murder. Read was acquitted of murder in 2025. "When I watched the first trial, I saw them litigating whether or not the truck hit John, not why the truck hit John [O'Keefe]," Connor said. "To me, they were never litigating a homicide case. They were litigating the potential of a negligent or reckless motor vehicle homicide. That's what I think should've been charged…I think if you overcharge a case as a prosecutor, you lose credibility with the jury."
• The investigation into Sandra Birchmore's death: Birchmore, who was pregnant when she died in 2021, was deemed to have died by suicide by the state medical examiner. Years later, independent forensic pathologist Michael Baden reported that the death was likely a homicide, and later, the federal government charged former Stoughton Police Officer Matthew Farwell in Birchmore's murder. When Baden's report came out, Connor said, "that was a perfect opportunity to utilize a judicial inquest," meaning that lawyers could have asked a neutral judge for findings about the new information.
• Michael Proctor's text messages: Connor worked in the DA's office when fired state trooper Michael Proctor was an investigator. Connor explained to WBZ that he minimized using Proctor in any of his trials once information came to light about Proctor's racist and sexist text messages. Connor said the DA's office was hamstrung at times by protective orders that only gave access to Proctor's texts to the federal government and lawyers directly involved in certain cases. Still, once the text messages came to light, Connor says he was part of the team that helped notify defense attorneys whose clients may have been affected by Proctor's alleged bias. "I don't need a bigot, I don't need a misogynist, I don't need that person on my trial team," he said.
• The prosecution of "Turtleboy": Aidan Kearney, the blogger known as "Turtleboy," is set to face trial for witness intimidation just as a new DA is sworn in. Robert Cosgrove, who donated to Connor's campaign, is overseeing the case as an independent prosecutor after the Norfolk DA's office was determined to have a conflict of interest. "If elected I would just defer to the independent prosecutor. I don't think you can interfere with that at this time," Connor said.
• Plan for the future: Connor emphasized in his interview that the Norfolk County DA's office was doing work to fix its public reputation, including the implementation of a conviction integrity unit, for his last 18 months working there, efforts he plans to continue if elected. "We would set up these kind of collective meetings with police, advocates, and lawyers to evaluate cases before they were charged on the homicide level," he explained. "And it was really productive."

Macy Lee

Macy Lee is a former Suffolk County assistant district attorney who currently serves as the Director of the Office of Medicaid Board of Hearings for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. She highlights her extensive experience managing large groups of employees and calls herself a "change agent."

She's considered running for this position for quite some time, she told WBZ. "Norfolk County has the greatest amount of Asian American population in the state, and it's underrepresented," she explained. "There's no diversity in the Norfolk County District Attorney's Office." A Chinese Cantonese speaker herself, she believes her candidacy will bring in a fold of voters for whom there are language barriers. Lee is endorsed by the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association, the union that represents Boston Police Officers.

• The trials of Karen Read: Lee says if she were DA in 2022, she would not have charged Read in the death of John O'Keefe because of Michael Proctor's role. "There seems to be some bias towards Karen Read, and towards women. And I think those biases which should have no place in law enforcement tainted the investigation," she said. Asked if elected if she'd look to charge someone other than Read, she said, "Perhaps if I looked at the record and saw what happened. I know that the crime scene was not handled the way it should've been handled."
• The investigation into Sandra Birchmore's death: Lee also called out what she would have done differently in the Birchmore investigation. She says she would have sent the medical examiner's report, which deemed the death a suicide, back with more questions. 
• Michael Proctor's text messages: Lee has experience dealing with the fallout from Massachusetts drug lab chemist Annie Dookhan, and says that's why she's equipped to handle fallout from Michael Proctor's texts. She says she would review any case Proctor touched.
• The prosecution of "Turtleboy": Lee said Aidan Kearney would go "to trial just like everyone else," and noted that she hasn't made any promises about his case. 
• Plan for the future: "I'm the only one with that type of experience where I know how to manage. I'm a change agent," Lee said. She wants to change the overall office culture at the Norfolk DA's Office, but said she has no plans to mass fire current employees. "I already know how to hire, fire, discipline, organize."

Djuna Perkins

Djuna Perkins, a former prosecutor, assistant Attorney General, and assistant district attorney, pitches herself as the candidate fighting for crime victims. She tells WBZ she is running "to restore fairness, justice and integrity to the DAs office."

Perkins was the first person to get into the race to challenge now outgoing DA Michael Morrissey. She tells WBZ she was so disturbed by the investigation into the death of Sandra Birchmore that she was motivated to run. Perkins has called for DA Morrissey to resign.

• The trials of Karen Read: Perkins tells WBZ that if she had been the DA in 2022, she probably still would have charged Karen Read in the death of John O'Keefe, but not with murder. "I think there is certainly probable cause to believe that she had driven under the influence," she said. "I think probable cause to believe that she had struck him and somehow caused his death. Whether or not that was beyond a reasonable doubt, evidence is another question. I definitely would not have charged her with murder." Perkins noted that she "would have realized they didn't have the evidence long before trial," and criticized DA Morrissey for making the decision to retry the case after a mistrial in a matter of hours.
• The investigation into Sandra Birchmore's death: This investigation motivated Perkins to run for Norfolk County DA. "It was the Sandra Birchmore fiasco that really got me to run," she said. "Any experienced prosecutor would have recognized that that was a murder." Perkins said when she received the medical examiner's report of suicide, she would have asked several questions and asked for the manner of death to be revisited. "In the murder of John O'Keefe, the medical examiner found that the manner of death was inconclusive. And yet the district attorney decided to charge murder, so he knows he has the discretion," she said. Still, reopening the case to charge Matthew Farwell in Norfolk County would likely be a waste of resources, she said, since he is already in federal custody and being charged at the federal level.
• Michael Proctor's text messages: "We are going to have to pull all of those cases, pending, and closed, that he worked on and figure out whether or not his biases may have played a role," Perkins said about Michael Proctor's recently revealed racist, and sexist text messages.
• The prosecution of "Turtleboy": Perkins chuckled as she said she would "certainly look at" all of the charges for witness intimidation being faced by Aidan Kearney. "At least some of those cases I believe to have been influenced by the same type of ego driven decisions of the Karen Read case," she said. "The way he talks about people and the way he talks about women, that is not journalism, and that is not free speech," she said. "Whether or not that is criminal is another question."
• Plan for the future: Perkins plans to make all employees of the Norfolk County District Attorney's Office reapply for their jobs if she is elected. She also says she plans to ask for all state troopers currently working for the office to be reassigned.

Craig MacLellan

Craig MacLellan, a practicing solo practitioner and criminal defense attorney, says he's the right candidate for the job because of his experience on his town's school committee. "I'm running for DA to provide a better service to the public," he told WBZ. "I'm the only candidate to hold an elected local role… The reason that's relevant is because it has exposed me to some really interesting and important concepts of local government that I think can and should be applied to the county level to deliver that exceptional level of public service." He says he never had any long-term goal of becoming the district attorney. "I see a public role that I think I can bring a lot of value to, so I'm running for it," he said.

• The trials of Karen Read: MacLellan says he believes that the office had a "good faith basis" for bringing charges against Read. "I certainly would have charged it differently," he said. "I don't see that as being a murder case. I see that as being charged as motor vehicle homicide tried in front of a jury of six in district court." MacLellan's biggest criticism of the case came from using public funds to pay the salary of Hank Brennan, the special prosecutor in the second trial. "I think it was a poor allocation of public money," he said. "I think that added fuel to the flames of distrust among the public."
• Michael Proctor's text messages: MacLellan says he would start a committee to review every conviction that involves incarceration in the county. Regarding Proctor's text messages, "the fact that those were sent makes it possible that these beliefs, that this perspective that he held, was driving the decisions that he was making in an investigation and blinding him to the truth." MacLellan vowed to look at each case Proctor was involved with. 
• The prosecution of "Turtleboy": MacLellan said he would take a look at Kearney's case. "This isn't an endorsement of Mr. Kearney… It's just to me what's stuck out is there was someone that was being critical of a public office. That public office has the ability to prosecute people, and when you prosecute someone that's being critical of you, when you are using your authority to do that, that I think creates the appearance of maybe a conflict of interest."
• Plan for the future: "I don't anticipate cleaning house," he said about staffing. "I think that's very damaging for the district attorney's office and for the community at large. There's a lot of good work going on there. This office prosecutes thousands of cases annually and we've heard about a few controversial ones which have highlighted major failures that we need to take seriously, but there's a lot of good work going on there."

Jim Barakat

Jim Barakat is a current public defender and pitches himself as an outsider. He has raised very little money in his campaign account due to the ethical restraints and rules around being a public employee while running for office.

He says the levels of incarceration in Massachusetts, as well as several high profile, Norfolk trials inspired him to run. "I feel like I'm not held back by potentially the thoughts and views of who my donors are," he said.

Barakat said he was surprised when Morrissey decided not to seek another term. He said what "concerns him the most" is "what we do not know… And what we haven't seen" from the office. 

• The trials of Karen Read: Barakat would not have charged Karen Read. With the "rhetoric" and actions of fired state trooper Michael Proctor, "you really can't in good faith prosecute someone," he said. Still, if new evidence or information came forward, he would give the case another look, he said. 
• Michael Proctor's text messages: "You need to start fresh when you look at many of these cases," Barakat said, saying he would give any cases involving Proctor a fresh look.
• The prosecution of "Turtleboy": Barakat says at one point that Kearney actually invited him on his show, an appearance that never panned out. Regarding his criminal trials, Barakat would need to see more information and didn't feel comfortable answering what his plan would be.
• Plan for the future: Barakat had said he would not plan to "clean house" regarding staffing in the office. He also said he would put a focus on incarceration. "Massachusetts has more people incarcerated currently than the whole continent of Europe," he said. "We can't continue to incarcerate our way out of every social problem we have."

Adam Deitch

Adam Deitch left his job as a federal prosecutor at the US Attorney's Office in Boston to run for Norfolk County DA. In fact, he says he led several investigations into public corruption in Norfolk County, including the federal investigation into the death of John O'Keefe and subsequent prosecution of Karen Read. "It got to a point where I was looking at case after case and I literally said out loud, what on earth is going on in Norfolk County?" Deitch told WBZ. He believes he is "uniquely situated to solve those problems" and bring about "wholesale, cultural, systemic change." He pitches himself as the foil to Greg Connor, who he considers an inside candidate representing the same interests as Michael Morrissey. Deitch has called for DA Morrissey to resign. 

• The trials of Karen Read: Deitch is hesitant in how he speaks about the case. He led a federal investigation into the case that resulted in no grand jury indictments, and even though he no longer works as a federal prosecutor, he says he is limited in what he is able to say publicly due to protocol. When asked if he would have charged Karen Read, he said with OUI only, noting that he found two biomechanical engineer experts in Read's trial — experts that had been hired by the feds — the most credible in showing that O'Keefe, in Deitch's opinion, was not hit by a car. "As a district attorney, I will follow the facts in the evidence, no matter where they lead or who they implicate," he said. Deitch has been endorsed and received donations to his campaign by Karen Read and her legal team. Deitch says he met and spoke to Read at a campaign event for the first time in recent weeks, but did say he had conversations with her attorneys over the course of the federal investigation.
• The investigation into Sandra Birchmore's death: Deitch called the current DA out for what he calls "special treatment of Matthew Farwell" because he was a police officer. He says the case involved "an incomplete investigation, and now a reliance on the feds to step in and do what the DA's office never did." Still, he said he would not want to duplicate resources by charging Farwell in Norfolk County. But he suggested he'd complete "other aspects of that investigation," including other officers accused of grooming Birchmore before her death. 
• Michael Proctor's text messages: Deitch called the messages "the most horrifying, racist, bigoted, misogynistic, antisemitic, homophobic text messages that I think anybody has ever seen." If elected, he says he plans to vet every officer who investigates a case before it goes to trial to see if they have sent any text messages or have any personal connection to the case, something that he says was done in his work at the federal level. 
• The prosecution of "Turtleboy": Deitch said he doesn't want to comment on specific pending cases, but did know that he calls "into question the decision-making of this DA's office based on everything" he has seen, saying, "I think we need a fresh set of eyes on anything that this DA's office is doing."
• Plan for the future: Deitch believes "there are a lot of things this DA's office does well," he told WBZ. "And there are people who are career public servants who go into work every day, they work hard, and they do the right thing." He says he does not plan to make employees reapply for their jobs. 

Robert Jubinville

Robert Jubinville is a familiar name in Massachusetts' legal circles. A decade-long member of the Governor's Council, the 80-year-old is one of only three "board certified criminal trial attorneys" in Massachusetts. "I'm running because I spent most of my adult life in courts. I love courts," he told WBZ. Jubinville says he believes Michael Morrissey's biggest mistake in his tenure was that he "listened to people that led him astray and he didn't keep a tight leash on his [assistant] district attorneys." 

• The trials of Karen Read: "The investigation was compromised and corrupted in my view right from the beginning… My view is she never should've been even charged with a crime based on that investigation," Jubinville said of Read. He doesn't believe anyone could have been charged based on the quality of the investigation. "I'm going to review that whole case from top to bottom and release whatever is in it to the public," he said. "I'm a big transparency guy."
• Michael Proctor's text messages: Jubinville vocalized that he was disturbed by the publicized Proctor text messages. "I sometimes think when I'm by myself, is there somebody sitting in jail right now, state prison, convicted because he was Black or Jewish or Asian?" referring to racist texts allegedly sent by Proctor.
• The prosecution of "Turtleboy": Jubinville says he would want to postpone the trial of Aidan Kearney if elected. "I know he got under the skin of the DA's office big time. I don't know everything he did, but he seems to do what reporters do only he was kind of heavy-handed with it," he said. "They arrest him in front of a school bus with his children getting on the bus… Oh, they hated him."
• Plan for the future: Jubinville says he has plans to hire a panel of retired judges to analyze previous convictions. As far as his philosophy for running the office goes, he says, "you administer, you hire, you train, and you keep a tight leash on assistant district attorneys or you are in trouble."