Overview
- U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley notified the court that Attorney General Pam Bondi directed prosecutors not to pursue capital punishment in the case.
- Matthew Farwell, a former Stoughton police officer, is federally charged with killing Sandra Birchmore and her unborn child and has pleaded not guilty.
- The government’s decision arrives ahead of a court-imposed Jan. 20, 2026 deadline to declare whether it would seek the death penalty.
- Birchmore’s 2021 death was initially ruled a suicide, but federal investigators reexamined the evidence and retained their own examiner who disagreed with that finding.
- DNA testing excluded Farwell as the fetus’s father, the defense is seeking a change of venue from Massachusetts, and trial is scheduled in Boston for October 2026.