Boston to pay $150,000 to two Black men falsely accused in white woman’s murder
The city of Boston will pay a total of $150,000 to two Black men who were wrongly accused in the 1989 killing of a pregnant white woman, city officials announced Tuesday.
Willie Bennett, in his 70s, will receive $100,000, while Alan Swanson, in his mid-60s, will get $50,000, according to the city. The settlement comes nearly two years after Mayor Michelle Wu publicly apologized for the actions of police and city officials, which upended the men’s lives and worsened racial tensions in Boston.
Bennett and Swanson were never charged in the death of Carol Stuart, 30, who was killed by her husband, Charles Stuart, during a staged robbery. The men became targets of police scrutiny based on Stuart’s false account of a Black man attacking him and his wife after a birthing class, despite no evidence linking them to the crime.
Swanson, then 29 and homeless, was arrested following an intense manhunt but released due to lack of evidence. Investigators then pursued Bennett, who had a criminal record and was serving time for a separate robbery, relying on coerced affidavits from teenagers and Stuart’s lineup identification. Both men were ultimately exonerated in Stuart’s murder case, though Bennett had already spent 12 years in prison for the unrelated video store robbery.
Charles Stuart later died by suicide, and his brother, Matthew Stuart, admitted involvement in criminal activity and served three years in prison.
The settlement follows widespread attention to the case through media investigations and documentaries highlighting systemic racism within Boston police practices. Leslie Harris, a retired judge who represented Swanson, called the payout “a token” that does little to compensate for the years of hardship the men endured.
In December 2023, Mayor Wu acknowledged the city’s role in harming Black residents. “The mayor’s office, city officials, and the Boston Police Department took actions that directly harmed these families and continue to impact the larger community, reopening a wound that has gone untended for decades,” she said.
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