Overview
- Matthew Farwell’s attorneys asked a federal judge on Thursday to release him on $50,000 bail to live with his mother under home confinement with GPS monitoring, plus surrender of firearms and passport.
- The defense says DNA testing ruled out Farwell as the father of Sandra Birchmore’s fetus and points to an unnamed confirmed biological father, and an amended court filing clarified that a footnote did not identify Farwell’s brother as the father.
- Farwell’s lawyers argue Birchmore died by suicide, citing the state medical examiner and another government pathologist, while prosecutors rely on a third expert who says she was strangled, a conclusion the defense plans to challenge at trial.
- Prosecutors accuse Farwell of killing Birchmore and staging a suicide, noting building video that shows him entering and leaving her apartment on Feb. 1, 2021, and he has pleaded not guilty with trial set for October.
- Farwell has been held since his August 2024 arrest after losing bids to dismiss the case and move it out of Massachusetts, and a bail ruling now could indicate how the court views his risk level and the contested evidence.