Judge won’t dismiss case against former cop accused of killing Sandra Birchmore
A federal judge on Monday denied a motion filed by Matthew Farwell's defense lawyers to dismiss the case against the former Stoughton police officer over what they claimed was a faulty indictment.
Farwell is accused of killing Sandra Birchmore , a pregnant woman prosecutors say he began sexually abusing when she was 15, in her Canton apartment in 2021, then staging her apartment to look like a suicide.
Prosecutors say Farwell killed Birchmore to prevent her from reporting him for potentially committing federal crimes, including wire fraud for having sex with her on duty.
In court papers and during a hearing in federal court in Boston last week, Farwell's defense lawyers argued the indictment against him failed in two ways. First, they said it failed to show the communication that Farwell is accused of preventing would have been to a federal officer.
They also argued that it did not provide enough specific information about the nature of the communication Birchmore would have made.
Chief U.S. District Judge Denise Casper rejected those arguments, finding the indictment against Farwell could stand.
"The superseding indictment 'sketches the factual predicate of the offense' ... and provides Farwell sufficient notice of the charges against him," Casper wrote.
While the indictment does not specifically define law enforcement officer as a federal law enforcement official or judge, Casper agreed with prosecutors that the law inherently defines the term as a federal official.
Farwell's argument that the indictment failed to show the communication would have specifically been to a federal officer conflated what prosecutors must include in an indictment with what they must prove at trial, Casper wrote.
Farwell is charged with killing a witness or victim and protection of unborn children . The first charge is death-penalty eligible, but prosecutors will not pursue death in Farwell's case at the direction of U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Farwell was indicted by the federal government in August 2024 , more than three years after Birchmore's death. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled her death a suicide, and local prosecutors declined to bring charges against Farwell.
More news about the Sandra Birchmore case
Read the original article on MassLive . Add MassLive as a Preferred Source by clicking here .
