Boston pays $150K to two men wrongfully tied to Carol Stuart murder

The city of Boston paid $150,000 to Willie Bennett and Alan Swanson after they were wrongfully accused in the 1989 killing of Carol Stuart. Bennett received $100,000 and Swanson $50,000 following formal apologies from Mayor Michelle Wu issued in 2023. Charles Stuart shot his wife after a birthing class and falsely blamed an unidentified Black man, triggering nonstop media coverage, a massive manhunt, and controversial stop-and-frisk tactics. Bennett and Swanson were arrested and publicly identified as suspects despite not being formally charged. Charles Stuart died by suicide on Jan. 4, 1990. A Boston Globe investigation detailed racial prejudices shaping the case, and Bennett's family and Swanson attended the 2023 apology ceremony.

"During an emotional press conference officials convened in 2023 to issue the apologies, Wu decried how a "systemic campaign" targeted Black men based on a "false, racist claim" in the case of Carol Stuart. The Stuart case, which was chronicled in a lengthy investigation by The Boston Globe before Wu's apologies, shone a light on the racial prejudices that shaped policing and media bias in Boston."

"On the evening of Oct. 23, 1989, Charles Stuart shot his wife in their car after a birthing class. When police interviewed him, he blamed the crime on an unidentified Black man in a tracksuit. The subsequent investigation was marked by nonstop media coverage, a massive manhunt, and controversial stop-and-frisk tactics. Two Black men, Bennett and Swanson, were each arrested under suspicion that they were tied to the murder."

"The city of Boston recently paid a total of $150,000 to two men who were wrongfully accused of killing a pregnant woman, Carol Stuart, in 1989. The payments come more than a year-and-a-half after Mayor Michelle Wu issued formal apologies to the two men, Willie Bennett and Alan Swanson. Bennett received a payment of $100,000, and Swanson received $50,000, according to City Hall officials. They did not provide any more details about the settlement."

Read at Boston.com