Black Man Anthony Broadwater Wrongly Convicted of Raping 'The Lovely Bones' Author Alice Sebold Had No Idea She Used the Story to Start Literary Career
Anthony Broadwater, the black man wrongly convicted of raping "The Lovely Bones" author Alice Sebold, had no idea she used the rape story to start her writing career.
The 61-year-old innocent man was reportedly living in "squalor" since he got out of prison. On the other hand, Sebold has earned millions through book sales, Daily Mail reported.
Broadwater was convicted in 1982 of the 1981 attack in Syracuse, New York, and was released in 1998. He has since then lived with his wife in Syracuse in an apartment.
Broadwater's conviction was overturned on Monday after a producer working on a film adaptation of "Lucky" hired a private investigator and attorneys to work on an appeal. "Lucky" is Sebold's memoir about the rape.
Alice Sebold identified a different man as her rapist in a police lineup in 1981. However, the police department and prosecutors had steered her to Broadwater.
Authorities at the time used a form of hair analysis to convict Broadwater, which would not have been relied on in present courts.
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Private Investigator Believes Anthony Broadwater Not the 'Rapist' of Alice Sebold
The private investigator hired by the producer has found a man he believes was the real rapist and has given his research to the Syracuse Police Department, who have yet to confirm or deny they had reopened the case.
Daily Mail reported that producer Timothy Mucciante tracked down Broadwater after being fired from the Netflix production of the memoir adaptation. Mucciante has a disagreement with the Netflix production regarding the casting.
Mucciante found Broadwater in Syracuse earlier this year. The 61-year-old Black man was reportedly stunned when he learned that Alice Sebold published the book based on the rape story and earned millions.
Mucciante told Daily Mail it was not right, adding that he became suspicious after going through the original book and the script. He was then fired when he pushed back on a suggestion to cast the rapist as a white man and not a black man.
Mucciante was previously trained as a lawyer. He said he started reviewing the book and the original police report and found inconsistencies.
Anthony Broadwater's Conviction Overturned
Anthony Broadway has always maintained that he was innocent. According to The New York Times, he was exonerated Monday as a state judge, his attorneys, and the Onondaga County District Attorney agreed that the case against him was flawed.
Broadwater told the Times that it's a "long day coming as he recalled the years of stigma and isolation he faced as a registered sex offender.
He said he got married and searched for works after spending 16 years in prison. However, he noted that he found himself cut off from opportunities due to his conviction.
Broadwater noted that he can count the people who allowed him to grace their homes and dinners on his two hands, and he does not "get past 10." He said it was very traumatic for him.
Alice Sebold wrote in "Lucky" of being raped as a first-year student at Syracuse in 1981. She then spotted a Black man in the street months later that she was sure was her attacker. Sebold gave Broadwater a fiction name Gregory Madison in her book, Associated Press reported.
The award-winning author has picked a different man as her attacker when she was asked to identify her attacker in a police lineup, in which Broadwater was included.
Sebold reasoned that the man she picked at the time had eyes that told her that if they were alone, "he would call me by name and then kill me."
Regardless, Broadwater was put to trial and was convicted based mainly on Alice Sebold's identification and microscopic hair analysis. The Justice Department has already deemed as junk science this type of analysis.
This article is owned by Latin Post.
Written by: Mary Webber
WATCH: Anthony Broadwater Exonerated in 1981 Rape of Alice Sebold - From Syracuse.com