Two Black men who were falsely linked to one of Boston’s most infamous murder cases have finally received financial compensation decades after their ordeal.
City officials announced Tuesday that Willie Bennett will be awarded $100,000 and Alan Swanson $50,000 as part of a $150,000 settlement. The payment comes two years after Mayor Michelle Wu issued a formal apology.
The case traces back to 1989, when Carol Stuart, a pregnant white woman, was fatally shot as she and her husband, Charles Stuart, left a birthing class. Her husband, who survived a gunshot wound to the chest, told police a Black man had attacked them during an attempted carjacking.
Investigators first targeted Swanson, later ruling him out, before arresting Bennett. Stuart then falsely identified Bennett as the gunman. Neither man was ever charged.
In reality, it was Charles Stuart who planned his wife’s killing. Carol Stuart died the next day, though her baby, delivered by cesarean section, lived for 17 days. Stuart’s story unraveled within months, and he later took his own life by jumping off a bridge.
The accusations, according a report by AP, triggered a heavy police crackdown in a predominantly Black neighborhood, worsening racial tensions across Boston.
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Mayor Wu acknowledged the damage in her 2023 apology. “What was done to you was unjust, unfair, racist and wrong,” she said.
