Matthew Farwell Believed WHAT About Sandra’s Baby?!
Sandra Birchmore’s paternity evidence does not fit neatly into either side’s story. DNA testing excludes Matthew Farwell as the biological father of her unborn child, yet prosecutors say Birchmore told him the baby was his and that messages from the period show he believed her. That distinction is now central to the government’s motive theory.
Farwell, a former Stoughton police detective, is charged in federal court with killing Birchmore and causing the death of her unborn child. Prosecutors allege he strangled her in her Canton apartment on February 1, 2021 and staged the death to resemble suicide. Farwell has pleaded not guilty and says Birchmore died by her own hand.
The defense enters trial with a medical record that changed in a significant way. Massachusetts’ Office of the Chief Medical Examiner amended Birchmore’s death certificate from “asphyxia by hanging” and “suicide” to “asphyxia” and “undetermined.” Dr. Thomas Andrew, the defense’s forensic expert and a former New Hampshire chief medical examiner, reviewed the case and says suicidal hanging cannot be excluded. Prosecutors have their own experts who argue the injuries support strangulation.
Judge Denise Casper has ruled that prosecutors may use selected statements from Birchmore’s phone, social media, oral communications and journal. The defense, over the government’s objections, may present evidence about Birchmore’s mental-health struggles and history of suicidal thoughts because its theory is that she took her own life.
Eric Faddis joins Tony Brueski to break down how a jury evaluates motive when the belief may have been wrong, and how “undetermined” becomes a battleground when neither side can treat the original death certificate as the final word.
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This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.
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