Ex-Stoughton deputy chief appeals revocation of law enforcement certification
A former Stoughton deputy police chief whose certification to work in law enforcement was revoked in December over inappropriate conduct with Sandra Birchmore is appealing the decision. He claims his constitutional rights were violated and the decision was based on incorrect applications of the law.
Robert Devine filed the appeal in Suffolk Superior Court on Tuesday, about three weeks after the Peace Officer Standards and Training, or POST, Commission voted to revoke his certification. The vote means Devine is barred from working in law enforcement in Massachusetts.
In its 30-page decision, the POST Commission wrote that Devine "lacked credibility in his denials of the relevant allegations against him."
"(Devine) has a pattern of unprofessional police conduct that may escalate and that he has repeated sustained internal affairs complaints," the commission wrote.
During hearings over the summer , an attorney for the commission said Devine used the alias "Marty Riggs" — the name of a fictional character in the Lethal Weapon film series — on Facebook to message Birchmore. The attorney said Devine used the alias to coordinate a sexual encounter while he was on duty.
Birchmore was found dead in her Canton apartment in February 2021. Her death was initially ruled a suicide, but federal authorities later arrested and charged Matthew Farwell, a former Stoughton police officer, with killing her. Farwell is also accused of grooming Birchmore and beginning a sexual relationship with her when she was 15.
Attorney Robert Stowe, who represents Devine, denied the accusations related to Birchmore during the POST hearings.
"There's a big lie that's being played out here," Stowe said, adding that the POST Commission's lawyer was "trying to present a lie that's been perpetrated by (Sandra Birchmore) at the behest or at the encouragement" of another former Stoughton officer: William Farwell, who now lives out of state.
In his appeal, Devine claims that his rights were violated because he could not cross-examine Birchmore at the hearings. He contends the Facebook messages are hearsay evidence because they couldn't be authenticated by Birchmore.
"The Division produced hearsay evidence with no foundation or witnesses to authenticate it against Devine, who was unable to call/subpoena S.B. (Sandra Birchmore) and examine her, since she is dead," the filing reads.
A wrongful death lawsuit filed by Birchmore's estate claims that Devine and the Farwell brothers groomed Birchmore when she joined the police department's youth Explorers program in 2010 at age 13, a program that Devine supervised.
Matthew Farwell is the only one of the three accused by officials of sexually abusing Birchmore as a child; his brother and Devine, however, had sexual relationships with her after she became an adult, according to a Stoughton Police Department investigation.
More news about the Sandra Birchmore case
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