The city of Boston has paid $150,000 to two Black men wrongly implicated decades ago in the 1989 murder of Carol Stuart.In 1989, Charles Stuart told police that a Black man shot and killed his pregnant wife, Carol DiMaiti Stuart.Stuart’s accusation resulted in the racist harassment of Black men, particularly those living in Boston’s Mission Hill neighborhood, by city officials and the Boston Police Department.Months after Carol Stuart’s death, it was revealed that her husband had orchestrated her murder. Charles Stuart committed suicide by jumping off the Tobin Bridge. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu issued an apology nearly two years ago to Alan Swanson and Willie Bennett, two Black men who were wrongfully implicated in connection with Carol Stuart’s death.Her office confirmed Tuesday that the city paid $100,000 to Bennett and $50,000 to Swanson. Video below: Mayor Wu’s 2023 apologyIn 2023, the mayor said the city acted on a “false, racist claim, framing a Black man for her death,” and launched a systemic campaign targeting Black neighborhoods across Boston.”Black fathers, Black uncles, Black brothers and Black sons, if you were a parent or a child or a partner or a friend, if you knew and loved a Black man in Boston, you feared for his life,” Wu said.Those in power closed their eyes to the truth “because the lie felt familiar,” and as a result, Alan Swanson, Willie Bennett and their families suffered, Wu said.”I am so sorry for what you endured. I am so sorry for the pain that you have carried for so many years. What was done to you was unjust, racist and wrong, and this apology is long overdue,” Wu said.Video below: Bennett’s family humbled, honored to receive apologyJoey Bennett, Willie Bennett’s nephew, said his family was humbled and honored to receive the apology.Video below: Community activists react to Wu’s apologyLeslie Harris, Swanson’s attorney at the time, said his client received death threats and lived in fear after he was wrongly accused.”I went down to the Charles Street jail, where they held him separate from everybody else, because if they put him in general population — accused baby killer, woman killer — he would be dead. They spat in his food. They beat on his cell door. He lived in terror, and I don’t know how you undo that,” Harris said.Video below: Wrongly convicted man ‘lived in terror’ after accusation
The city of Boston has paid $150,000 to two Black men wrongly implicated decades ago in the 1989 murder of Carol Stuart.
In 1989, Charles Stuart told police that a Black man shot and killed his pregnant wife, Carol DiMaiti Stuart.
Stuart’s accusation resulted in the racist harassment of Black men, particularly those living in Boston’s Mission Hill neighborhood, by city officials and the Boston Police Department.
Months after Carol Stuart’s death, it was revealed that her husband had orchestrated her murder. Charles Stuart committed suicide by jumping off the Tobin Bridge.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu issued an apology nearly two years ago to Alan Swanson and Willie Bennett, two Black men who were wrongfully implicated in connection with Carol Stuart’s death.
Her office confirmed Tuesday that the city paid $100,000 to Bennett and $50,000 to Swanson.
Video below: Mayor Wu’s 2023 apology
In 2023, the mayor said the city acted on a “false, racist claim, framing a Black man for her death,” and launched a systemic campaign targeting Black neighborhoods across Boston.
“Black fathers, Black uncles, Black brothers and Black sons, if you were a parent or a child or a partner or a friend, if you knew and loved a Black man in Boston, you feared for his life,” Wu said.
Those in power closed their eyes to the truth “because the lie felt familiar,” and as a result, Alan Swanson, Willie Bennett and their families suffered, Wu said.
“I am so sorry for what you endured. I am so sorry for the pain that you have carried for so many years. What was done to you was unjust, racist and wrong, and this apology is long overdue,” Wu said.
Video below: Bennett’s family humbled, honored to receive apology
Joey Bennett, Willie Bennett’s nephew, said his family was humbled and honored to receive the apology.
Video below: Community activists react to Wu’s apology
Leslie Harris, Swanson’s attorney at the time, said his client received death threats and lived in fear after he was wrongly accused.
“I went down to the Charles Street jail, where they held him separate from everybody else, because if they put him in general population — accused baby killer, woman killer — he would be dead. They spat in his food. They beat on his cell door. He lived in terror, and I don’t know how you undo that,” Harris said.
Video below: Wrongly convicted man ‘lived in terror’ after accusation
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