BOSTON -- John McMahon, the man who helped dispose of the gun that killed Carol DiMaiti Stuart, pleaded guilty Tuesday in a plea bargain agreement that closed the books on one of Boston's most infamous murder cases.
McMahon entered guilty pleas to four charges in Suffolk County Superior Court in Boston, thus avoiding a scheduled trial next week that could have resulted in his being sentenced to prison for up to 19 years.
McMahon was sentenced to one-year in jail shortly after he pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact of murder, conspiracy and two counts of illegally carrying a firearm.
McMahon, 25, of Revere, helped Matthew Stuart dispose of the handgun that was used by Charles Stuart to murder his eight-months pregnant wife on Oct. 23, 1989.
Matthew Stuart pleaded guilty last week in a similar plea bargain agreement and is awaiting sentencing on Nov. 23. He entered the pleas just before he was to go on trial.
McMahon admitted to helping Matthew Stuart toss the murder weapon into a river after Charles Stuart shot and killed his wife in an elaborate hoax to collect insurance money. Matthew Stuart got the gun from his brother in a bag after the shooting, but said thought only that he was taking part in a scam to defraud insurance companies through a bogus holdup.
It wasn't until he saw the gun that he realized his brother was the killer.
Charles Stuart jumped to his death from a bridge on Jan. 4, 1990, just hours after his brother told authorities about the gun and pointed to Charles Stuart as the murderer.
Charles Stuart, who also shot and wounded himself, blamed the shootings on a black mugger, inflaming tensions in an already racially troubled city as police roused black men in their search for a killer.
Carol Stuart's prematurely born son, Christopher, died 17 days after being born by Caesarean section.
