Boston apologizes to two African Americans falsely accused of murder in 1989

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu publicly apologized this Wednesday to two African-American men who were falsely suspected of murdering a white woman in 1989, an incrimination that was carried out without evidence and that was driven by racist prejudices.

At a news conference in front of City Hall, Wu apologized to the men, Alan Swanson and Willie Bennet, and to “the entire black community” for “what they had to endure”: “I am very sorry for the pain you have suffered.” had to carry for so many years. “What they did to you was unfair, racist and wrong,” he said.

At the event were Swanson himself and Bennet's nephew, Joseph, who accepted the mayor's apology and emphasized that “strength, resilience, empathy and growth” can let the world know what happened. with his uncle in 1989 and gave rise to “healing” his family's trauma.

At the conference, Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox also apologized on behalf of the city's Police Department: “I apologize for the pain felt by everyone affected by the Boston Police's lack of investigation, and especially for his unconstitutional behavior.”

On October 23, 1989, Charles Stuart killed his pregnant wife, Carol, and shot himself in the torso, telling authorities that a black man dressed in sports clothes had entered his car on the street. force and had shot both.

Five days later, the police charged Alan Swanson with breaking and entering, and since he was wearing sports clothes that day, the officers held him in prison for three weeks, trying to find evidence to link him to the crime.

After finding no evidence that Swanson was the culprit, investigators indicted Willie Bennet, a Boston resident who had already committed several crimes, and focused on the ambiguous testimony of two teenagers who “had heard” that he was the perpetrator. guilty of the crime against the Stuart family.

Bennet did not go to prison because in 1990 Charles Stuart's brother confessed to the police that his brother was guilty of the crime, which led Charles to commit suicide.

Carol's case has once again been put into focus following the HBO documentary Murder in Boston, which investigates this event, and a recent investigation by the local newspaper The Boston Globe.