Law&Crime Sidebar - Ex-Cop Groomed Pregnant Teen, Then Killed Her: Prosecutors

Episode Date: October 6, 2026

Federal jury selection has begun in the murder trial of former police officer Matthew Farwell, who is accused of killing 23-year-old Sandra Birchmore and staging her death as a suicide in her Canton, Massachusetts apartment. As prosecutors present evidence linking Farwell to the crime, the case raises critical questions about the original investigation and whether local authorities improperly ruled the death a suicide. Law&Crime's Jesse Weber breaks down the evidence and key trial expectations alongside Law&Crime correspondent Sierra Gillespie, reporting from outside the courthouse.HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Jay Cruz, Christina O'Shea, & Andrew ZuckermanScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson, Heather Berzak & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrimeTwitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Day one of the Matthew Farwell trial out of Massachusetts, the man accused of killing Sandra Birchmore and her unborn child. There are a lot of eyeballs on this case for years. We're going to break down what you need to know about this story and what we can expect from this trial. Welcome to Sidebar. Presented by Law and Crime, I'm Jesse Weber. After five years, we're about to begin the federal murder trial of Sandra Birchmore.

If you've been following this saga since 2021, there is a lot to watch out for. I mean, there is a Facebook page called Justice for Sandra Birchmore that has about 21,000 members. There are people who have been invested in this case, studying this case, dissecting all aspects of it for years. And now we have the criminal trial. And as we're now in the throes of jury selection, I want to summarize the case. I'm going to bring on the amazing Sierra Gillespie, Long Crime Reporter, host of scandal. outside the courthouse, going to be our eyes and ears for what happens inside there, because there are no cameras in federal court. But let me give you some perspective here.

Let me give you back story. Back on February 4th, 2021, 23-year-old pregnant Sandra Birchmore was found dead in her Canton, Massachusetts apartment. Now Canton, Karen Reed, there are overlaps. We'll get into it. For years, her death was listed as a suicide. She was apparently found seated on the floor, what has been reported, a duffel bag strap tied around her neck with the other end, hanging from a doorknob. And then three years later, that is when now, 40-year-old, former police officer Matthew Farwell, was arrested. He was then officially charged by federal authorities with killing a witness or victim, killing Sandra and her unborn child. Why? Because prosecutors allege, and I'll read directly from the first indictment here, and keep in mind

that Sandra had joined the local police explorers program as a 12-year-old and then would meet Farwell, reading verbatim, quote, before Berk. Archmoor attained the age of 16 years old, Farwell engaged in sexual intercourse and other sex acts with Birchmore. Farwell's sexual contact with Birchmore continued until in or around early 2021. During some of the shifts when Farwell was supposed to be performing his duties as a Stoughton police officer, he was instead engaged in sex acts with Birchmore. He failed to disclose that information to the Stoughton Police Department and he took steps to conceal his conduct from other department employees.

In her around December 2020, Birchmore learned that she was pregnant. Birchmore told Farwell that he was the father of the child. On or about January 20th, 2021, Birchmore's friend called the Stoughton Police Department and told a department employee that Farwell had been having sex with Birchmore. Shortly thereafter, a Stoughton Police Department employee told Farwell about the call. On or about February 1, 2021, Farwell killed Birchmore by strangulation. Shortly thereafter, Farwell staged Birchmore's Canton, Massachusetts apartment to make it appear as if Birchmore had committed suicide. And then he was hit, by the way, with a superseding indictment.

He now faces two federal charges, so killing a witness or victim and causing the death of an unborn child. If convicted, he could spend the rest of his life in prison. He was eligible for the death penalty, but then United States Attorney General Pam Bondi instructed prosecutors not to pursue that avenue. He's pled not guilty. He is innocent unless proven guilty. Let me make that clear, too. And I also should tell you this is very significant. We are talking about a federal homicide case because one of the areas of controversy is that state authorities never charged far well with Sandra's alleged murder.

Significant. Now, I want to give you some more details here. And I'm going to read from an affidavit that was part of a detention memo. So take a listen to this. Quote, when she was a young girl, Sandra Birchmore was in. interested in pursuing a career in law enforcement and eventually joined the Stoughton Police Explorer Academy to learn more about law enforcement careers. While Birchmore was in the program, Farwell was involved as both a volunteer and an instructor.

Farwell used his authority and access to groom, sexually exploit, and ultimately sexually abused then 15-year-old Birchmore. Farwell continued the sexual abuse after Birchmore became an adult, and he continued to engage in an extramarital sexual relationship. with Birchmore until he killed her on February 1st, 2021. On February 1st, 2021, then Stoughton police detective Matthew Farwell, killed Sandra Birchmore. Farwell committed this murder, at least in part, to prevent Birchmore, from disclosing to authorities information regarding his commission or possible commission of one or more crimes, including coercion and enticement,

deprivation of rights under color of law, and a then-ongoing wire fraud scheme. Farwell's murder of Birchmore was the culmination of Farwell's years-long pattern of abuse targeting Birchmore. What's the potential evidence you might be asking? What can we maybe see? And I go back to this 2024 affidavit, just to give you an idea of what authorities had reportedly collected. There is going to be a question of what will actually see a trial. But just take a listen. Quote, after Birchmore's death, law enforcement agents obtained Birchmore's cell phones, both Apple iPhones and laptop and reviewed the data on those devices. During that review, agents discovered messages between Farwell and Birchmore. The messages confirm that Farwell

frequently communicated with Birchmore for years. The messages also indicate that Farwell had sex with Birchmore when she was a minor, starting in or around April 2013 when Birchmore was 15 and Farwell was 27. On February 11, 2020, Birchmore and Farwell discussed the exact day that Farwell took then 15-year-old Birchmore's virginity. And this is the conversation. that's embedded in this document. Quote, Birchmore, I had butterflies so bad the day you took my virginity. Farwell apparently responds. Me too.

It was such a big day. Quote, text messages between Birchmore and others confirm that Farwell sexually abused Birchmore as a child and continued a sexual relationship with her until her death. For example, on October 5th, 2020, Birchmore texted one of her friends that Farwell had been having sex with her for the last almost 10 years. And there is more alleged evidence about their supposed relationship, including what appears to be increased pressure on him, to keep her quiet because of her pregnancy. And it turns out that even though prosecutors seem to suggest and argue that Farwell may have believed that Sandra Birchmore was carrying his child, he wasn't even the father. DNA testing excluded him.

But what about the evidence of the actual alleged murder, right? This is all about what would lead into the motive in a way, their theory of the case. What about the actual murder? Well, talking DNA, prosecutors seem to claim that his DNA is linked to the ligature and Sandra's clothing. But then you go back to this affidavit and it reads, quote, Farwell was making a plan to kill Birchmore. Part of that plan included asking Birchmore to give him a key and keep it secret. Another part of that plan was inspecting various rooms of Birchmore's apartment, including the closet,

to determine whether they contained items or presented options for how and when to kill Birchmore. Farwell's request for a key for Birchmore's apartment in the week leading up to her death is corroborated by other evidence. According to text messages, Birchmore and Farwell exchanged on January 29, 2021, Birchmore again gave Farwell the passcode to her building's front door and Farwell verified that the code was the general one given to the entire building, not just one assigned to her. Farwell requesting or accepting a key to Birchmore's apartment was a sudden change from recent conversations. Investigators have reviewed surveillance videos

from Birchmore's Canton apartment building. On February 1st, 2021, she is seen on the video at approximately 501 p.m. accepting a door dash order and then again going outside briefly and returning with a snowbrush at 531 p.m. and 533 p.m. respectively. The last time Birchmore is seen alive on the video is on February 1st, 2021 at 533 p.m. Later that evening, at approximately 908 p.m., Farwell sent Birchmore a text message asking

whether he could, quote, come by for a second. At approximately 9.10 p.m., Berchmore sent Farwell a text message indicating that when he arrived at her apartment, the door would be open for him. This is the last known outgoing message sent from Birchmore's cell phone. Surveillance video shows Farwell entering Birchmore's Canton apartment building at 9.14 p.m. In the surveillance video, Farwell is wearing street clothes, a hoodie with the hood up, and a face mask that is similar to the medical face masks that many people use during the COVID-19 pandemic. I have interviewed multiple witnesses who have each indicated that Farwell resisted wearing a mask during the pandemic. One of these witnesses stated that Farwell would only wear a mask when on duty and required by department policy to do so. The video surveillance recording shows that Farwell left Birchmore's apartment at 943.

And as far as the evidence to suggest that this wasn't a suicide, you go back to this document, quote, I have interviewed family members who helped clean Birchmore's apartment in the days following her death. Some of the things they observed were also inconsistent with Birchmore deciding to die by suicide. For example, during their first visit, they noted that Birchmore had been in the middle of doing laundry when she died with a load of wet clothes in the washing machine and another load dry in the dryer. Additionally, they observed a homemade sign saying, congratulations, you're going to be a father. That sign had an ultrasound photo on it and was sprinkled with glitter. Additionally, in Birchmore's apartment, family members observed a new baby stroller that was still

in its package. They also observed homemade and store-bought onesies for a baby. One onesie read, We're going to be parents with a set of footprints underneath. And authorities also alleged in this document that Farwell had this history of violence and choking Birchmore, a fascination with rape fantasies. Now, I'm not sure how much that's going to play a role in this case. And I will also tell you, I am sure the defense would argue that sometimes people can harm themselves at the most unexpected or surprising times, that they can do something to themselves when all the other outward signs would point to the contrary. You really don't know what someone's going through. But in terms of the evidence, I'm also going to add this. It was recently reported that federal

prosecutors believe that Farwell's phone has some key evidence. And there's a whole dispute about whether or not he consented to a search of it. But in a motion, they write, despite the defendant's efforts to delete data, in the hours since the defendant announced he now consents to a full search, the government has identified incriminating evidence on that device. Now, it's interesting, going back to the affidavit, remember I talked about all the apparent or alleged communications, but this part I thought was significant, quote, on February 9th, 2020, after giving his personal cell phone to state police detectives. Farwell used his Stoughton police-issued cell phone to make and delete two Google searches.

First, Farwell searched for and deleted. Can delete iMessage be recovered by Celebrite? He then searched for and deleted. Can you revoke consent in Massachusetts? I have identified text messages between Farwell and Birchmore, in which Farwell directed Birchmore to destroy evidence of their sexual relationship. On March 11, 2019, Farwell sent Birchmore a text reminding her to, quote, make sure you clear all this out.

On March 19, 2019, Farwell sent Birchmore text about his desire to use sexual violence and to pretend to rape her. At the end of this conversation, Farwell sent her a text indicating that he was going to bed and instructed her to, quote, clear out this text. Now, it's also our expectation that the defense is going to claim that Sandra Birchmore died as a result of. of suicide, possibly going to present evidence of an alleged history of self-harm. That has been a point of contention, too, because for years, her death was classified by the

chief medical examiner as suicide. It wasn't until earlier this year that it was officially changed to undetermined. And you go back to June 2024, that's when a claim forensic pathologist, Dr. Michael Bodden, determined that Sandra Birchmore was in fact killed, a victim of homicide. That's his opinion. It was in contrast to the chief medical examiner. He was also, by the way, actually retained by the Birchmore family who filed their own wrongful death lawsuit.

So look, we anticipate possibly a battle of experts here. In fact, WBUR reports that the judge in this case, U.S. District Judge Denise Casper, ruled that two forensic experts for the prosecution, so Dr. Michael Bodden and Dr. William Smock can and will testify that Birchmore's injuries are consistent with strength. Now, the defense seems to plan to call Dr. Thomas Andrew, New Hampshire's former chief medical examiner, to testify. And this also raises kind of a side issue. Maybe it's not a side issue. Maybe it's more of a essential issue to this case about whether the investigation is credible, whether the investigation was tainted, whether it was botched.

How much that's going to factor into this trial is going to be key. Because prosecutors seem to contend that local and state authorities incorrectly determined that Sandra Birchmore died by suicide. That is when the FBI jumped in. So this is kind of a basic overview of the case. But now I want to get into what we can expect at this trial, including which witnesses may testify. Yeah, that's a big one, too, because there are reports that Farwell's twin brother, who was also a police officer, maybe called William Farwell. He apparently resigned from the force after allegations that he wasn't truthful with authorities about his own parent-sexual relationship with Sandra Birchmore. That's a big allegation.

Also, the suspected father of Sandra's baby is apparently on the witness list, too. And there appears to be some overlap with witnesses in this case and the Karen Reed case, too. So, a lot to get into. So let me bring on somebody who is outside of that federal courthouse right now this morning in Boston, Massachusetts, law and crime reporter, host of scandal, Sierra Gillespie. Sierra always love having you on. Thank you so much. You're going to be our eyes and our ears for what is happening in that court.

since no cameras are allowed. Thanks so much for taking the time. Let's start here. I mentioned how many people, you know, are invested in this case, how many people been watching this case, how many people have been waiting for this trial. What is the scene like outside the courthouse right now for jury selection day one?

Yeah, it's interesting, Jesse, because I think all of us are comparing everything to Lindsay Clancy or Caleb Flynn, right? Because we just saw those major trials. So here I was coming, it's busy in downtown Boston, expecting something kind of like that, but it isn't quite the same. I mean, Lindsay Clancy is on the far end of the spectrum where we saw people who were protesting for and against. Here, we're not seeing as much. Mostly, it's people who are heading to work, you know, going to the buildings that are nearby and reporters. I haven't seen any spectators. It's just a lot of people going to work about their business, but you can tell that there is an error of seriousness here because the charges, the allegations are pretty intense, and so you can kind of feel that. But it isn't the same as some of the recent trials. as we've been seen. That's so interesting.

It might change during opening statements. Sometimes we see that, like, they don't come, like a lot of people who are following the case won't come for the jury selection part, might come for openings day one, which really people believe is like the official start of the trial.

I heard jury selection could be interesting in a case like this that has gotten a lot of publicity. I mean, for everybody who knows, you know, in the Whitey Bulger case, okay, so out in Massachusetts, they summoned, I read almost 860 people to be,

question to fill out questionnaires. Do you think we're going to see something like that today? Do you have any sense of what the jury selection process is going to look like in these few days? 800 is a lot. And a Whitey Bulger, obviously, a huge name known nationwide, especially here in Boston. So that's obviously a high profile case. Not to say that this one isn't. I mean, people have been following along with the Sandra Birchmore case really since it happened back in 2021. And especially since charges were brought in 2024. So Matthew Farwell is a name that people know. I just don't know if it's to the level that, say, a Whitey Boulder would be. Now, today's Tuesday, the judge expects jury selection to last until around Thursday. Anything could happen. I mean, sometimes we've seen a jury

seated really quickly. Sometimes it's been kind of lengthy if I'm looking back to recent trials just off the top of my head. I've seen one that was five days of jury selection. So I know that both sides are definitely going to be choosy here because this is really important. Select your jury and impaneling them is really, really important. So I know that they're going to take their time and be diligent. But I don't know that we're going to have as many people as you saw in a big case like that. Yeah, or what they're going to be questioned about. I mean, first of all, I should tell everybody that it was reported that Matthew Farwell tried to get this case moved out of Massachusetts.

That's what he wanted. I mean, he probably felt that he couldn't get a fair and impartial jury here, given how much attention is on it. You know, one of the things I mentioned before is there is this kind of overlap a bit with the Karen Reed case that some of the witnesses who may be called in this case were maybe people who were part of the investigation in Karen Reed. Do you know, like, if the jury is going to be questioned about Karen Reed? Are they going to be questioned? Did they file that case?

Do they know anybody from that case? That's something that I've wondered, as we've talked about kind of the overlaps there, right? You can feel it in the air. Truly, any Massachusetts case, I joke about it. this, but I always say all roads lead back to Karen Reed. And in a way that they do, I mean, we could talk about Michael Proctor, for instance, who kind of had involvement with the Sandra Birchmore case. So there truly is overlap here, number one. Number two, there's a major distrust for law enforcement in Massachusetts. We've seen this in a lot of cases that we've had here

recently. And I think that is definitely something that the jurors are going to be questioned about. Again, I keep hearkening back to Lindsay Clancy, but I was in the courtroom for jury selection there, and they were asking about law enforcement, because here's what's tricky in this case, is we have a former law enforcement officer who's accused of the most severe crime here. But additionally, they're going to have law enforcement experts to testify. So we need jurors to be able to hang their hats with the experts, but at the same time, an officer is accused. So would I be surprised if they're actually asking questions about Karen Reed?

Not necessarily in a case like this. I mean, the underlying thing here is law enforcement. And again, in Massachusetts and even national. that's a hot topic of discussion. So I think that's definitely on the table. What do you anticipate in terms of how much that's going to play a role in this case? How much of a microscope is going to be on local and state authorities in how they investigated the death of Sandra Birchmore? Because as I mentioned before, you know, he was in charge with state crimes. He's been charged with federal crimes. The FBI got involved. And I think there's a question,

a spotlight on why authorities believed that this was a suicide for a long. period of time. And again, that's something that the defense is going to be going with. But what do you think in terms of that playing a role in this case? How much attention is going to be on the investigation? So much attention is going to be on the investigation in this case, in my opinion, because to your point, Jesse, Sandra Birchmore died in 2021. We didn't see any charges until 2024. Okay, so that, there's already kind of a passage of time there. But then when you add on top of that. The fact that originally her death was ruled as a suicide. And later, all of this information that federal prosecutors now say is the reason that they've, you know, brought charges and they

believe that Matthew Farwell is guilty. We have the images of him in her apartment complex coming and going around the time when we believe that she was killed. There's the hyoid bone of it all that isn't necessarily indicative of dying by suicide. More leans towards strangulation. And so is it possible that this is another case of an alleged police cover-up. I mean, this is something that is definitely going to be addressed and highlighted in this case. Yeah, it'll be interesting how it's crafted by both sides. Let's talk about the witness list.

Who are you expecting to testify? Who do you think is going to move the needle? Who do you think is going to be those days of testimony that you say, watch out for? That's going to be significant. I believe there are a couple that I'm kind of looking out for. One is Matthew Farwell's twin brother. And if you go back to the allegations, which I'm sure you talked about here on Sidebar,

it talks about how Matthew Farwell began grooming Sandra Birchmore when she was 12 or 13, having physical or sexual contact with her when she was only 15 years old. And that is really, really staggering. But it doesn't end with Matthew Farwell. There are additional allegations that his twin brother was also sexual with her. In addition, another man named Robert Devine, who was on the Stone Police Department. So those men, hearing from them and their relations with Sandra Birchmore, that is going to be huge. But moreover, I think her alleged baby daddy or reported baby daddy here, and this is crazy.

Okay, let me just step back for a minute. Matthew Farwell believed that he was the father of Sandra Birchmore's baby, or at least that's what prosecutors are saying, right? And Sandra Birchmore believed that, too. That's what prosecutors say was the motive for him to allegedly kill her. But here's the thing. She, he was not the father of her baby, at least according to the reports that we've seen. And her alleged baby daddy is supposed to testify for the prosecution.

that's the person that I'm watching out for here because that's really interesting. I mean, the defense could use that as an advantage, the fact that he wasn't actually the father based on the DNA results that we now have. But, I mean, that, it goes back to motive, right? Because his wife, Matthew Farwell's wife, gave birth to their third child the day after Sandra Birchmore was allegedly killed. So, I mean, that's a witness I really am interested to see. And his wife is expected to testify to, or is at least on the list?

Correct. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, she's at least on the list. I guess we don't know for sure if she's. testify, but yeah, on the list. And we don't know anything about this, you know, the father of Sandra Birchmore's unborn child, like what her communications were with him leading up to her death. Do we have any, if we're trying to talk about what the substance of his testimony would be,

do we have any indication? At this point, it's still unclear to me. I feel like we will learn a lot more because, of course, they'll have to establish what sort of relationship they had, when they would have had this sexual encounter that could lead to the conception of a baby. all of those things at this point, I don't really know. I mean, for a while, we all thought that it was Matthew Farwell that was the father of her unborn child. And now there have been some reports that it wasn't.

So I think there's still a lot of questions about what his testimony will be. And I think that's why I'm looking forward to that one to kind of fill in the gaps, if you will. Look, I laid it out what the prosecution, there are theories of the case, right? That he had to kill her to keep her quiet. There does become potential evidence here, forensic material DNA, survey. footage, but the defense, and it seems like a big part of this is going to be the battle of the experts to determine whether or not she died by her own hand or not. But do you have a sense of how the defense is also going to explain some of that other evidence away, like the surveillance

footage of him allegedly going to her place? Do you know how the defense is planning to address that? I mean, that's tricky, right? Because investigators say that she died on February 1st, and based on the timestamps, Matthew Farwell can be seen going into her apartment and then leaving right around the last time that her phone had any sort of activity. So we're kind of pinpointing the era in which she died around when he saw her. So that's really hard to combat because we have the video surveillance, right? However, I feel like what the defense is going to go forth and say is, and they have in the past, that that day Matthew Farwell was breaking up with Sandra Birchmore. He was ending their relationship, and that's what led her to allegedly commit suicide.

Matthew Farwell had nothing to do with it except for the fact that he's saying, okay, I'm sorry, I got to go. My wife is giving birth soon. Like, I'm done with this relationship. They're going to pinpoint it as a breakup and say that's why she killed herself. And it's tricky because no one was in the apartment with her that can testify as a witness. You know, I saw X, Y, Z happen. So it's, as you said, a battle of the experts.

And I think they're just going to say it was a breakup that led to her allegedly dying by suicide. You know, in the days leading up to this, the problem, prosecution said they found all this allegedly incriminating evidence on Matthew Farwell's phone. Kind of went through before, you know, some of the apparent text messages, the conversations, but also I guess this is apparent or potential interest that he had in choking and rape fantasies. I don't know if that's going to play a role in this trial, but I was wondering, I'm like, what exactly what digital evidence do you think they found? Like, what evidence do you think they're going to present?

I also know there was a question about material on Sandra Birchmore's laptop. When we talk about digital evidence, do you have an idea of what we should expect here? Well, I know for sure, based on reading the affidavit myself, that there's a whole host of texts between Matthew Farwell and Sandra Birchmore establishing their relationship. This is something that I think prosecutors are going to use to paint the story to say he was grooming her from day one when she was a child. And you can look at the texts, Jesse. I mean, some of them are pretty graphic, sex, I would even say, talking about her losing her virginity to him when she was only 15 years old. I mean, some pretty intense things, and that's just a taste.

That's from the affidavit. So they're going to have way more that we haven't yet to see. So I think text messages are a big thing, and so too will be Internet search history. I mean, I don't know, to your point, how much we're going to hear about rape fantasies or strangulation. But if those were searches that Matthew Farwell made, and especially the timeline in relation to when Sandra died, I think that will be really. really important. And in a lot of cases these days, we see the texts, the searches, the surveillance video. So all of the digital evidence, I think here will also play a pretty big role. One other part I want to get into is the defense is going to be arguing that this was a case of

suicide, seemingly pointing to her alleged history of mental health issues or self-harm. Can you speak about that? Do we know what they're going to present? Again, I don't have her medical records or anything like that. But I think that they would focus on that, the fact that in the past, she maybe had some diagnoses or whether she had gone to a therapist or not. If that's the case, I bet that they will bring that forward. However, I think on the other side of things, it's really strong to indicate that Sandra Birchmore didn't want to commit suicide. And again, we know most of our information from the prosecution, but what I think really stood out to me is the fact that she had a maternity photo shoot set up. She was seemingly, according to her friends and family, really excited to be a mom.

She had her clothes in the washer, you know, that they were left behind. Why would you wash your clothes if you're then planning to die by suicide? So I think that's kind of what they're going to focus on. She never, you know, after being pregnant, had any sort of suicidal ideations. But the defense, if they can dig something up, of course, they would want to focus on that. And this trial's expected to last a while, right? Several weeks? Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, several weeks. Again, we never really know what exactly is going to happen, whether one witness suddenly can't make it or, you know, the testimony was quicker than we thought, but I think it's around 20 days is kind of what we're estimating. So kind of a lengthy trial. I mentioned this before. The death penalty at one point was being considered in this case. I mean, yeah, the fact that this is a federal case. That's where things get different because I know state to state or in Massachusetts, you're the Commonwealth. It kind of depends on what the laws are there. But because this is a federal

crime, death penalty could have been on the table in this. And I mean, I, I mean, I don't. I think that just really speaks to the seriousness, the severity of the allegations here. I mean, anything that we cover here on law and crime is severe. It's kind of the worst of the worst. But I think the fact that there's an alleged cover up here, there's alleged grooming, alleged sexual assault. I mean, there's so many things that go into this case. And I think maybe that's why perhaps death penalty had been on the table. This is going to be a challenging case.

This is going to be an interesting case because it can sometimes be tricky for prosecutors to convince a jury that a former member of law enforcement committed a murder. And I'm not talking an officer involved shooting, a case of whether it was acting in self-defense or not. This is being presented as a cold-blooded plan murder. So I'm very curious to see who is selected for this jury, not an easy case to be a part of. And I think it's going to be a difficult one, particularly I think,

Sierra, when you think about it, I mentioned the before, how much of this is going to be looking at the body and looking at the condition of the body and the battle of experts, and Dr. Michael Bodden is expected to testify, right? Yeah. Yes. And actually, he's a huge part in this case. I'm sure that anybody who watches sidebar

knows the name, Dr. Michael Bodden. He's very well-renowned. And initially, when this was ruled a suicide, Sandra Birchmore's family said, we don't think so. So they retained Dr. Michael Bodden, and he's the one who went in with a closer look and said, this doesn't look like a suicide to me. This looks like that highwayed bone

and the fracture there looks more like strangulation. And that kind of was the pipeline into charges here. So he is going to be another expert witness. I'll be really excited to hear from. Well, Sierra, before we go, let everybody know what your ability is to see what's happening in the court. Because that's a little complicated, right? Like, it's a federal courthouse.

Obviously, there's no cameras. It's the jury selection process. But you may have a front row seat to what is going on there, right? Yeah. Yeah. If we go back to P. Diddy, you know, if any of our viewers remember there, federal cases, you aren't allowed to have cameras. You're not allowed to take still photos or live streams.

So it won't be what we usually see. That's when we're going to kind of have a sketch artist to paint the photo of, or the portrait, rather, of exactly what's going on there. As for reporters, I'll be allowed inside the courtroom, but I can't have my phone. I can't have my laptop. I can't be tweeting or anything like that. It will be back to the old days of a pen and paper, writing everything down and then coming back and reporting on all of it after. However, reporters are allowed in the courtroom. It's just

not what we usually see here on long crime. And we'll see because there's probably going to be a lot of interest, a lot of people showing up, whether or not there has to be use of an overflow room. So we shall see, but listen, your eyes and ears. Thank you so much, Sierra, for jumping on to talk about this. And we're going to see where the Matthew Farwell trial goes. Appreciate it as always. Yeah, thanks, Jesse. That's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar. Everybody, Thank you so much for joining us. Please like and subscribe. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time.