As federal prosecutors continue to argue their murder case against former Stoughton Police Officer Matthew Farwell, they’re expected to call the defendant’s twin brother to the stand this week.
Farwell is accused of killing Sandra Birchmore, 23, and causing the death of her unborn child, then staging her body to make it look like a suicide, in February of 2021.
Federal prosecutors allege that Farwell killed the young woman, who they say he groomed from the time she was a child, after she told the then-cop he was the father of her baby — something DNA testing would later disprove.
The Norfolk District Attorney’s Office, which originally had jurisdiction over the case, declined to prosecute Farwell after a Mass State Police investigation and an initial ruling from a state medical examiner that the death was a suicide.
Earlier this year, the ME changed the manner of Birchmore’s death to “undetermined,” but Farwell’s defense maintains that Birchmore hung herself after the former Stoughton police officer visited her Canton apartment to tell her he wasn’t the baby’s father and ended their relationship.
Jurors have already heard from local law enforcement who initially investigated Birchmore’s death, as well as people who knew Birchmore and expressed surprise and suspicion when they found out it was an apparent suicide.
A forensic scientist at the MSP crime lab also testified that Farwell’s DNA was linked to the ligature found around Birchmore’s neck and his sperm was detected in her underwear.
People who worked with and were friends with Farwell at the Stoughton Police Department told jurors that he was acting stressed out and out of character before Birchmore’s death.
“I’ve got to put the crazy back in the bag and it’ll be alright … everything will be alright,” Farwell told a co-worker around that time.
On Monday, Birchmore’s therapist Diala Alkhalil will resume her testimony.
Then the prosecution could call Farwell’s fraternal twin William, a.k.a. “Billy,” Farwell as early as later that day.
William Farwell also worked for the Stoughton PD and also had an inappropriate relationship with Birchmore, according to a department internal affairs investigation. He agreed to be decertified by the Peace Officers Standards and Training Commission, meaning he can no longer work as a law enforcement officer in Massachusetts, in 2024.
The defense has raised questions about their client’s brother throughout the trial, and at one point, a filing mistakenly identified him as the father of Birchmore’s baby. Jason Pickard, a former Army recruiter, has been identified as the father and testified for the prosecution last week.
The Farwells first met Birchmore when she was a child involved in the department’s explorers program, an extra curricular activity that involved teaching kids about policing and fitness.
Prosecutors alleged that Matthew Farwell began grooming Birchmore during that period, tutoring her at the local library, alone, even though that wasn’t a part of the program. According to several people who knew Birchmore and texts between the defendant and victim that Farwell never disputed in real time, Farwell took her virginity when she was 15.
Because Farwell is on trial in federal court, he faces a charge of killing a witness or victim to a federal crime, meaning that the prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Farwell killed Birchmore to prevent federal authorities from learning about alleged wrongdoings.
In this case, the prosecutors are arguing that those crimes would have been:
- Deprivation of rights under the color of the law, a crime that occurs when an official infringes upon someone’s federal rights,
- Enticement, and
- Wire fraud, because Farwell allegedly had sex with Birchmore while he was on duty and being paid.
A former Stoughton dispatcher testified that a friend of Birchmore’s called the station a few weeks before her death, asking to speak with Farwell and making it known that the two were in a relationship. According to testimony and texts shown during the trial, Farwell told the dispatcher to never speak about the call with anyone.
Jurors have yet to hear from the medical examiner that initially ruled Birchmore’s death a suicide or experts for either side that will opine about her injuries and how she was found.
Testimony in the case is set to resume Monday at 9 a.m. at Moakley Federal Courthouse in Boston.
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