Lawyers for former Stoughton police officer Matthew Farwell are asking to move his trial out of Massachusetts, citing widespread media coverage they say has biased the public against him. The case could potentially be moved to Rhode Island.
Farwell faces federal charges of killing a witness or victim and violating a federal law protecting unborn children by causing the death of Sandra Birchmore’s unborn child.
He has pleaded not guilty to the first charge and, according to his lawyers’ Monday filing, plans to plead not guilty to the second charge at a hearing this week. His trial is scheduled for October 5, 2026.
The Birchmore case has been a major scandal for the Stoughton Police Department. Birchmore, 23, was found dead in her Canton apartment in 2021 while three months pregnant. A new charge has since been filed regarding the death of her unborn child.
Her death was initially ruled a suicide, but a 2022 internal investigation revealed Farwell and two other officers had inappropriate relationships with Birchmore starting when she was underage. Farwell allegedly initiated a relationship when she was 15 and he was 26.
In 2024, a former New York City chief medical officer concluded that Birchmore’s death was a homicide. Farwell was arrested last year and later indicted for allegedly strangling Birchmore and staging the scene to look like a suicide. He resigned from the Stoughton Police Department in 2022 during the internal investigation.
Resources for sexual assault survivors are available through the National Sexual Violence Resources Center and the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-4673. Massachusetts also provides a statewide resource list. For those in crisis, call or text 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or visit 988lifeline.org.
Farwell’s lawyers argue that intense local media attention has created a “widespread public misbelief” that he is guilty of abusing his position of trust, grooming Birchmore, having sex with her while she was a minor, and killing her. They claim that “cherry-picked” details from an FBI affidavit were reported before Farwell had an attorney, skewing public perception. The filings note that The Boston Globe has won two national awards for its coverage of the case.
The lawyers also cite coverage from NBC and contrast the case with the Boston Marathon bombing trial, arguing that Birchmore’s death has drawn primarily local attention, whereas the bombing affected the nation.
Federal prosecutors have not yet submitted a response in court. If convicted, Farwell could face the death penalty.
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