Defense attorneys for the former Stoughton police officer charged with murdering Sandra Birchmore in her Canton apartment want a federal judge to keep jurors from hearing about the Karen Read case or a related civil lawsuit, arguing both could poison the jury pool ahead of an October trial.
Matthew Farwell's lawyers filed the motion in federal court, contending that references to the high-profile Read murder case and former Stoughton Police Chief Donna McNamara's whistleblower lawsuit against the Town of Stoughton are unrelated to the charges against their client and could unfairly influence jurors, Boston 25 News reported.
Prosecutors plan to call approximately 50 witnesses over roughly 20 trial days when the case goes before a jury in October.
The charges
Farwell, a former Stoughton police detective, was arrested in August 2024 and has pleaded not guilty to federal charges of killing a witness and causing the death of Birchmore's unborn child. The second charge carries a mandatory life sentence.
Birchmore, 23, was found dead in her Canton apartment in February 2021. Her death was originally ruled a suicide by hanging. Federal prosecutors allege Farwell groomed and raped Birchmore when she was a teenager, then killed her after she told him she was pregnant and threatened to tell his wife. DNA testing later revealed Farwell is not the biological father of the child, though prosecutors say DNA evidence ties him to the scene.
Canton Police scrutiny
The case has drawn comparisons to the Karen Read investigation in part because pretrial filings suggest the local investigation into Birchmore's death missed evidence and skipped steps, including failing to collect DNA from potential suspects.
Federal prosecutors stated in court filings that state pathologists received bad or incomplete investigative reports from Canton police and Massachusetts State Police, and that the medical examiner never visited Birchmore's apartment, according to NBC Boston.
The Massachusetts Office of the Chief Medical Examiner changed Birchmore's official manner of death from suicide to "undetermined" in late April. The cause was also amended from "asphyxia by hanging" to simply "asphyxia."
NBC Boston legal analyst Michael Coyne said in April that the amended ruling complicates the prosecution's case. "It's a symphony of errors here, compounded on top of one another, and it's very problematic for the government, because the medical examiner's testimony will be admissible, and it does start to help create that reasonable doubt that the defendant needs," Coyne said.
McNamara, the Stoughton police chief who ordered the Birchmore probe, and Stoughton Town Manager Thomas Calter were both placed on paid leave on July 30 amid dueling harassment and discrimination claims. McNamara has alleged her lawsuit involves whistleblower retaliation tied to her cooperation with the FBI on the Farwell case.
The federal judge has not yet ruled on the defense motion to exclude the Read and McNamara references. The trial is scheduled to begin in October.
