Latest news with #Birchmore
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Closed-door hearing for officer involved in Sandra Birchmore case begins Thursday
The state's police oversight agency will make its case at a closed-door hearing beginning Thursday for why one of the former Stoughton Police officers involved in the Sandra Birchmore case should never again work in law enforcement in Massachusetts. Robert Devine, the former Stoughton deputy police chief, is among a trio of former Stoughton officers, along with brothers Matthew and William Farwell, accused of having inappropriate sexual relationships with Birchmore after she joined their police youth program as a teenager. Devine is fighting efforts from the Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission, or POST, to revoke his certification for police work, a requirement for all officers employed in the commonwealth. Beginning Thursday, his case will play out in secret at the commission office in Boston after a retired judge presiding over the hearing ruled last week that protective orders covering sensitive evidence necessitated closing proceedings to the public and press. Some open government advocates criticized the decision for restricting access to a hearing of significant public interest. The commission was created in 2020, after the killing of George Floyd by a Minnesota police officer, 'to increase transparency and accountability' in law enforcement, said Justin Silverman, executive director of the New England First Amendment Coalition.'You've got this horrible case that's going to be heard behind closed doors,' he said. 'That strikes me as out of step with why the commission was created.' The Birchmore case took a sharp turn last year when federal authorities charged Mathew Farwell with killing Birchmore in February 2021 and staging her death as a suicide. He had hoped to prevent her from revealing their relationship, which authorities said began when she was underage. A state medical examiner had previously ruled that Birchmore killed herself, a determination federal officials said missed key signs of a cover-up. According to prosecutors, Birchmore had told Farwell she was pregnant with his child before her death at age 23. Farwell denied to investigators that he was the father. Neither his brother William nor Devine faces criminal charges connected to the case, though all three are named in a wrongful death lawsuit brought by Birchmore's aunt. Read more: Sandra Birchmore timeline: from Stoughton Explorer to arrest of Matthew Farwell Devine's hearing centers on claims that he abused his position of authority, lied to internal investigators and behaved in a manner unbecoming of a police officer. Birchmore met the Farwell brothers and Devine, who supervised them, after joining the Stoughton Police Explorers Program as a 12-year-old in 2010. She remained in the program until graduating high school. According to federal prosecutors, Matthew Farwell began sexually exploiting Birchmore in 2013, when he was 27 and she was 15, under the age of consent in Massachusetts. Their sexual encounters continued regularly as she grew older and sometimes occurred while he was on duty, investigators said. According to charging documents, as Farwell began to lose control of Birchmore in late 2020, he agreed to help her get pregnant in return for keeping their relationship while she was underage a secret. On Feb. 1, 2021, prosecutors say, Farwell strangled Birchmore at her apartment in Canton and staged her death as a suicide. The Stoughton Police Department launched an internal investigation after Birchmore's death into her interactions with the Farwell brothers and Devine. When interviewed by investigators, Devine claimed that he had never communicated online with Birchmore and that the pair had only limited interactions, according to a notice from the POST Commission initiating the decertification proceedings. But records from Facebook Messenger showed Devine and Birchmore exchanged messages 'on multiple occasions,' he using the alias 'Marty Riggs,' from November 2020 until her death in February 2021, the commission said. Their messages also indicated that Devine 'arranged to have a sexual encounter' with Birchmore during one shift he was working in December 2021, according to the commission. The internal investigation by the Stoughton Police found Devine had been untruthful, incompetent and 'failed to demonstrate attention and devotion to his duty.' In a ruling Friday, Judge Kenneth J. Fishman, who is presiding over the hearing, said protective orders covering evidence related to the case meant the proceedings must be kept confidential. There are four protective orders dealing with the Birchmore case: one approved by a federal judge dealing with Matthew Farwell's criminal case, one from Attorney General Andrea Campbell's office related to the lawsuit brought by Birchmore's family, and two from Fishman regarding Devine's case with the POST Commission. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts requested the protective order in the Farwell case to prevent the release of information it believed could expose Birchmore or witnesses 'to significant safety and/or privacy risks.' Among the information covered under the protective order, the government said in a September court filing, were crime scene and autopsy photographs of Birchmore's body, data from her phone and laptop 'from which it would be impractical or impossible to redact all identifying information,' Birchmore's medical records and police reports identifying witnesses by name. Fishman's order closing Devine's hearing to the public said protective orders were in place to protect confidential evidence and 'the identity of an individual.' Many of the materials and information would be discussed throughout the hearing, Fishman wrote. Understanding that at least some portion of the hearing must be closed, the judge said he considered 'the feasibility of structuring the presentation of evidence to enable an efficient proceeding between the closed and, if any, open portions of the hearing.' Attorneys for the commission and Devine advised Fishman that the entire session would be interspersed with discussions of confidential information. 'It's unlikely that any testimony regarding the substance of the allegations would cover topics outside of the protected evidence,' commission lawyers said. Fishman concluded that there was 'no reasonable method for opening any portions of this hearing to the public without a substantial risk of disclosing confidential evidence,' he wrote. Commission hearings are 'presumptively public,' but can be closed 'if the presiding officer determines that full or limited closure is necessary to protect privacy interests and will not be contrary to the public interest,' a commission spokesperson said in a statement to MassLive. The commission pointed to five other cases where hearings had been closed, including cases when it was needed to protect the identity of a victim of sexual or violent crimes, the spokesperson said. Both Farwell brothers and Devine left the department in 2022. The brothers each reached agreements with the commission last year to be stripped of their certifications, a move that carries a lifetime ban from police work in Massachusetts. Like other officers whose certifications have been revoked, they were added to a national registry of decertified police officers designed to prevent them from finding police work in other states. Mass. police watchdog decertifies officers from Boston, Springfield and 3 other towns Mass. police watchdog revokes 5 officers' certifications: 'Not fit for duty' Former Boston Police officer who secretly filmed nude child banned from police work Read the original article on MassLive.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
USC Medical School Professor Testifies Karen Read Boyfriend 'Attacked' By Dog Before Death
USC Medical School Professor Testifies Karen Read Boyfriend 'Attacked' By Dog Before Death originally appeared on L.A. Mag. Week seven in the blockbuster retrial of Karen Read got off to a raucous start as a former Canton Police Officer Kelly Dever testified that she felt pressured by the defense team to testify to statements she gave to the FBI in 2023 that she has now recanted. "Did you tell those law enforcement agents on August 9th, 2023, that you saw Brian Higgins and Chief Berkowitz go into the sallyport together and alone with the SUV for a 'wildly long time'?" Jackson asked her."That was my recollection at the time," she replied. She has since said that she was mistaken when she told federal investigators eighteen months ago that she saw the men - the former Chief of the Canton Police Department and federal Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms Agent Brian Higgins, who was on a task force that turned out of that station - near Read's car after it had been towed as part of the evidence in the case. Read's boyfriend, John O'Keefe, a Boston Police Officer, was found dead during a blizzard on Jan. 29, 2022, and the government says she backed into him after a night of heavy drinking and left him to die in a snowbank. Read's defense, which includes high-profile Los Angeles defense attorney Alan Jackson and his partner Elizabeth Little, maintains O'Keefe was attacked by fellow cops and a German Shepherd inside the home at 34 Fairview Road in Canton and dragged out to the yard where he died. Higgins, who had been flirting with Read in the weeks before O'Keefe died and had shared a kiss with her, according to testimony, had been among the revelers inside the house. Dever, who is now a Boston Police Officer, told the court that Jackson threatened to charge her with perjury for recanting her prior statements to federal investigators in August 2023. The FBI was investigating the Read case at the time and multiple police officials connected to her case also responded to the death of Sandra Birchmore in the same town nearly a year to the day before O'Keefe died. The Norfolk County District Attorney's Office and its state police investigators said Birchmore took her own life, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. The FBI took over the case, which led to the startling arrest of a former Stoughton Police Detective Matthew Farwell, a former police union official whose own cases were prosecuted by in that same D.A.'s office. Farwell is now charged by the FBI with strangling Birchmore to death and staging her death to look like a suicide to cover up the fact that she was pregnant with his child and that he had allegedly taken her virginity when she was a 15-year-old girl in the Stoughton Police Explorer's Program, a mentoring activity for kids interested in careers in law enforcement. Several of the investigators in the Read case were also part of the Birchmore investigation, and did not consider Farwell a suspect in her death. Mention of the Birchmore case, and the FBI's questioning of witnesses in the Read case, will not be allowed per a ruling from Norfolk Superior Court Judge Beverly Cannone, as reported by Los Angeles. Farwell's scheduled first status hearing in the Birchmore case has been pushed multiple times during Read's retrial, and is expected to take place over Zoom on July 1. Officer Dever was questioned during the period the FBI was on Boston's South Shore for both cases in the clandestine federal probe. She presented herself on the stand Monday morning as a hostile witness forced to appear by Read's defense team. Jackson asked her if she wanted to testify. 'I am put on the stand in a murder trial,' Dever replied in an icy tone. 'I don't know why I'm here. I have no connection to this case.' Dever testified that she never spoke to anyone in the Norfolk County District Attorney's Office about her involvement in Read's case, though she confirmed she had a personal friendship with prosecution witness, Sarah Levinson, who was a guest at the party inside 34 Fairview Road, the home owned by another Boston cop Brian Albert who had invited people to his house after bar-hopping with Read and O'Keefe in Canton. Dever testified she was working as a Canton Police dispatcher when Read's Lexus SUV - the weapon prosecutors say was used to plow into O'Keefe - was towed into a sallyport at the department's garage on the afternoon of Jan. 29, 2022. Jackson asked whether she could recall observing 'anything unusual' that stood out to her in the station's garage while working dispatch.'I can't make that statement on the stand, because I've been provided information released by the defense,' Dever answered, adding that what she said to the FBI she now believes, was a distorted memory." "Therefore I can't state it, because at this point it would be a lie," she told the court in the tense exchange with Jackson. "I cannot make that statement that you're wanting me to make on the stand, because I've advised that that would be a lie.' Jackson redirected Dever to answer the question truthfully. Dever testified that she was cooperative with the FBI, and retracted her statement when presented with information that showed she was off duty when Read's SUV arrived. 'I am telling you," she testified, "I did not see anything.'Jackson pushed back, asking Dever whether she told the agents she saw Higgins and Berkowitz enter the sallyport together 'for a wildly long time' which was the statement she gave to the FBI while Read's SUV was in the garage. Dever confirmed that was her initial recollection, but had recanted it. Under cross examination by special prosecutor Hank Brennan, Dever testified that she felt threatened by defense attorneys who wanted her to say she saw Higgins and Berkowitz in the sallyport with Read's SUV. 'They became very aggressive, raised their voices, and the one word that I can very definitely remember is they said that they would charge me with perjury,' Dever alleged. "My entire job revolves around what I say on the stand. If I was to lie, I lose my job. I lose everything. I'm here to tell the truth. I cannot lie while sitting on this stand.'Another government witness who took the stand in Read's retrial, and during the first trial, which ended in a hung jury last year, admitted in her testimony that she had also lied about her identity when the FBI showed up to interview her in 2023. She also initially failed to tell the FBI that she called Albert, Peggy O'Keefe, the slain officer's mother, her friend Kerry Roberts, who was also with McCabe and Read when O'Keefe was found, a witness advocate in the Norfolk County District Attorney's office - who is trying the case - and her husband in the span of ten minutes after the agents showed up at her witness Kerry Roberts also admitted to making statements to a grand jury that contradicted her testimony in Read's retrial. Dever was the second defense witness to take the stand Monday. Text messages from the now-fired Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor were read by a longtime friend, Jonathan Diamandis, who had been one of the recipients in a text chain of some of the misogynistic messages the investigator directed at Read during his investigation. The friend was asked to read a series of texts Proctor sent to the group in the hours and days after O'Keefe's death, but denied the request because he was 'uncomfortable' with doing read them and asked Diamandis to verify the accuracy of each message, which included terms like "whack job cunt" and "nut bag, as my chief would say," which the defense argues, showed the bias shown against Read almost immediately after her arrest. That bias, Read's defense argues, was part of a vast police coverup to protect the homeowner, other cops, and the Albert family's German Shepherd, Chloe. The defense called University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine faculty member Dr. Marie Russell to the stand to testify about what she called evidence of a dog attack that occurred before O'Keefe died. Wounds on his right arm, she told the court, 'were inflicted as the result of a dog attack." The judge struck the word "attack" from the record. Russell later added that the deep cuts were "multiple strikes from a dog," and that O'Keefe's injuries came as "the result of dog bites or claw marks.' Russell, a former County-USC Medical Center trauma doctor in its emergency room, was also a one-time police officer in Malden, Massachusetts, before entering her career in medicine. Chloe was re-homed to a farm in Vermont sometime after O'Keefe's death. The state ended its case against Read playing a clip of an interview the defendant gave, where she wondered out loud if she had "hit" O'Keefe after dropping him off at an after-party. This story was originally reported by L.A. Mag on Jun 2, 2025, where it first appeared.
Boston Globe
06-05-2025
- Boston Globe
Judge in Karen Read case bars references to Sandra Birchmore investigation ‘unless door is opened'
Judge Beverly J. Cannone scribbled onto the motion Wednesday, 'Allowed unless door is opened.' Birchmore, a 23-year-old pregnant woman, was found dead in her Canton apartment in February 2021. Her death was Federal prosecutors allege that the former detective, Matthew G. Farwell, killed Birchmore and staged her death to appear as a suicide. Advertisement For more than three years after Birchmore was found dead, the Norfolk district attorney's office, State Police investigators, and the state medical examiner The Norfolk district attorney's office is also prosecuting the case against Read, who is accused of backing her SUV into her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O'Keefe, in Canton and leaving him for dead during a blizzard in January 2022. Advertisement Read's attorneys say she was framed and that O'Keefe entered the house, owned at the time by a fellow Boston officer, where he was fatally beaten and possibly mauled by a dog before his body was placed on the front lawn. Read's first trial ended in a hung jury last year and the Norfolk district attorney's office is prosecuting her again. In a February filing, Read's attorneys sought to access documents relating to the Birchmore investigation but were denied. Material from previous Globe coverage was used in this report. Nick Stoico can be reached at
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Yahoo
Audit of Canton Police's handling of Sandra Birchmore death says all procedures were followed
As part of the 200-page audit into the Canton Police Department released Tuesday, the audit team determined all procedures were followed related to officers' investigation into the death of Sandra Birchmore. Birchmore was found dead in her apartment at Windsor Woods 3307 on February 4, 2021. Canton Police initially ruled her death a suicide by hanging, but in the years since, former Stoughton Police Officer Matthew Farwell has been charged with her murder. According to court documents, Farwell was one of three Stoughton officers who had an inappropriate relationship with Sandra when she was a young teen in the Stoughton Police Department's Explorers Program. Investigators believe Farwell killed Sandra when she was 23 years old after learning she was pregnant with his baby. He was also a married father of three at the time. The night of Birchmore's death, the 5 Stones Intelligence Audit Team determined Canton Police officers 'followed all procedures related to crime scene preservation.' The timeline is as follows below: On February 6, 2021, two days after she was found dead, 5 Stones Intelligence said that Canton Police received 'critical' information from two witnesses who said Birchmore had been dating a police officer, who didn't want the baby, 'and if Birchmore did not get an abortion, he [boyfriend] would take care of the problem himself.' After identifying that Farwell was present at Birchmore's apartment on the night of her death, and establishing he was involved in a long-standing intimate relationship with her, Chief Helena Rafferty advised the audit team that after February 6, investigative authority into Birchmore's death was turned over to the Massachusetts State Police and Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey's Office. Pursuant to Canton Police's handling of the investigation, the audit team recommended the following: Officers should digitally photograph all crime scenes and sketch the scene. Chief of the Investigations Division should review all death investigation police reports to ensure completeness, accuracy and exhaustion of all investigative avenues prior to being finalized. Canton Police should remain involved in death investigations that occur within the Town of Canton. 'Town officials and the Police Audit Committee are now carefully reviewing the findings to assess any necessary next steps,' audit committee chair Robert McCarthy shared in a written statement. 'The committee is committed to working with all stakeholders, including the police department, town leadership, and residents to ensure that any recommendations are thoughtfully considered and appropriately implemented.' A spokesperson for the Canton Police Department told Boston 25 News on Tuesday they had yet to review the full 200-page audit. The full audit can be on the town's website here. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
Yahoo
14-02-2025
- Yahoo
Sandra Birchmore's cousin: ‘Our work is just beginning'
(NewsNation) — The cousin of Sandra Birchmore, a pregnant woman allegedly killed by a former police detective, tells NewsNation's Ashleigh Banfield that her 'work is just beginning.' 'There were quite a few people who exploited and groomed Sandra,' Barbara Wright said Thursday on 'Banfield.' 'They need to be brought to justice, as well.' Birchmore's family has questioned the official ruling of suicide and said she was groomed and sexually abused by three police officers. They filed a wrongful death suit against the department, accusing them of negligent hiring, negligent supervision and negligent infliction of emotional distress. Ellen Greenberg's death staged to look like suicide: Neuropathologist Birchmore, 23, was found dead at her Canton, Massachusetts, apartment in 2021. She was pregnant. Originally ruled a suicide, former detective Matthew G. Farwell of Stoughton, Mass., was indicted for her death in August 2024. Farwell allegedly killed Birchmore in February 2021 by strangulation and 'staged' her Canton apartment 'to make it appear as if Birchmore had committed suicide,' court records stated. Wright said she believes her cousin's story would have been 'swept under the rug' if it weren't for Melissa Berry, an administrator for the Facebook page 'Justice for Sandra Birchmore.' 'I don't think he (Farwell) would have stopped,' Wright added. 'He would have gone on and hurt another person.' NewsNation's Safia Samee Ali contributed to this report. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
