In the wake of Matthew Farwell being found guilty on federal charges in the deaths of Sandra Birchmore and her unborn baby, Norfolk County District Attorney-elect Djuna Perkins joined Boston 25 News to discuss the outcome and the path forward for the office she is inheriting.
Matthew Farwell was found guilty of killing a witness or victim and causing the death of an unborn child under federal law.
[ ‘Sadness, happiness, relief’: Former Stoughton cop guilty in deaths of Sandra Birchmore, unborn son ]
Prosecutors argued that Farwell groomed Birchmore after she entered the Stoughton Police Explorers program at just 12 years old and had a sexual relationship with her for nearly a decade.
Perkins said she plans to take another look at the Birchmore case. She described how she plans to open an investigative grand jury into the Youth Explorers Program in Stoughton and conduct an audit of the District Attorney’s office.
“I definitely, you know, on day one, I’ll be doing an audit of the office from top to bottom,” Perkins said. “I want to know what went wrong here and why.”
She added that she plans to disclose the findings of the audit to the public and pursue criminal charges if evidence supports prosecution.
As Birchmore got older and became pregnant, prosecutors said Farwell feared the relationship and his years of abuse would become public. They argued that Farwell went to her Canton apartment in February 2021, strangled her and staged her death to look like a suicide to prevent her from exposing what he had done to her.
“This is a tremendous day for the family of Sandra Burchmore and also child sex abuse victims everywhere and intimate partner violence victims everywhere,” Perkins said. “We should have done this job instead of the feds,” Perkins said. “There is just no question in my mind about that. And that is a stain that our community is going to have to reckon with.”
Perkins predecessor, Michael Morrissey, cited the state medical examiner’s initial determination of death by suicide as a primary factor that limited local authorities. Perkins said Tuesday that she would have gone about it differently.
“I absolutely disagreed with District Attorney Morrissey and that’s why I decided to challenge him two years ago,” Perkins said.
The full interview with Norfolk County District Attorney-elect Djuna Perkins can be found below:
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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