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NY to pay $5.5 million to man wrongfully convicted in 1981 rape of Alice Sebold
By
Arun Venugopal
Published Mar 27, 2023
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Photo by Matt Burkhartt for The Washington Post via Getty Images
By
Arun Venugopal
Published Mar 27, 2023
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New York has agreed to pay a $5.5 million settlement to a Syracuse man wrongfully convicted in the rape of "The Lovely Bones" author Alice Sebold four decades ago, according to the Attorney General’s Office and an a lawyer for the man.
Lawyers for Anthony Broadwater, 62, who served nearly 17 years in prison for the 1981 rape of Sebold, and attorneys for the state signed off on the agreement, which was first reported by the Syracuse Post-Stand and the New York Times, and confirmed by Gothamist. A settlement still must receive formal approval by a judge.
Broadwater was “relieved” by the settlement, one of his attorneys, Melissa Swartz of Syracuse, told Gothamist. He also spent more than two decades on a sex offender registry before being exonerated in 2021 based on the efforts of three law firms, six lawyers and a new district attorney who championed his case.
While we cannot undo the wrongs from more than four decades ago, this settlement agreement is a critical step to deliver some semblance of justice to Mr. Broadwater.
Letitia James, New York attorney general
“He's been declined jobs, he's been terminated from employment, he's been told he can't seek educational opportunities because of his sex offender registration,” Swartz said.
"Anthony Broadwater was convicted for a crime he never committed, and was incarcerated despite his innocence," New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement. "While we cannot undo the wrongs from more than four decades ago, this settlement agreement is a critical step to deliver some semblance of justice to Mr. Broadwater."
Swartz said the system that resulted in the conviction and incarceration of Broadwater, a Black man, was “the epitome of racism.”
Sebold, the bestselling author of “The Lovely Bones,” was a first-year student at Syracuse University when she was raped, a crime she described in her 1999 memoir, “Lucky.”
According to an account in The New York Times, Sebold passed Broadwater on the street five months after the attack and told police she may have seen her assailant. But she identified a different Black man in a police lineup. At the time, Broadwater had returned to Syracuse after serving in the military in order to care for his dying father, according to the Syracuse Post-Standard.
It was only later that Sebold identified Broadwater in court as her assailant. The only other evidence against him was hair evidence since debunked by the FBI.
Broadwater was released from prison on New Year’s Day in 1999. The conviction got another look after doubts were raised, in part, as a film adaptation of “Lucky” was being pursued.
Broadwater’s attorneys blamed prosecutors for falsely telling Sebold that Broadwater and the other man she picked out of the lineup knew each other and had appeared together to trick her into a false identification.
William J. Fitzpatrick, the current district attorney of Onondaga County, joined the motion to vacate the conviction, noting the unreliability of stranger identifications, particularly across racial lines. Sebold is white.
“I’m not going to sully this proceeding by saying, ‘I’m sorry.’ That doesn’t cut it,” Fitzpatrick told the court in a 2021 proceeding. “This should never have happened.”
Sebold subsequently issued an apology to Broadwater in which she decried “another young Black man brutalized by our flawed legal system.”
She added, "I will forever be sorry for what was done to him.”
Swartz said that after his release from prison, Broadwater struggled for years. While Broadwater, Swartz said, “sees himself as a victim, he also sees Alice Sebold as a victim. She was unfortunately a young girl that was misled by adults, adults who had a very serious responsibility that they failed to fulfill.”
The attorney said Broadwater will continue to pursue a federal lawsuit against the City of Syracuse, Onondaga County and prosecutors who put him behind bars.
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Alice Sebold
new york state
Wrongly Convicted
Race And Justice Unit
Arun Venugopal
Arun Venugopal is a senior reporter for the WNYC and Gothamist Race & Justice Unit who focuses on issues of race and bias in our region. His reporting also tackles the topics of immigration, faith, and inequality. Arun serves as the regular fill-in host of the station's "U.S. of Anxiety" program. Arun was the creator and host of Micropolis, a series about race and identity. He is a contributor to NPR's Morning Edition and All Things Considered. He has appeared on PBS Newshour, On the Media and Studio 360, and has been published in The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal and Salon. He also frequently serves as an emcee and moderator of panel discussions on race, religion, and identity issues and has been a guest host of NPR's "Fresh Air." He lives with his family in Queens.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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