A Supreme Court Judge of Norfolk allowed a request for Sandra BirchmoreThe estate to pause his demand for illicit death against Matthew Farwell and others Wednesday.
Pause comes in the wake of Farwell’s accusation in a federal court for a single position to kill a witness. Federal prosecutors have accused him of sexually abusing Birchmore from a teenager, and then killed him in early 2021, not much after telling him that he was pregnant with what he thought was his baby.
Demand was filed by Birchmore Aunt, Darlene Smith, in 2022. Farwell is named, his brother, Williamand Robert DevineAll of them as defendants, along with the city and his police department. A fourth police officer, Joshua Heal, was appointed in the lawsuit, but a judge dismissed all claims against him.
In a motion calling for the stay, a lawyer at the Birchmore estate said that there was “an important overlapping” between the demand for illicit death and the federal persecution of Farwell. Due to the criminal case, the property cannot make a discovery about Farwell and cannot deposit it, taking into account its rights to the fifth amendment.
“The procedure with civil discovery would also risk interfering with the integrity of the criminal procedure,” says the presentation. “The temporary stay of this civil action will serve the interests of justice and the judicial economy by avoiding fragmentary litigation, inconsistent sentences and unnecessary costs for the parties.”
Judge Joseph Leighton granted the motion on Wednesday.
Birchmore’s death ruled a suicide, but federal prosecutors say the tests point to Matthew Farwell. In an affidavit not sealed last year, prosecutors said that Farwell killed Birchmore, and then staged his corner apartment to look like a suicide.
Experts have said Researchers missed the signs that someone killed Birchmore.
A test date has not been established in the federal case of Farwell.