Anthony Broadwater spent years in prison for raping author Alice Sebold, the subject of her memoir, ‘Lucky.’ A judge just vindicated him
Convicted in 1982, Broadwater served more than 16 years in prison. He was denied pardon at least five times because he did not admit to a crime he did not commit, according to his attorney. And he passed two polygraph tests.
Broadwater, 61, tried five times to overturn the conviction. And even after he was released, he didn’t give up. But it didn’t happen — until Monday, when New York State Supreme Court Justice Gordon Cuffy dropped the conviction for the rape and other charges associated with it.
The Onondaga County District Attorney participated in the motion to dismiss the conviction.
Sebold describes the rape that occurred while she was a freshman at Syracuse University in 1981, in her memoirs in detail. It was published in 1999, a year after Broadwater was released from prison.
Nearly five months after she was raped, Sebold saw Broadwater on the street in Syracuse. He reminded her of the rapist, and she reported the encounter to police, attorney Broadwater confirmed. But then she failed to identify Broadwater in the police squad.
Broadwater was convicted on the basis of two pieces of evidence – Sebold’s account – multi-racial identity, since the author was white and Broadwater was black – and analysis of a piece of hair was later determined to be faulty. , his lawyer wrote .
“Research has found that the risk of witness misidentification is significantly increased when the witness and subject are of different races,” the statement states.
As for hair analysis, in 2015, “the FBI testified that microscopic hair analysis was flawed in at least 90 percent of the cases the agency reviewed,” according to the attorney’s release.
“We now know that the forensic chemist’s testimony stemmed from a forensic approach that was largely revealed with hair microscopy,” the statement states.
In the movie “Lucky”, Sebold writes that “a detective and a prosecutor told her after her conviction that she had picked the wrong person and how the prosecutor had purposely trained her to reinstate her. misidentification,” according to the statement.
CNN has repeatedly reached out to Sebold and her publishing company for comment.
The unreliability of the hair analysis and the conversation between the prosecutor and Sebold after sentencing would probably lead to a different verdict if it were to come to trial, the lawyers said.
“I’m not going to close this proceeding by saying I’m sorry,” District Attorney William Fitzpatrick said in the courtroom. “That didn’t cut it. This should never have happened.”
Broadwater was in tears when the judge announced his decision.
“When the district attorney spoke to me, his words were so profound – so powerful – it shook me,” Broadwater told CNN Wednesday. “It made me cry with joy and happiness that a man of this caliber would say what he said on my behalf… it’s beyond what I can say.”
After his release, Broadwater remained on the sex offenders list. He described how being convicted had ruined his life.
He struggled to find a job after being released from prison when his employer discovered his criminal record.
“I did what I could, and that’s just you know – created work for myself doing landscaping, tree clearing, transportation, cleaning,” he said.
The couple met in 1999, about a year after he was released from prison, he told CNN. After the first date, he gave her transcripts and other documents from his file, told her to read them and decide if she wanted to be with him.
“She believed in me and she gave me strength,” he said. “I just want a better quality of life, but I can never get a better quality of work.”
Part of the reason Broadwater’s attorneys, J. David Hammond and Melissa Swartz, were involved in the case was thanks to Tim Mucciante, who was involved in the development of the movie adaptation of “Lucky”.
“Mucciante doubts that the story is the way it is portrayed,” says Hammond, which prompted him to hire a private investigator with links to their law firm.
“It didn’t take long, after digging around, we realized, OK, there’s something here,” Hammond said. He and Swartz listened to the transcript of the trial and noticed “serious legal problems,” prompting them to file a petition, he said.
Hammond and Swartz are at least the fifth team of attorneys he’s hired to help solve his case, Broadwater said.
“I never give up. I can never, never give up and live in these conditions … I will do everything I can to prove my innocence,” he said.
Days after the judge’s decision, Broadwater said, “it feels so weird, I’m still mulling it over. I’m like – scared in a sense. I’m so happy.”
As for Sebold, Broadwater said he wanted an apology.
“I sympathize with her, what happened to her,” he said. “I just want a sincere apology. I accept. I’m not bitter or mean to her.”
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