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  "published_at": "2026-11-12T01:20:08.249Z",
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    "headline": "Jury convicts former Stoughton detective of killing Sandra Birchmore and her unborn child",
    "dek": "Her death in 2021 was first ruled a suicide. Matthew Farwell now faces mandatory life without parole. The jury said it was deadlocked a day before it convicted.",
    "prose": "A federal jury found Matthew Farwell guilty of killing Sandra Birchmore and her unborn child.[^1] Farwell is a former Stoughton police detective.[^2] The verdict was read in federal court in South Boston on Tuesday afternoon.[^3]\n\nHe was convicted of killing a witness and causing the death of an unborn child.[^4] He had pleaded not guilty.[^5]\n\n## A death first called suicide\n\nBirchmore was found dead in her Canton apartment in February 2021.[^6] State authorities initially ruled the death a suicide.[^7] At trial, the defense argued she died by suicide.[^8]\n\nProsecutors alleged that Farwell groomed Birchmore from the time she was 15.[^9] She learned she was pregnant in 2020.[^10] The father of the unborn child was a former United States Army recruiter.[^11]\n\n## Twenty-nine minutes\n\nSurveillance video captured Farwell entering Birchmore's apartment at 9:14 p.m. on 1 February 2021.[^12] It captured him leaving at 9:43 p.m.[^13] The two times are 29 minutes apart.\n\nHe was arrested and charged in August 2024.[^14] That was three and a half years after she died.\n\n## A jury that nearly did not decide\n\nJurors heard from 50 witnesses over four weeks.[^15] The day before the verdict, the jury reported that it was deadlocked.[^16]\n\nThe two accounts of the deliberations differ. WBUR reported that jurors deliberated nearly two full days.[^17] WHDH put it at roughly 16 hours over three days.[^18]\n\nFarwell had no noticeable reaction when the verdict was read.[^19]\n\n## The sentence\n\nKilling a witness carries a mandatory sentence of death or life in prison.[^20] The Department of Justice chose not to seek the death penalty.[^21] Causing the death of an unborn child carries a minimum sentence of life.[^22] Farwell faces mandatory life in prison without parole.[^23]\n\nSentencing is set for 3 February 2027.[^24]",
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