Matthew Farwell, ex-Stoughton police officer accused of killing Sandra Birchmore, seeks bail at hearing

Matthew Farwell, the former Stoughton, Massachusetts police officer charged with killing 23-year-old Sandra Birchmore while she was pregnant with what she thought was his child, asked a federal judge in Boston to release him on bail while he awaits trial. 

Farwell, who appeared in court in a tan prison uniform Tuesday, has been in custody since he was arrested in August of 2024. He has pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Defense lawyer Joanne Daley argued that Farwell "has been a stellar inmate" in jail and is not a danger to the community or a flight risk. Prosecutors, however, said new data from Farwell's phone showed he searched for pornography involving teenage girls, and that makes him a threat.

Sandra Birchmore case

Prosecutors allege that Farwell strangled Birchmore to death in February 2021 inside her Canton apartment, and then staged the scene to make it look like a suicide. 

The defense doesn't deny that Farwell went to her home, but said they had an argument, he told her he was not the father, and ended the relationship. His lawyer also noted that the state medical examiner still considers her death a suicide.

"The science is on Mr. Farwell's side in this case," Daley said. "That is why we are going to trial, to prove that he is innocent."

Birchmore was part of a youth program called the "Stoughton Police Explorers Academy," where Farwell served as a volunteer. A grand jury indictment alleges that Farwell started having sex with Birchmore when she was 15 and he was 27 years old.

Matthew Farwell "used his authority and access to groom, sexually exploit and ultimately sexually abuse Birchmore," prosecutors allege. According to the indictment, a friend of hers called the Stoughton Police Department in January 2021 and told an employee that Farwell and Birchmore had been having sex. 

Prosecutors say the employee told Farwell about the call, and a few days later Birchmore was found dead. The murder happened the day before Farwell's wife was scheduled to give birth to their third child, prosecutors said.

"This defendant raped a child, murdered her when she became an adult, and obstructed justice over and over again," a prosecutor said Tuesday. "He did not end things with her. He ended her."

The judge is taking the bail issue under advisement. Outside court, Birchmore's cousin Barbara Wright said she would feel "terrible" if Farwell was released.

"As far as we're concerned, he's a dangerous human being," Wright said. "And the records show that."

Matthew Farwell

Last fall, Farwell was indicted on a new charge of killing a witness or victim, added under the state's protection of unborn children law. The superseding indictment said Birchmore was between 8 and 10 weeks pregnant with a baby boy. 

Farwell's defense says DNA analysis shows he was not the father of Birchmore's unborn baby. They say there is another person "who is the confirmed biological father" who hasn't been publicly named. 

The Department of Justice said last December that it would not seek the death penalty in Farwell's case. His trial is scheduled to begin in October.