BOSTON (Court TV) — Prosecutors have approximately three months to decide whether to seek the death penalty for Matthew Farwell, who is accused of murdering Sandra Birchmore and staging her death to look like a suicide.
This photo provided by the Stoughton, Mass., Police Department shows Matthew Farwell, a former police officer who pleaded not guilty Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024, to charges of killing a woman he is accused of sexually exploiting when she was underage and then trying to stage the death as a suicide after she told him she was pregnant. (Stoughton Police Department via AP)
A federal indictment filed in 2024 charges Farwell with murder and obstruction of justice. At the time of her death, Birchmore had been in a sexual relationship with Farwell for years; that relationship allegedly began when she was an underage member of the Stoughton Police Explorers Academy.
While DNA testing revealed that Farwell was not the father of Birchmore’s baby, prosecutors say that he believed he was and that he killed Birchmore to keep their affair a secret. Federal investigators say that Birchmore was killed while Farwell’s wife was in labor with their third child.
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On Thursday, a federal judge set Oct. 5, 2026, as the date Farwell’s jury trial will begin. At the same time, the judge set January 20 as the deadline for prosecutors to file a notice to seek the death penalty, if they choose to do so.
Farwell previously filed a motion seeking to add an attorney who specializes in death penalty cases, Kimberly Stevens, to his team, WBTS reported.
Farwell has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Birchmore’s family has filed a separate wrongful death lawsuit against Farwell and the Stoughton Police Department.
