The former Stoughton police officer accused of killing a woman prosecutors say he had been sexually abusing since she was a teenager is seeking to add an out-of-state lawyer who is an expert in death penalty cases to his defense team.
Matthew Farwell is charged with a single count of killing a witness or victim in connection with the death of Sandra Birchmore, who was found dead in her Canton apartment in 2021 in what federal prosecutors have described as a staged suicide. Birchmore’s death was initially ruled a suicide, but federal prosecutors last year charged Farwell with killing her.
Sandra Birchmore, of Canton, died in 2021 and Massachusetts officials ruled her death a suicide. On Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024, federal authorities charged former Stoughton police officer Matthew Farwell with killing Birchmore. Bichmore is pictured here in a photograph from Facebook.Sandra Birchmore
The lawyer, Kimberly Stevens, represents people charged in federal capital cases, where they could face the death penalty, across the country. Farwell could be put to death if convicted, but federal prosecutors have not said whether they intend to pursue the death penalty in his case.
Stevens previously represented Dylan Roof, who was sentenced to death for killing nine people in a Black South Carolina church. She also represented James Bradley Jr., a Kentucky truck driver who admitted to a human smuggling scheme that led to the death of ten immigrants.
Farwell’s public defenders asked for Stevens to be appointed to the case in a court filing Tuesday. The federal judge presiding over his case has not yet ruled on the motion, but it is rare for judges to deny such requests.
Farwell has not appeared in court since his arrest last August. At a very brief hearing in February, a magistrate judge asked lawyers to begin thinking about whether they could set a trial date. No such date has been set.
Birchmore, 23, told Farwell she was pregnant with his baby before her death, a revelation that prosecutors have said prompted Farwell to kill her. But DNA analysis revealed Farwell was not the father, The Boston Globe reported.
