The federal jury in the trial of former Stoughton police detective Matthew Farwell began deliberating on Friday afternoon, November 6, 2026, after closing arguments in which prosecutors said he went to Sandra Birchmore’s apartment “to save himself” and the defense told jurors that her 2021 death was a suicide. The jury, eight men and four women, was sent out shortly before 2:30 p.m., NBC10 Boston and Boston 25 News reported.
Farwell, 40, is charged with killing Birchmore, 23, who was pregnant, in her Canton apartment on February 1, 2021, and staging her death to look like a suicide. He has pleaded not guilty and is presumed innocent. He did not testify. The trial ran four weeks, with 50 witnesses, Boston 25 reported.
The prosecution: “he was there to save himself”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Fogerty gave the government’s main closing. According to WCVB and NBC10:
- He told jurors Farwell groomed and controlled Birchmore for years, tracking her location and directing her to delete their messages, WCVB and NBC10 reported. He said the relationship began when she was 15.
- He said that control slipped when Birchmore became pregnant and gave Farwell an ultimatum, and that a late January 2021 tip to Stoughton police about the relationship blew everything up. “Keeping Sandra around was very risky,” he said, according to NBC10.
- He said Farwell then turned kind and asked for a key to her apartment, something he had previously resisted, and that Birchmore told others she found it odd that he inspected her closet and bathroom a week before she died, according to NBC10.
- He pointed to surveillance video of Farwell arriving masked, though witnesses said he hated masks, and leaving minutes after her phone recorded its last steps, WCVB and NBC10 reported.
- “When the defendant went to Sandra Birchmore’s apartment on Feb. 1, 2021, on the eve of his wife’s planned C-section in white out conditions, he was there to save himself, to end any possibility she would expose him,” Fogerty said, according to WCVB. NBC10 reported he told jurors Farwell was not looking to end things with Birchmore, but to end her.
Fogerty also tied the case to the federal charge’s motive element. He said the crimes Farwell sought to hide were coercion and enticement and deprivation of rights, because Birchmore could not legally consent, and wire fraud for having sex with her while on duty, NBC10 reported.
The defense: the medical examiner called it suicide
Defense attorney Kimberly Stevens gave the defense closing. According to NBC10’s account:
- She described an earlier episode in which a relative told police Birchmore had threatened to kill herself, and said Birchmore later declined a therapist’s recommendation to see a psychiatrist.
- She said Birchmore was alone and under financial strain.
- She said Farwell made no attempt to disguise himself, that everyone who saw the video recognized him, and that he wore a mask because he was a married man having an affair in a town where people knew him. She said he went to the apartment the night before his wife was to give birth to break up with Birchmore, and that was all he was doing.
- She showed jurors the medical examiner’s report listing the manner of death as suicide, and noted that when it was changed after three and a half years, it was changed to undetermined, not homicide.
- She said Farwell’s DNA was not found under Birchmore’s fingernails, that there was no bleeding around the broken hyoid bone in her neck, which she said meant it broke after death, and that “there is no evidence in this case that Farwell ever possessed a key.”
The rebuttal
Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Riley had 15 minutes. She said Birchmore was planning for the baby, including babyproofing her apartment, and that Birchmore, a known oversharer, told no one that Farwell had supposedly broken up with her that night, NBC10 reported. The judge cut her off when her time ran out.
What the jury must decide
Farwell is not charged with murder under state law. He faces two federal counts: killing a witness under 18 U.S.C. § 1512(a)(1)(C), which requires proof that he killed Birchmore to prevent a communication to law enforcement about a possible federal offense, and a count under the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1841. Before deliberations, Chief U.S. District Judge Denise Casper read the charges, explained what the government must prove and went over the verdict form, NBC10 reported. The defense filed a renewed motion for acquittal Friday morning, and the judge denied it, according to NBC10. The elements, in detail.
“The verdict must be unanimous,” under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 31(a), which we read at Cornell’s Legal Information Institute. Under Rule 31(b), the jury may return a verdict on a count it agrees on even if it cannot agree on the other. The judge planned to check in with the jury at 4:30 p.m. and send it home around 5 p.m. if there was no verdict, NBC10 reported. If deliberations continue into next week, they are scheduled for 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day.
Frequently asked questions
When will the Farwell jury reach a verdict?
There is no deadline. The jury began deliberating Friday, November 6, around 2:30 p.m. If it does not reach a verdict Friday, deliberations resume the following week, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., according to NBC10.
What is Matthew Farwell charged with?
Killing a witness to prevent communication with law enforcement, 18 U.S.C. § 1512(a)(1)(C), and causing the death of an unborn child under 18 U.S.C. § 1841. The government is not seeking the death penalty, so the maximum is life in prison.
Did Matthew Farwell testify?
No. He told the judge Wednesday that he would not testify, and the jury will be instructed that it cannot hold that against him.
Sources: NBC10 Boston live coverage, Boston 25 News and WCVB, November 6, 2026. Fed. R. Crim. P. 31, read at LII. Charges from the superseding indictment in United States v. Farwell, No. 1:24-cr-10259-DJC (D. Mass.), as described in our earlier reporting. General information, not legal advice.