Lawyers for Matthew Farwell, the former Stoughton police officer convicted this week of killing Sandra Birchmore, signaled on Thursday, Nov. 12, that he will seek a new trial.[1] The filing came as criticism grew of Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey, whose office did not bring a state case.[2]
Related: Federal Jury Finds Former Stoughton Detective Matthew Farwell Guilty of Killing Sandra Birchmore.
What the defense filed
Farwell’s lawyers, Joanne Daley and Kimberly Stevens, asked the U.S. District Court in Boston for more time to file two motions.[1] One motion would ask the court to acquit Farwell, and the other would ask for a new trial.[1] The lawyers also asked for permission to file more pages.[3]
The request cited the “complex and substantial” issues the motions will raise.[1] The defense asked for 30 days from the delivery of the final trial transcripts.[1] Prosecutors did not object to the request.[1]
A federal jury on Tuesday found Farwell guilty of killing a witness or victim and of violating a federal law that protects unborn children.[1] The charges carry a mandatory sentence of life in prison, and sentencing is expected in February 2027.[3]
Birchmore was found dead in her Canton apartment in early 2021, and her death was first ruled a suicide.[1] Federal investigators later determined that she had been killed.[1] Farwell’s defense maintained at trial that she died by suicide.[1]
Criticism of the district attorney
Birchmore’s cousin Barbara Wright faulted the state after the verdict. “It shouldn’t have come to this, the state should’ve done it,” Wright said, in remarks reported by WBZ-TV.[2]
Morrissey’s office acknowledged the criticism in a statement after the conviction.[2] The office said its “ability to prosecute was constrained by the finding of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) that the manner of death was suicide.”[2]
Morrissey was first elected in 2010 and did not seek reelection this year.[2] WBZ-TV said it emailed his spokesperson, visited his Canton office, left a voicemail and knocked on his door, and did not reach him.[2] WCVB said it also contacted Morrissey and had not heard back.[4]
A former deputy chief’s account
Kingston Police Chief Brian Holmes was Stoughton’s deputy chief and oversaw the internal investigation into Farwell.[2] Holmes said he pressed Morrissey’s office to do more before he took the case to the FBI.[2]
“I asked for an investigative grand jury and I asked for a special prosecutor to be assigned,” Holmes told WCVB. “It never happened.”[4] Holmes said he gave his evidence to the FBI in 2022.[4]
Holmes described a contentious meeting with Morrissey and his first assistant in an interview with WBZ-TV on Thursday.[2] “The sense that I was getting is we are treating it as a suicide and that’s it,” Holmes said.[2] These are Holmes’ accounts, and Morrissey has not responded to them publicly.[4]
At trial, the medical examiner testified that she asked investigators for updates before closing the autopsy file and was told there were none.[2]
What the incoming district attorney plans
District Attorney-elect Djuna Perkins will be sworn in on Jan. 6, 2027.[5] Perkins told WBZ-TV on Tuesday that she plans to impanel an investigative grand jury.[5] It would examine the now-disbanded Stoughton police explorers program, where Farwell and Birchmore met.[5]
Perkins said she would focus on “potential other victims” of the program and on other adults who may bear criminal responsibility.[5] Perkins did not name any person in the interview.[5]
“I was incredibly disappointed that her own community did not seek justice for her,” Perkins said of Birchmore.[5]
What happens next
Under the schedule the defense requested, the post-trial motions would follow delivery of the final transcripts.[1] Sentencing is expected in February.[3]
More coverage is on The Boston Report’s public safety page, in Massachusetts government news and in Boston news.
Sources
- NBC10 Boston: Ex-officer convicted in Sandra Birchmore’s death to seek new trial
- CBS Boston (WBZ-TV): Norfolk DA Michael Morrissey nowhere to be found as criticism peaks of his investigation in Sandra Birchmore’s death
- WCVB: Matthew Farwell defense seeks new trial after guilty verdict in Sandra Birchmore case
- WCVB: Ex-Stoughton deputy chief says he urged deeper look at Farwell, Birchmore: ‘Never happened’
- CBS Boston (WBZ-TV): Incoming Norfolk DA Djuna Perkins says “we need to do better” in aftermath of Matthew Farwell case
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