ABOUT THIS EPISODE
In December 2020, Sandra Birchmore found out she was pregnant and told Matthew Farwell the baby was his. Prosecutors say that conversation is why she died on February 1, 2021, strangled in her Canton apartment and left to look like a suicide by the former Stoughton detective who had known her since she was a child in the department's Explorers program. Farwell has pleaded not guilty and says she took her own life.
DNA testing later excluded Farwell as the father. Prosecutors say that changes nothing about his state of mind, and point to messages between the two of them showing he believed the child was his while Sandra was making appointments and contacting attorneys about support.
The legal fight that shapes this trial is over whose voice the jury hears. Judge Denise Casper ruled that Sandra's texts, her social media, her statements to people who knew her and excerpts from her handwritten journals all come in. The defense argued it was hearsay from a woman who cannot be cross-examined. Prosecutors won on a rule that strips a defendant of that objection when he is the reason she cannot testify.
Defense attorney and former prosecutor Eric Faddis joins Tony Brueski on what that ruling does to the defense.
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This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.
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