Matthew Farwell, the former Stoughton, Massachusetts, police detective a federal jury convicted this week of killing Sandra Birchmore and her unborn child, is seeking extra time to ask the court for a new trial^1,2.

His lawyers, Kimberly Stevens and Joanne Daley, filed a document Thursday asking to submit a motion for acquittal, a motion for a new trial, and a supporting memorandum 30 days after they receive finalized trial transcripts¹.

They said they need transcripts of sidebar discussions, which are not in the rough transcripts they have, and permission to file a memorandum longer than 20 pages because the issues are complex¹.

Boston.com reported that the government has no objection to that request¹.

It is not yet clear what legal grounds they will raise¹. They cited a federal rule that lets a court vacate a judgment and grant a new trial if the interest of justice requires it¹. Motions based on newly discovered evidence generally have a longer deadline than motions on other grounds¹.

On Tuesday, the jury in U.S. District Court in South Boston found Farwell guilty of killing a witness or victim and of killing a child in utero^1,2. Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty^1,2. He faces a mandatory life sentence, with a hearing scheduled for Feb. 3, 2027^1,2.

Jurors had told the judge Monday they were deadlocked before returning the verdict the next day after more than 15 hours of deliberations over three days^1,2,3.

Prosecutors argued Farwell strangled Birchmore, 23, in her Canton apartment on Feb. 1, 2021, and staged the scene to look like a suicide so she would not report crimes including a sexual relationship that began when she was a minor in the Stoughton police explorers program^1,2,3. The defense argued she killed herself after he ended the relationship^1,2.

State investigators initially treated the death as a suicide; federal prosecutors later charged Farwell, and the medical examiner later listed the manner of death as undetermined^2,3. Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey's office did not bring state charges and said after the verdict that it had been constrained by the original suicide finding².

What Farwell's lawyers will argue in the new-trial papers, and how the court will rule on the extra-time request, has not been reported¹.