The Matthew Farwell Trial Week 3: Prosecution Rests, Defense Begins
Due to a busy schedule, this episode is unedited and raw.
Happy Halloween!
Matthew Farwell trial, week 3: the prosecution rests in the Sandra Birchmore murder case, and the defense starts building its suicide argument. We cover all five days of testimony, Monday through Friday.
Former Stoughton police detective Matthew Farwell is on trial in Boston federal court, charged with killing 23-year-old Sandra Birchmore and her unborn child in her Canton, Massachusetts apartment in February 2021 and staging it as a suicide. Prosecutors say he groomed and sexually exploited her starting when she was 15 in the Stoughton Police Explorers program. Farwell has pleaded not guilty. His defense says Birchmore died by suicide after he ended their affair.
IN THIS EPISODE Monday: the medical examiner who first ruled Sandra Birchmore’s death a suicide explains what Massachusetts State Police never told her, including the “nothing new to report” emailTuesday: Matthew Farwell’s twin brother, William “Billy” Farwell, testifies under immunity: “I didn’t believe my brother was that dumb,” the “Did you Tom Brady that?” phone comment, and his account of a parking-lot meeting with lead investigator John FanningTuesday: strangulation expert Dr. William Smock on the fractured hyoid bone, the clasp imprint, the broken flamingo necklace, and why he calls it an altered crime sceneThe July 2024 truck crash and “goodbye letter” before Farwell’s FBI arrestWednesday: digital forensics expert Jessica Hyde’s second-by-second phone timeline (9:13 to 9:43 p.m.), the government rests, and former U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins is escorted out of courtThursday: the defense’s first full day: Sandra’s ex-boyfriend, Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Mindy Hull, and the assistant who removed her bodyFriday: defense forensic psychiatrist Dr. Melissa Piasecki on suicide risk factors, and the cross-examination question the jury never heard answeredWhere the Farwell trial stands: remaining defense witnesses, closing arguments, and when the jury could get the case
PATREON: Bonus episode coming tomorrow on Krew Zaugg and how young, popular men walk away from sexual abuse cases with almost no consequences. Patreon: We Saw the Devil