Jury Deadlocks In Trial Of Ex-cop Matthew Farwell Accused Of Killing Pregnant Sandra Birchmore

A note of deadlock, then a verdict

On Monday, Nov. 9, the jury weighing the fate of former Stoughton, Massachusetts, police officer Matthew Farwell sent word to the judge that it was stuck. "We are in a deadlock it looks like will not change anytime soon," the note read, according to WJAR. Birchmore's friends and family cried in the courtroom, the defense huddled at its table, and prosecutors sat stone-faced, WJAR reported.

Judge Denise J. Casper sent the jurors home and said she would give them new instructions Tuesday. They had been deliberating since Friday, Nov. 6 — the 19th day of a trial that ran nearly a month and drew roughly 50 witnesses and 500 exhibits, according to Police1 and NBC News.

The new instructions worked. On Tuesday, Nov. 10, after nearly two full days of deliberation, a jury of eight men and four women returned at about 2 p.m. and found Farwell guilty on both counts he faced, according to WBUR and the Serpa Law Office. Cries and shouts came from Birchmore's friends and family as the verdict was read; Farwell, dressed in a black suit, briefly hugged a relative before court officers led him away, WBUR reported.

Who Sandra Birchmore and Matthew Farwell were

Birchmore was 23 and pregnant when she died at her apartment in Canton, Massachusetts, on Feb. 1, 2021. She met Farwell years earlier as a child, through a Stoughton Police Department youth program where he served as an instructor, according to WBUR and NBC News.

Farwell — listed as 41 by WBUR and 40 by Police1 — lived in Easton and worked as a Stoughton police detective before resigning in 2022 amid an investigation into his conduct. Prosecutors say the two carried on an extramarital relationship that began, they allege, when Birchmore was 15 and Farwell was 27 — young enough, under Massachusetts law, that she could not legally consent.

Farwell's twin brother, William Farwell, testified under a grant of immunity that he had his own sexual relationship with Birchmore after she became an adult, and that his brother later told him he had wiped his phones, according to the Serpa Law Office. Jason Pickard, whom DNA testing identified as the father of Birchmore's unborn child, testified that he had encouraged her to report Farwell and that she was not suicidal, the Serpa Law Office reported.

"Sandra mattered before anyone outside her family knew her name." — Ray Cosgrove, Birchmore's cousin, per Police1

The charges, the verdict, what they mean

Farwell faced two federal counts tied to Birchmore's death and that of her unborn child. Count One charged him under 18 U.S.C. § 1512(a)(1)(C) with killing a witness or victim — killing someone with intent to stop them from reporting a federal crime to law enforcement. Count Two charged him under 18 U.S.C. § 1841 with causing the death of a child in utero during that same killing, according to the Serpa Law Office.

To convict on Count One, prosecutors had to prove Farwell killed Birchmore with malice aforethought, and that he did it to keep her — or anyone else — from reporting a federal offense to a federal officer. The indictment named three such offenses: deprivation of rights under color of law, coercion and enticement of a minor, and wire fraud. Count Two didn't require prosecutors to prove Farwell knew Birchmore was pregnant — only that the killing charged in Count One ended her pregnancy.

The jury found him guilty on both counts. A conviction under Section 1512 involving a killing carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole, and that is the sentence Farwell now faces. Judge Casper has set sentencing for Feb. 3 — six years and two days after Birchmore was killed, according to NBC News.

Farwell was never charged with murder, because murder is ordinarily a state charge, and local prosecutors never brought one. The Norfolk County District Attorney's Office calls the matter "an ongoing and pending criminal matter," limiting what it can say, NBC News reported. Birchmore's estate has also sued the town of Stoughton, Farwell and others; that civil case is set for a hearing after the federal case ends.

The case prosecutors built, and the one the defense offered

Prosecutors told jurors Farwell strangled Birchmore in her apartment, then staged the scene to look like a suicide. Building surveillance video showed him entering wearing a surgical mask and hood at about 9:14 p.m. on Feb. 1, 2021, and leaving at 9:43 p.m., according to Boston.com and the Boston Globe. Birchmore's last text, at 9:13 p.m., told him the door was open; her phone recorded its last movement at 9:40 p.m. — about three minutes before the lobby camera caught Farwell leaving, the Associated Press reported.

Dr. William Smock, a medical expert called by the government, testified that Birchmore died of asphyxia from strangulation, not partial hanging, and that a fractured hyoid bone and a mark on her chest matching the clasp of a duffel bag strap showed the scene had been altered after her death, according to Boston 25 News and the Boston Globe. An FBI agent testified there were no searches, texts or journal entries about suicide the night she died — only messages about baby shower themes, Boston 25 News reported.

Jurors also heard that a tipster called the Stoughton Police Department on Jan. 20, 2021 — 12 days before Birchmore died — to report an improper relationship, and that a dispatcher told Farwell about the call. Farwell grew visibly upset and told him never to talk about it again, according to Boston.com and WJAR. The FBI later recovered roughly 40,000 texts between Farwell and Birchmore, including messages where she threatened to tell his wife, and his reply calling her "the worst person on the face of the earth" after she told him she was pregnant, according to WJAR and Boston.com.

Farwell's lawyers did not deny the affair but said it began when Birchmore was 16 — old enough to consent under Massachusetts law — not 15. They argued she took her own life, pointing to a documented history of mental health struggles, including an earlier suicide attempt and a psychiatric hold in May 2020, and said Farwell went to her apartment that night only to end the relationship. Their expert, Dr. Thomas Andrew, a former chief medical examiner of New Hampshire, testified the manner of death was undetermined and that the autopsy findings favored suicide, though on cross-examination he acknowledged hyoid fractures are far more common in strangulations than in hangings, according to the Boston Globe, WPRI and NBC Boston. Farwell did not testify.

What they said when it was over

U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Leah Foley called the verdict justice for Birchmore. "Today justice was served for Sandra Birchmore," she said at a news conference after the verdict, according to WBUR. "The evidence introduced at trial exposed the real Farwell, the former police officer who exploited and abused a teenager, Sandra, in a way that should be unimaginable," she said.

Ted Docks, the FBI special agent in charge of the Boston field office, said the case was a reminder that a badge buys no immunity. "Justice requires persistence, not deference, not convenience, and certainly not the protection of those who wear the badge and misuse their authority," he said, according to Police1. "No badge, no title, no position places anyone above the law."

Birchmore's cousin, Ray Cosgrove, spoke for the family. "Nothing that happens in the courtroom can return Sandra or her baby boy to our family but truth matters," he said, according to WBUR. "Accountability matters, and the trust we place in people in positions of authority carries an enormous responsibility." He added, according to Police1: "Our family knew the person. The public knew the case. Sandra mattered before anyone outside her family knew her name."

Another cousin, Barbara Wright, told reporters outside the courthouse the family isn't finished. "There's a lot more work to do," she said, according to NBC News. "There are still other people to hold accountable, who enabled him, people who looked the other way."

What happens next

Farwell is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 3, facing a mandatory term of life in prison without parole under the federal killing statute. He has not been charged with murder in state court — the Norfolk County District Attorney's Office calls that matter "ongoing and pending" — and Birchmore's estate has a separate civil suit against the town of Stoughton, Farwell and others set for a hearing once the federal case closes. Stoughton's police chief and town manager also remain on leave amid a separate outside investigation tied to the case's fallout.