Unborn Victim

Massachusetts US Attorney Joshua Levy missed a chance at real justice, (“Grisly”, Boston Herald, Sept. 1).  In his press conference, Levy outlined how the impending birth of Sandra Birchmore’s child, which she claimed was Stoughton Police Officer Farwell’s, was the impetus for her murder allegedly at the hands of Farwell. According to court documents, a friend of Birchmore called the Stoughton Police to report the ongoing sexual relationship which allegedly started when Birchmore was a child, and the impending birth. After this, prosecutors say Officer Farwell strangled the life out of Birchmore and her unborn child.

Of course, there are many exceptions where the federal government may bring murder charges. The underlying charge against Farwell, 18 U.S.C. Section 1512c, is just such an exception for a crime designed to influence the outcome of a court case.

In all the hoopla to applaud the rare Massachusetts prosecutor who is willing to charge a rogue police officer, no one is willing to talk about the baby who was killed in utero. Federal law is most specific, under The Unborn Victims of Violence Act, whoever causes the death of, or bodily injury to, a child, who is in utero at the time the conduct takes place, is guilty of a separate offense under 18 U.S.C. Section 1841.

Prosecutors charged Farwell with killing Birchmore, which took the life of the unborn child, and 18 U.S.C. Section 1841 states he “shall…be punished.” There are 60 violent crimes enumerated in this federal law that acknowledge a second victim. Officer Farwell’s charge under 18 U.S.C. Section 1512 is one of them.  In his press conference, U.S. Attorney Levy obliquely said he was leaving “further charges” to local prosecutors.  That is a gross mistake.

Local prosecutors are merely politicians, and elected prosecutors (and maybe appointed prosecutors) in Massachusetts rarely cross Planned Parenthood.  In 2004, 47 Democrats in the United States House and 11 Democratic Senators worked with their Republican colleagues across the aisle to pass The Unborn Victims of Violence Act.  The law defines a “child in utero” as “a member of the species Homo sapiens, at any stage of development, who is carried in the womb.”  What was a commonsense crime bill in 2004 is seen by most elected Democrats today as an outrage.

The health of a society is best judged by how our guardians of the law, like U.S. Attorney Levy, protect those without power and without a voice.  It is my hope and prayer that the silenced voice of Sandra Birchmore’s baby will be heard by U.S. Attorney Levy through this letter. Please sir, add to your initial charge and let political correctness be damned.  There is another victim here.

Louis Murray, J.D.

West Roxbury