Anthony Broadwater, now 61, was found guilty of raping Sebold in 1981 after the author identified him as her attacker in court, despite having previously failed to pick him out in an identity parade. Sebold went on to write about her assault in her bestselling 1999 memoir Lucky.
In a twist of fate, Broadwater’s exoneration came about as a result of a planned Netflix adaptation of that memoir, after Tim Mucciante, an executive producer on the project, grew sceptical of significant differences between the film’s script and the original book.
‘I started poking around and trying to figure out what really happened here,’ he told AP News, leading him to drop out of the project and hire a private investigator to look into the case.
A subsequent re-examination found that Broadwater’s conviction had rested on a faulty identification and ‘hair analysis’ – a type of forensic analysis that is now considered ‘junk science’.
Prosecutors requested that a Syracuse judge vacate Broadwater’s conviction, and issued an apology to him for the injustice. ‘I’m not going to sully this proceeding by saying, ‘I’m sorry.’ That doesn’t cut it. This should never have happened,’ district attorney William Fitzpatrick told the New York State Supreme Court.
‘When he spoke to me about the wrong that was done to me, I couldn’t help but cry. The relief that a district attorney of that magnitude would side with me in this case, it’s so profound, I don’t know what to say,’ Broadwater said, adding ‘I never, ever, ever thought I would see the day that I would be exonerated,’ MailOnline reports.
Having been released from prison in 1999, Broadwater remained on the New York sex offenders registry, and said his conviction harmed his job prospects and personal relationships, and led to him refusing to have children because of the ‘stigma’ he carried.
In her memoir, Sebold said she’d been told she’d picked out two different men, describing them as ‘almost identical’. She wrote that she feared the defence would conclude that ‘a panicked white girl saw a black man on the street. He spoke familiarly to her and in her mind she connected this to her rape. She was accusing the wrong man.’
The author has not commented on Broadwater’s exoneration.
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Original Article: https://www.unilad.co.uk/news/man-convicted-of-raping-the-lovely-bones-author-exonerated-after-netflix-producer-hired-private-investigator/
What a shame. This innocent man lost so much. Lost his chance to be a Dad , husband. Now he gets a bullshit apology and a slap on the back. What about the people that did this. Put them in prison for as long and see if they are man and woman to handle it. The D. A. is only trying to play him so he does not Sue the city that did it to him. Sue the f… out of them. He has that coming. This is a shame. I see another guy released. A black man. He did 47 years for something he did not do. 47 years. He’s lucky to be alive. His whole life gone. He was 19 when he went in and in a wheelchair when he was released. And so humble. He has God in him. I wish both the best of luck. Stay away from rappers and gang bangers. Find a quiet clean neighborhood. And find peace and comfort in God. Your reward is coming. This world is going off a cliff. The USA has deliberately ( Not the USA. BRANDON ) been sold out by a grifter phoney crooked bunch. They are socialists Marxist communist in the white house. This is NOT the USA anymore as you knew it. It’s worse. Stay away from anybody you do not trust. Watch what you put on internet. It will be there for eternity. That’s it. Good luck. God speed.
There is no greater crime inAmerica than an innocent man be put in prison for any length of time ! The longer he stays the worse the crime and the greater the punishment should be for those causing it ! Compound the punishment when clearly done intentionally ! As Franklyn once said better a thousand guilty gofree than one innocent be blamed !