Karen Read and Sandra Birchmore cases cast doubt on Massachusetts police and prosecutors
The Karen Read murder trial and the death of Sandra Birchmore in the same Massachusetts county cast doubt on the relationship between police and prosecutors.
Weeks after a mistrial was declared in the high-profile murder case of Karen Read, more allegations of police misconduct surfaced in the same Massachusetts county where a former police detective was charged in the 2021 death of a pregnant woman, placing a renewed spotlight on the relationship between police and prosecutors.
Criminal justice experts say the two cases appear to involve investigative missteps that highlight the need to scrap the Massachusetts model of investigating high-profile crimes.
“Understatement of the century but Massachusetts has a serious problem with murder investigations involving police suspects, witnesses, and leads,” criminal justice journalist Susan Zalkind posted on X on Wednesday. “Poor Sandra Birchmore. Beyond depraved.”
Federal prosecutors allege former detective Matthew Farwell groomed Birchmore, 23, and began sexually abusing her as a teen, when he worked with the Stoughton Police Explorers Academy, a youth program she was in. He was arrested Wednesday, with prosecutors alleging he killed Birchmore, who had told him she was pregnant with his child, and attempted to stage the scene as a suicide so that the sexual abuse allegations would stay hidden.
Farwell has pleaded not guilty.
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