Crime

The judge who ordered the former officer detained described the evidence against him as “very strong, if not overwhelming.”

Matthew Farwell, the former Stoughton police officer charged with killing Sandra Birchmore, will be denied bail pending his federal trial, a judge ruled Tuesday.

U.S. Magistrate Judge M. Page Kelley ordered that Farwell, 40, remain in custody ahead of his trial. His trial is set to begin Oct. 5.

In March, Farwell’s lawyers filed a motion arguing for his release. Prosecutors filed three supplemental memorandums in support of detention both before and after his April 28 hearing.

Kelley cited the evidence against Farwell in her order, describing it as “very strong, if not overwhelming.” She also considered the seriousness of the murder charge, which, “in and of itself, weighs in favor of a finding of dangerousness.”

Farwell is accused of killing Birchmore, 23, in early 2021 by strangling her and staging the scene to make it look like she died by suicide. Birchmore was pregnant at the time, and prosecutors say Farwell believed he was the father of her unborn child.

Due to the nature of Farwell’s alleged crime and potential sentence if convicted, he poses a flight risk, according to Kelley. She also determined that the context of the allegations suggest that his release would risk obstruction of justice.

“The government argues that Farwell poses a serious risk of obstructing justice if released because there is strong evidence that he killed Birchmore in order to prevent her from revealing his past crimes and then altered the crime scene to prevent his crime from being discovered; that he often told her to destroy evidence of their relationship by telling her to delete texts; and that he attempted to delete incriminating data from his own phone,” Kelley wrote in the ruling. “In addition, the government points to evidence that Farwell lied to Massachusetts State Police detectives who were investigating Birchmore’s death.”

Farwell lived in North Easton with his wife and three children prior to his arrest, but he proposed to live in Mansfield with his mother if released, according to the order. He is still awaiting a separate request to have certain items of evidence excluded from the case in a motion which prosecutors have opposed.

Chief District Judge Denise Casper did not rule on that motion Tuesday, according to The Boston Globe. However, she remarked that she would likely deny his additional request for an evidentiary hearing challenging how law enforcement handled searches of his cell phone and iCloud account in 2024.

Farwell alleged that law enforcement withheld information about Birchmore’s mental health history when seeking permission from a magistrate judge who later authorized their searches. Casper rebutted the defense’s argument, stating that it lacked a meaningful bearing on the actual evidence, the Globe reported.

“I’m not understanding how the mental health history vitiates the other evidence that’s offered in the affidavit,” Casper said.

Farwell and Birchmore met when he was an instructor and she was a participant in the Stoughton Police Explorers Academy, a vocational program to introduce local youth to policing. Prosecutors have pointed to evidence suggesting that the two of them began a sexual relationship when Birchmore was 15 and Farwell was 26.

DNA testing has since revealed that Farwell was not the father of Birchmore’s unborn child. Authorities have not released details regarding the father’s identity.