The writer deeply regrets Anthony Broadwater: he spent 16 years in prison unfairly
The tears of an innocent. The apology and discomfort of a victim, writer Alice Sebold: “They stole his life”. A path of suffering and injustice that lasted 40 years. Until November 22, when the New York State Supreme Court ruled that Anthony Broadwater did not rape Alice, on May 8, 1981.
–
Anthony is now 61 years old. He spent 16 in prison, always declaring himself innocent. It came out in 1999 and has been fighting for a review of its trial ever since. In that same year Alice Sebold, who later became famous for «lovable remainsHe published his first successful book. He titled it “Lucky”, that is “lucky”, taking up the comment of the agent who collected his complaint: “She was lucky: they could have killed her or dismembered her.”
–
The story begins on May 8, 1981. Alice was 18 and attended University in Syracuse, New York State. She was attacked and raped in a park by an African American. Five months later, he reported to the authorities that he had seen the man again on the outskirts of the university campus.
–
Investigators identified the suspect: he was 21-year-old Anthony Broadwater who had just left the marines to be close to his father with cancer. The policemen invited the girl to recognize the attacker among five “black men”. Alice signaled another, not Anthony. But the experts had analyzed a sample of pubic hair found on Sebold’s clothes: they coincided with those of the defendant. A test that is now considered unreliable. The final hearing of the trial was dramatic. The judge asked Sebold to look around and point out his attacker. The writer relates in “Lucky” that she pointed her finger at Anthony without referring to the fact that he was black. The accused’s perspective was different: «I was the only African American. I understood that I would be condemned ».
–
For forty years Broadwater has tried to shake off the rapist mark. He got married, he got by with a thousand jobs. Eventually he crossed paths with two persistent lawyers, David Hammond and Melissa Swartz, and most importantly a district attorney, William Fitzpatrick, willing to reopen his file. Now he says he cried, along with his wife, reading the note released by Alice Sebold: “I deeply regret the fact that the life he could have had been stolen … Today American society is beginning to face systematic problems. of our judicial system, where justice for one person too often comes at the expense of another. Unfortunately, there was not even a hint of this debate when I reported my rape in 1981. ‘
–
The publishing house Scribner has decided to block the distribution of “Lucky” in all formats, announcing that it had asked the author to “consider revising it”.
–
December 1, 2021 (change December 1, 2021 | 22:36)
© REPRODUCTION RESERVED
–
—
/i/2003780780.png?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1)
