Alice Sebold / Anthony Broadwater

Truer Crime
Truer Crime
Alice Sebold / Anthony Broadwater
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You might know Alice Sebold from her bestselling novel “The Lovely Bones.” But before that, she became famous for her memoir “Lucky,” where she recounts the brutal assault she survived in a park near her college campus—and the trial that followed. The man convicted in that trial was Anthony Broadwater, who has maintained his innocence for more than 40 years. Today’s episode is about forgiveness, resilience, and the devastating consequences of getting it wrong. 

Please be aware that today’s episode contains references to sexual assault and physical violence.

A full transcript of this episode is available here.

“Anthony Broadwater on Marshall Street, near Syracuse University, where Ms. Sebold first misidentified him as her rapist.Credit: Benjamin Cleeton for The New York Times.”
Alice Sebold
“Anthony Broadwater cries and holds his wife, Elizabeth, after Judge Gordon Cuffy overturned his 40-year-old rape conviction, Nov. 22, 2021. Katrina Tulloch.”
“This is the police lineup on Nov. 4, 1981 in which rape victim Alice Sebold was asked to pick out the man who attacked her in Thornden Park on May 8, 1981. Anthony Broadwater is standing in position #4 (second from the right). Sebold picked a man named Henry Hudson, who is standing in position #5 (far right). Photo provided by Onondaga County DA’s Office.”
“Mr. Broadwater, left, and his brother Wade, right, pictured in the late 1970s with their partners at the time.Credit: Anthony Broadwater.”
Anthony in the Marine Corps.
Lucky Book Cover
“The path in Thornden Park in Syracuse, N.Y., that Alice Sebold walked before she was raped in 1981.Credit: Benjamin Cleeton for The New York Times.”
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Action Items Related to Today’s Episode:

After Innocence provides free post-release assistance for folks like  Anthony. According to their website, an innocent person is exonerated in the United States every 54 hours, and most of those people return to the free world with little more than the clothes on their backs. Many will receive zero support in their process of readjusting to normal life, nor do they automatically receive meaningful compensation for the trauma and time lost from incarceration. Since 2016, After Innocence has supported more than 800 exonerated people through its programs, including post-release transition support, dental care, pro bono legal help, health care, tax relief, and lots more. Visit After-Innocence.org to seek help for yourself or a loved one, or to donate and support this critical work.

Know Your IX is “a survivor- and youth-led organization that aims to empower students to end sexual and dating violence in their schools.” Their work seeks to actualize the full potential of the civil rights law Title IX by educating college and high school students on their legal rights, training, organizing, and supporting student survivor activities, and advocating for policy change at the campus, state, and federal levels. You can learn more and donate here.

Audio Used:

YouTube: Anthony Broadwater exonerated in 1981 rape of Alice Sebold, by syracuse.com.

Sources Used:

The New York Times: He Was Convicted of Raping Alice Sebold. Then the Case Unraveled., by Corina Knoll, Karen Zraick and Alexandra Alter.

Syracuse.com: Alice Sebold case: How race and incompetence doomed Anthony Broadwater to prison, by Douglass Dowty and Tim Knauss

The Guardian: Adventures in disturbia, by Robert McCrum.

The New Yorker: The Tortured Bond of Alice Sebold and the Man Wrongfully Convicted of Her Rape, by Rachel Aviv.

The Cut: Why Didn’t More of Us Question Alice Sebold’s Memoir?, by Johanna Berkman.

DailyMail: The 1981 lineup that led to the WRONG man being jailed for raping Lovely Bones author, by Jennifer Smith.

American Psychological Association: Eyewitness accuracy in police lineups.

Innocence Project: Reevaluating Lineups: Why Witnesses Make Mistakes and How to Reduce the Chance of a Misidentification.

Mother Jones: How the Junk Science of Hair Analysis Keeps People Behind Bars, by Renee Ebersole.

The Associated Press: AP Exclusive: Many sex offenders killed in California prison, by Don Thompson.

The New York Times: HERS; Speaking of the Unspeakable, by Alice Sebold.

New Jersey State Bar Foundation: More Than Meets the Eye in Cross-Racial IDs, by Michael Barbella.

University of Colorado Boulder Korey Wise Innocence Project School of Law: Why Do Wrongful Convictions Happen?

National Library of Medicine: A cross-race effect in metamemory: Predictions of face recognition are more accurate for members of our own race, by Kathleen L. Hourihan, Aaron S. Benjamin, and Xiping Liuc.

Innocense Project: What Wrongful Convictions Teach Us About Racial Inequality, by Edwin Grimsley.

National Registry of Exonerations: Race and Wrongful Convictions in the United States 2022.

YouTube: Man Exonerated In 1980s Rape Of Author Alice Sebold, by NBC News.

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