Ex-cop charged with killing sex abuse victim Sandra Birchmore faces verdict after grim details emerged at trial
BOSTON — A jury in Boston is set to decide the fate of a disgraced ex-cop accused of killing Sandra Birchmore — who was allegedly groomed by police officers, sexually abused from the age of 15 and then murdered when she got pregnant.The trial against ex-Stoughton Detective Matthew Farwell is wrapping up, with prosecutors and his defense lawyer slated to begin closing arguments Friday morning, following nearly four weeks of harrowing testimony.Both sides have been allotted an hour and a half for closings, with jurors expected to begin deliberations after, according to a report by the Boston Globe.At the trial, the jury heard dueling accounts of the 23-year-old pregnant woman’s Feb.1, 2021, death.Prosecutors claimed Farwell, a 41-year-old married father, killed Birchmore and staged it to look like a suicide to keep her quiet about her pregnancy, their affair and his years of sexually abusing her starting when she was 15.Meanwhile, Farwell’s defense claimed Birchmore killed herself just after he went to her Canton apartment to break up with her.Farwell did not testify but his lawyers called 12 of the 50 witnesses that jurors heard from, including a former medical examiner who claimed Birchmore’s injuries signaled a suicide rather than a homicide.This same question — suicide or homicide — has dogged the case from the outset, with Birchmore’s death initially deemed a suicide.Controversial Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey, who was also responsible for the prosecutions of Karen Read, declined to bring charges.The feds eventually launched their own probe, leading to Farwell’s arrest more than three years later.Farwell met Birchmore when she was an aspiring cop in a youth police program he helped run.
He began grooming the troubled teen and eventually started a sexual relationship with her when she was 15, according to prosecutors.The legal age of consent in Massachusetts is 16.Years later, when Birchmore was an adult, she became jealous ...