Black Man Falsely Accused in Boston Murder Sues Police

Revisiting a painful episode in Boston’s racial history, a black man falsely named as a suspect in the slaying of a pregnant white woman is suing the police, accusing them of violating his civil rights.

Police were so hot to solve the murder that they pressured teen-agers to identify William Bennett, 45, as the man who killed Carol DiMaiti Stuart, Bennett’s lawyer, Steven Rappaport, told a federal jury Tuesday. Stuart was shot as she left a childbirth class with her husband in October, 1989.

A lawyer for the five officers being sued countered that there was plenty of reason to suspect Bennett, a career criminal, including testimony from two teen-agers who said they heard Bennett’s nephew brag about his uncle’s role in the crime.

When Stuart was slain, her husband, Charles Stuart, claimed that a black robber forced his way into their car, shot him and his wife from the back seat, then fled with cash and jewelry.

Bennett was never charged. The case was dropped when Matthew Stuart revealed that his elder brother had killed his wife for the insurance money. Charles Stuart apparently committed suicide in 1990 when he jumped off a bridge into the Mystic River.

Bennett, who seeks unspecified damages, is five years into a 12- to 25-year sentence for holding up a video store. He was also previously convicted of shooting and robbing a double amputee.