The federal murder trial of former Stoughton, Massachusetts, police officer Matthew Farwell turned to medical testimony on Monday, October 26, as the pathologist who performed Sandra Birchmore's autopsy took the stand in Boston, the Boston Globe reported. Farwell has pleaded not guilty to killing Birchmore, who was 23 and pregnant when she was found dead in her Canton apartment in February 2021.
The trial, which began with jury selection on October 6, has produced an unusual sight. The federal prosecutors bringing the case are spending much of their time attacking the state investigators who looked at it first.
The charges and the defense
Prosecutors allege Farwell met Birchmore when she was 13 through a police youth program and began a sexual relationship with her when she was 15 and he was 27. They say he strangled her after she told him she was pregnant, possibly with his child, and staged the scene to look like a suicide, according to CBS Boston. Prosecutors say the killing came a day before his wife was due to give birth to their third child.
Farwell is charged with killing a witness or victim, a federal crime that carries a mandatory life sentence on conviction. The Justice Department announced in December 2025 that it would not seek the death penalty.
The defense says Birchmore died by suicide after Farwell told her he was not the baby's father and ended the relationship. DNA testing later excluded him as the father.
A case that flips the usual roles
The Norfolk District Attorney's office, led by Michael W. Morrissey, had concluded Birchmore died by suicide, relying on the initial finding of the state medical examiner. In court, federal prosecutors have walked jurors through what that investigation missed, the Boston Globe reported.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Torey B. Cummings said State Police closed the case without seeking search warrants or attending the autopsy. Farwell and his twin brother were interviewed in parking lots, without recordings or notes. State Trooper Matthew Dunne testified that he did not interview Birchmore's neighbors or notice her broken flamingo necklace chain.
FBI Special Agent Heidi Kelsch testified that agents, by contrast, reviewed about 40,000 messages between the two, many never examined by State Police, and interviewed about 130 witnesses.
Defense attorney Joanne M. Daley has pushed back hard. She argued that prosecutors are distancing themselves from state investigators while relying on evidence those same officials gathered, and reminded jurors that the state is still part of the government bringing the case. State Police and Morrissey's office declined to comment, citing the ongoing trial.
The medical fight ahead
The central question for the jury may be how Birchmore died. Dr. María Del Mar Capó-Martínez performed the autopsy, and the state medical examiner's office initially ruled the death a suicide by hanging. Earlier this year, the office changed the manner of death to undetermined. Federal prosecutors say the suicide ruling was premature because it relied on incomplete information and misinformation, the Globe reported.
A federal judge has ruled that two prosecution experts who say Birchmore was strangled, Dr. William Smock and Dr. Michael Baden, may testify. The defense says Birchmore had a history of mental illness. Her longtime therapist, Diala Alkhalil, returned to the stand on Monday, and Farwell's twin brother, William, testified briefly under a grant of immunity.
Why defense lawyers are watching
Usually it is the defense that asks jurors to doubt an official medical ruling. Here, the government is the side asking jurors to set aside the first finding. Commentators told the Globe that jurors will weigh whether the investigations were fair and whether prosecutors are credible, since the two sets of investigators reached opposing conclusions.
Friction between state and federal authorities is not new. It also shapes the two-track prosecution in the Luigi Mangione case, though there both governments are pursuing charges. The trial is expected to last about five weeks.
It is the kind of case the Two Taps legal panel of Daniel Rosenberg, Michael Dye and Lloyd Golburgh takes apart on the show.
Two Taps News stories summarize reporting and the analysis discussed on Two Taps and Friends. They are not legal advice. Read our standards.
