Brother Pleads Guilty in Boston Murder Case

Matthew Stuart pleaded guilty Monday to helping hide the gun his brother allegedly used to kill the brother’s pregnant wife in a backfired hoax that inflamed racial tensions in this city.

Stuart’s unexpected plea was the latest twist in the story. It came as jury selection was about to start for Stuart’s trial on charges of fraud and obstruction of justice.

“I never knew of my brother’s plan to murder his wife,” Stuart, 26, told a crowded Suffolk Superior Court room.

He pleaded guilty to concealing stolen property, compounding a felony, conspiracy to obstruct justice, insurance fraud and carrying a firearm. He was sentenced to three to five years in prison and placed on five years’ probation. He will be eligible for parole after one year.

Charles and Carol Stuart were discovered wounded in their car Oct. 23, 1989, after they left a childbirth class at a Boston hospital. Carol Stuart died that night and her son, Christopher, delivered in an emergency Cesarean section, died Nov. 9.

Charles Stuart told police that a black mugger was responsible, and police closed in on such a suspect until Stuart apparently jumped to his death from a bridge Jan. 5, 1990, one day after his brother implicated him.

The case heightened racial tensions in Boston, where criticism persists that police and the media were too quick to believe that a black person had attacked the Stuarts, who were white.

“I don’t think that this is something that will ever heal, and I hope it is something people never forget when thinking about blacks and crime,” said Georgette Watson, a community activist.