As the clocks tick down to an early October trial date for the ex-Stoughton cop accused of grooming and murdering Sandra Birchmore, the lawyers are still arguing over the contours of the crime.
Defense attorneys for Matthew Farwell said that despite heaps of discovery in the case, the government has filed to actually prove there is a crime that falls under federal — as opposed to a state —jurisdiction. They demand a “bill of particulars” from government prosecutors to spell that out.
“As of June 2026, the government has provided more than 286,000 pages of discovery related to the charge, over 43 hours of audio and videotaped evidence, and voluminous digital extractions, the reports for which total over 750,000 pages,” attorneys Kimberly Stevens and Joanne Daley wrote in a filing late last month.
“Notwithstanding the volume of discovery, nowhere does the government set forth sufficient facts related to the elements of the charged offense, which requires a federal nexus,” they continue.
The defense attorneys further allege that “missing from the information thus far disclosed are necessary details regarding multiple elements of the offense charged.
“When the charging document lacks sufficient particularity, the defendant’s ability to confront adverse witnesses, to use compulsory process, and to mount a defense are inhibited,” the attorneys wrote. “A bill of particulars, clarifying the indictment, is appropriate to vindicate these rights.”
Prosecutors responded late last week, writing that the “request for a bill of particulars is a rehash of his unsuccessful motion to dismiss” and that the complaints had already been settled at that time.
“The Court has already held that the Superseding Indictment ‘sufficiently apprises Farwell of the charge against him such that he can prepare an adequate defense and invoke double jeopardy protections,’” federal prosecutors wrote in their response. “In so holding, the Court rejected Farwell’s arguments that the Superseding Indictment failed ‘to allege the necessary element that a law enforcement officer or judge be “of the United States,” or any essential fact that supports the allegation of possible federal criminal conduct.’”
“The Court should deny this second attack on the Superseding Indictment,” they continued.
This all comes because “murder” is not really a federal crime and the state took a pass at investigating it as a murder because Birchmore’s death in her Canton apartment had been ruled a suicide.
Instead, Farwell is charged with “Killing a witness or victim” to a federal crime — namely having sex with her while on the clock for a law enforcement job — as well as the charge “Protection of unborn children,” which means his alleged killing of Birchmore also led to the death of her unborn baby, which he believed was his own.
Federal prosecutors say Farwell groomed Birchmore while she was still a child. At just 12 years old, Birchmore joined the Police Explorers Academy, a youth program run by the Stoughton Police that included Farwell among its teachers. Prosecutors say Farwell first groomed the girl and then took her virginity when she was 15 — which she had skipped a school dance for, according to court documents.
When she informed him that she was pregnant and was excited to raise his child, prosecutors say, he went to her Canton apartment and strangled the then-23-year-old to death on Feb. 1, 2021 — staging it to look like a suicide.
Farwell was employed as a Stoughton Police Officer the whole time. The former Stoughton officer is 12 years older than Birchmore. He had three children with his wife and maintained a sexual relationship with Birchmore, court documents allege, until her death.
Farwell’s trial is scheduled to begin in federal court in Boston on Oct. 5, according to court documents.
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