Sandra Birchmore case: Federal officials want to keep Matthew Farwell’s prosecution in Mass.
Federal officials are seeking to keep the prosecution of Matthew Farwell in Massachusetts after the former Stoughton police detective requested to hold his trial in Rhode Island on a charge of killing Sandra Birchmore, a young woman who was pregnant at the time of her death.
Farwell, 40, is charged with killing a witness or victim in connection with the death of Birchmore. Prosecutors say he began sexually abusing Birchmore when she was a teenager. Officials said last week that U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi directed the government not to seek the death penalty in the case.
In a court filing on Friday, federal prosecutors said that Farwell has failed to show that the pretrial media coverage will prevent him from having a fair trial in Boston.
Prosecutors compared Farwell's case to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, convicted after the Boston Marathon bombing, who similarly received local and national media attention.
Farwell's request to transfer the case out of Massachusetts "falls woefully short of demonstrating the media attention, or any alleged prejudice, that surpasses what occurred in that case," prosecutors wrote.
In November, Farwell's attorneys asked a judge to transfer his trial to Rhode Island and cited "voluminous pretrial publicity" as a reason.
Birchmore, 23, was eight to 10 weeks pregnant and carrying a boy when she died, prosecutors have said. She believed Farwell was the father, but DNA analysis revealed he was not, The Boston Globe reported.
Farwell first encountered Birchmore after she joined a program run by the Stoughton Police to teach young people about law enforcement careers, where he was a volunteer and later an instructor.
Birchmore was 12 years old when she signed up in 2010. Prosecutors say he began sexually abusing her at 15, below the age of consent in Massachusetts.
Farwell's trial is set to begin next October. If convicted, he faces a life sentence.
Farwell has pleaded not guilty, and in recent court filings, his attorney, Kimberly Stevens, noted that Birchmore's death was ruled a suicide by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, and that despite the federal charges against Farwell, the manner of death listed on her death certificate has never changed.
Farwell is being housed at a federal detention center in Central Falls, Rhode Island, seven miles from the Providence courthouse.
The Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey's Office declined to open a grand jury investigation or charge Farwell with any crimes, federal prosecutors noted in their most recent filing.
A federal grand jury indicted Farwell in August 2024.
A judge has yet to rule on Farwell's request to change his trial venue. The next hearing for his case is scheduled for Feb. 6.
More news about the Sandra Birchmore case
Read the original article on MassLive . Add MassLive as a Preferred Source by clicking here .
