Sandra Birchmore’s Case Supervisor Ordered WHAT?!

Sandra Birchmore's investigators chose an interview that left no recording and no notes. Trooper Matthew Dunne told a federal jury his supervisor, Sgt. John Fanning, made the tactical call to question Matthew Farwell in a school parking lot so the officer would keep talking. Days later, the investigation still had no recorded version of what Farwell said in that conversation.

Federal prosecutors pressed Dunne about the consequences. He testified that he subsequently learned Farwell had misrepresented when his relationship with Birchmore began and how often they met. He acknowledged not speaking with Farwell's Stoughton police colleagues. Prosecutors...