William Farwell, the twin brother of defendant Matthew Farwell, testified in his federal murder trial Monday in exchange for immunity, meaning he can not be charged with any crimes he admits to while on the stand.
Getting right to the point, Prosecutor Brian Fogarty asked William Farwell, “Did you ever engage in sexual contact with Miss Birchmore while you were on duty as a Stoughton police officer?”
Farwell answered, “I did.”
Fogarty then asked, “Are you testifying here today under a grant of immunity from the government?”
Farwell answered, “I am.”
Matthew Farwell is charged with killing 23-year-old Sandra Birchmore and her unborn child and staging the death to look like a suicide. Prosecutors allege Farwell killed her to stop her from exposing federal crimes, including sexual exploitation of a child. They claim Farwell had been grooming her for sex since she was 15-years-old and part of the Stoughton Police Explorers mentoring program.
Farwell’s defense argues that Birchmore took her own life.
William Farwell also testified that he was working detail in the summer of 2018 when he got an unsolicited Facebook message from Birchmore, asking him if she could bring him anything while he was working. Farwell said no, but not long after that, he said they stayed in touch and began having sex when Birchmore was 20 or 21-years-old, according to his testimony.
Fogarty asked “What, if anything, did you know about Matthew Farwell having sex with Sandra Birchmore in July 2018?”
William Farwell answered, “In July 2018, I had no knowledge.”
His testimony comes after the state medical examiner who performed the autopsy on Sandra Birchmore in 2021 took the witness stand in the Matthew Farwell murder trial Monday, and the therpist who treated Birchmore for more than eight years also finished her testimony.
