Anthony Broadwater is an American who was wrongfully convicted of raping author Alice Sebold in 1982. His conviction was overturned in 2021 after significant flaws in the evidence and procedures used during his trial were brought to light. Broadwater's case has become a prominent example of the issues within the criminal justice system, particularly regarding wrongful convictions based on unreliable eyewitness testimony and discredited forensic methods.[1][2][3]
Early life and background
editAnthony Broadwater was born in Syracuse, New York, near Syracuse University, where his father worked as a janitor. When he was five years old, his mother died of pneumonia. He dropped out of his high school, Henninger High School, to servee in the U.S. Marine Corps. Stationed at Twentynine Palms and Camp Pendleton, he was discharged after receiving a cyst on his wrist. He returned to Syracuse to visit his father, who was ill with stomach cancer.[4]
Sebold case
editCase and conviction
editOn May 8, 1981, Alice Sebold, a freshman at Syracuse University, was assaulted and raped while walking through Thornden Park in Syracuse. On October 5, 1981, she claimed to have recognized Broadwater on the street as her attacker. At the time, Broadwater was talking to a police officer he knew. Sebold stated that Broadwater called to her: “Hey, girl. Don’t I know you from somewhere?”[1][4]
However, during a police lineup, Sebold did not initially identify Broadwater; she pointed to a different man. Despite this, Broadwater was prosecuted based on Sebold's courtroom identification and microscopic hair analysis, which was later discredited by the FBI.[5]
In 1999, Sebold published her memoir, Lucky, in which she described every aspect of the rape in graphic detail. She used the fictitious name "Gregory Madison" for the rapist.[6][7]
Broadwater was convicted in 1982 and sentenced to 8⅓ to 25 years in prison.[1] He served 16 years before being released in 1999, but his life continued to be heavily affected by the conviction as he was required to register as a sex offender, which severely limited his job prospects and social interactions.[4]
Exoneration
editBroadwater tried five times to have the conviction overturned, with at least as many groups of lawyers.[8] When Timothy Mucciante began working as executive producer on a project to adapt Lucky to film, he noticed discrepancies in the portion of her book describing the trial. He later told The New York Times: "I started having some doubts—not about the story that Alice told about her assault, which was tragic, but the second part of her book about the trial, which didn't hang together".[9] He ultimately was fired from the project when he did not provide funding as he had originally agreed, and subsequently hired a private investigator to review the evidence against Broadwater.[9][10]
In November 2021, Broadwater was exonerated by a New York Supreme Court justice, who determined there had been serious issues with the original conviction. The conviction had relied heavily on two pieces of evidence: Sebold's testimony and microscopic hair analysis, a forensic technique the United States Department of Justice later found to be unreliable.[11][12]
At the police lineup, which included Broadwater, Sebold had identified a different person as her rapist. When police told her she had identified someone other than Broadwater, she said the two men looked "almost identical".[11] Defense attorneys arguing for Broadwater's exoneration asserted that, after the lineup, the prosecutor lied to Sebold, telling her that the man she had identified and Broadwater were friends, and that they both came to the lineup to confuse her.[9] They also stated that Sebold wrote in Lucky that the prosecutor coached her into changing her identification.[8] In 2021, Broadwater's new attorneys argued that this influenced Sebold's testimony.[9] Onondaga County District Attorney William J. Fitzpatrick, who joined the motion to overturn the conviction, argued that suspect identification is prone to error, particularly when the suspect is a different race from the victim; Sebold is white and Broadwater is black.[9]
After his exoneration, Broadwater said: "I'm not bitter or have malice towards her."[13] A week later, Sebold publicly apologized for her part in his conviction, saying she was struggling "with the role that I unwittingly played within a system that sent an innocent man to jail" and that Broadwater "became another young black man brutalized by our flawed legal system. I will forever be sorry for what was done to him."[14] The manner of Sebold's apology drew criticism from some observers, who noted that it was largely made in the passive voice and did not acknowledge any direct responsibility for Broadwater's conviction.[15][16] Scribner, the publisher of Lucky, released a statement following Broadwater's exoneration that distribution of all formats of the book would cease.[17]
References
edit- ^ a b c "Anthony Broadwater - National Registry of Exonerations". University of Michigan Law School. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
- ^ "How a Film Producer Uncovered the Truth About an Innocent Man Convicted of Raping Lovely Bones Author". Peoplemag. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
- ^ Wright, Steven (2021-12-22). "On the Innocence of Anthony Broadwater (and Guilt of Alice Sebold)". Literary Hub. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
- ^ a b c Knoll, Corina; Zraick, Karen; Alter, Alexandra (2021-12-15). "He Was Convicted of Raping Alice Sebold. Then the Case Unraveled". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-07-08.
- ^ Shanahan, Ed; Zraick, Karen (2023-03-27). "Man Exonerated in Alice Sebold Rape Case to Get $5.5 Million". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
- ^ McCrum, Robert (October 14, 2007). "Adventures in disturbia". The Observer. London, England: Guardian Media Group. Archived from the original on January 16, 2008. Retrieved January 31, 2008.
- ^ Zraick, Karen; Alter, Alexandra (November 23, 2021). "Man Is Exonerated in Rape Case Described in Alice Sebold's Memoir". The New York Times. Retrieved November 24, 2021.
- ^ a b Westhoff, Kiely; Waldrop, Theresa (November 25, 2021). "He spent 16 years in prison for the rape of author Alice Sebold, the subject of her memoir, 'Lucky.' A judge just exonerated him". CNN. Retrieved November 29, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e Zraick, Karen; Alter, Alexandra (November 23, 2021). "Man Is Exonerated in Rape Case Described in Alice Sebold's Memoir". The New York Times. Retrieved November 24, 2021.
- ^ "Op-Ed: My work on Alice Sebold's 'Lucky' helped get a wrongful rape conviction overturned". Los Angeles Times. December 2, 2021. Archived from the original on December 2, 2021. Retrieved December 5, 2021.
- ^ a b Matthews, Karen (November 23, 2021). "Conviction overturned in 1981 rape of author Alice Sebold". The Associated Press. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved November 29, 2021.
- ^ Dowty, Douglass; Knauss, Tim (25 January 2022). "The untold story of how race and incompetence doomed Anthony Broadwater to prison for Alice Sebold's rape". The Post-Standard. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
- ^ Waldrop, Theresa; Westhoff, Kiely (November 30, 2021). "Alice Sebold apologizes to exonerated man who spent years in prison for her rape". CNN. Archived from the original on December 1, 2021. Retrieved December 2, 2021.
- ^ Matthews, Karen (November 30, 2021). "Author Alice Sebold apologizes to man cleared in 1981 rape". The Associated Press. Archived from the original on November 30, 2021. Retrieved December 1, 2021.
- ^ Berry, Lorraine (December 2, 2021). "Alice Sebold claims she saw no 'debate' over racial justice in 1981. I don't buy it". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 8, 2023.
- ^ Hensher, Philip (December 2, 2021). "Alice Sebold's empty apology". UnHerd. Retrieved September 8, 2023.
- ^ Bussel, Rachel Kramer. "Scribner To Stop Publishing Alice Sebold Memoir 'Lucky' After Exoneration Of Anthony Broadwater". Forbes. Retrieved 2024-06-11.