Eight days after the Syracuse man Anthony Broadwater was exonerated in 1981 for the rape of Alice Sebold, the bestselling author apologized and described the resident of Syracuse as an “innocent man”.
Before making her apology public on Tuesday afternoon, Sebold sent a copy to Broadwater for him to read.
“When (Broadwater) read it, he cried,” attorney David Hammond told Syracuse.com | The post standard. “And his wife too.”
In her apology, which was later published on the Medium website, Sebold wrote that she placed her trust in the American legal system as a “traumatized 18-year-old rape victim”. She began her career in 1999, describing her rape in Syracuse’s Thornden Park and her journey through the criminal justice system that led to his conviction in 1982.
This resulted in Broadwater being jailed for 16 years for a rape which Sebold now believes he did not commit.
“It has taken me the past eight days to understand how this could happen,” wrote Sebold in the statement posted on Medium, an online publishing website. “I will continue to struggle with the role I unwittingly played in a system that sent an innocent man to jail.
Broadwater, now 61, was given discharge in a Syracuse courtroom a week ago on Monday and was first reported by Syracuse.com | The post standard. The only two pieces of evidence against Broadwater were Sebold’s identification on trial – after picking the wrong man on a previous police statement – and a microscopic hair analysis that is now considered junk science.
Broadwater posted a reply to Syracuse.com | The Post Standard by its lawyers.
“I’m relieved that she apologized,” Broadwater said in the statement. “It must have taken a lot of courage to do that. I still hurt because I was wrongly sentenced, but that will help me in my process to find peace with what happened. “
Alice Sebold, pictured in 2002, wrote the memoir “Lucky” in 1999 about being raped as a student at Syracuse University in 1981 and fighting to convict her attacker. (Scribner; Associated Press)Clerk; Associated press
In her self-published statement, Sebold noted that the country is only now grappling with problems in the criminal justice system that may have contributed to Broadwater’s unjustified conviction.
“I am grateful that Mr. Broadwater was finally confirmed, but the fact remains that 40 years ago he became just another young black man brutally treated by our flawed legal system. I will forever regret what was done to him, ”wrote Sebold.
“Today American society is beginning to recognize and address the systemic problems in our judicial system, which too often means that justice for some is at the expense of others. Unfortunately, when I reported my rape in 1981, it wasn’t a debate, conversation, or even a whisper.
Staff writer Douglass Dowty can be reached at [email protected] or 315-470-6070.
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