Farwell Defense Expert Says Neck Fracture Can’t Show Whether Birchmore Was Strangled

The defense in the Matthew Farwell trial spent Monday trying to poke holes in the government’s forensic case, calling three experts who challenged the prosecution’s key medical witness and testified that the evidence cannot show whether Sandra Birchmore was strangled or died by suicide. The federal trial at the John Joseph Moakley U.S. Courthouse in Boston began Oct. 13, and the defense expects to finish presenting evidence this week.

Farwell, 41, a former Stoughton police detective, is charged with killing a witness or victim and killing a child in utero. He has pleaded not guilty and faces life in prison if convicted. Federal prosecutors allege that he killed Birchmore, 23, who was pregnant, in her Canton apartment on Feb. 1, 2021, and staged the scene to look like a suicide. The defense says she took her own life.

What prosecutors allege

Birchmore and Farwell met when she was 13 through the Stoughton Police Explorers program, CBS Boston reported. The government alleges that Farwell began a sexual relationship with her when she was 15, and prosecutors argue he killed Birchmore and her unborn child to stop her from reporting his alleged crimes to law enforcement. DNA testing excluded Farwell as the father of the baby; testimony identified Army recruiter Jason Pickard as the father.

The case has a long history. The state medical examiner first ruled Birchmore’s death a suicide and changed the manner of death to “undetermined” in April, and the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office did not bring charges. Federal prosecutors later brought the case now before a jury in Boston.

Defense targets the prosecution’s medical expert

The day began with Dr. William Ralston, Kentucky’s chief medical examiner. He testified that prosecution expert Dr. William Smock, a key government witness who testified that Birchmore’s death was a homicide, is not a board-certified forensic pathologist, and CBS Boston reported that Ralston said Smock never performed autopsies. On cross-examination, Ralston acknowledged that Smock has provided forensic consulting for the Kentucky medical examiner’s office.

Smock had told jurors that a fracture of Birchmore’s hyoid bone, a small bone in the neck, indicated homicide and that such fractures are rare in suicides, according to CBS Boston. Forensic anthropologist Dr. Heather Garvin disputed that reading. “This fracture is documented in hangings and strangulations — it’s not specific to either,” she testified. “Looking at the hyoid bone fracture and the anatomy, there is nothing to indicate one mechanism or another. You cannot say,” she said, according to CBS Boston.

Garvin did not examine Birchmore’s hyoid herself; she relied on published research on hanging injuries. On cross-examination, she acknowledged that hyoid fractures are found more often in strangulations than in hangings. Birchmore was found hanging from a door in a seated position.

By the numbers: the forensic testimony

Garvin walked jurors through the forces involved. The figures below are as she described them in testimony, not findings by the court or jury.

The defense’s last witness of the day, forensic scientist Dr. Alicia McCarthy of Thomas College, addressed a mark on Birchmore’s chest. Smock had testified that the injury came from a clasp on the duffel bag strap used in the hanging, and that the clasp was not found near her chest, which he said suggested the scene was staged, CBS Boston reported. McCarthy called the comparison between the mark and the clasp “inconclusive” and said she could not determine with certainty what caused the injury.

What’s next in the Farwell trial

The defense was scheduled to call two more experts Tuesday: Dr. Angi Christensen of the FBI and DNA expert Dr. Maher Noureddine. The defense expects to rest Wednesday, and closing arguments are expected Friday, after which the case would go to the jury.

For more court and police coverage, see our Boston crime and public safety news hub, and for the neighborhood around the courthouse, our Boston Seaport guide.

Sources

• The Boston Globe: Matthew Farwell trial: Defense experts testify as case nears end
• Boston.com: Testimony for the defense resumes in the trial of Matthew Farwell
• CBS Boston: Matthew Farwell defense calls expert witnesses to raise doubt about Sandra Birchmore’s manner of death
• WHDH 7News: Farwell’s defense calls forensic anthropologist to testify