Anthony Broadwater, a 61-year-old resident of Syracuse, New York state, and former marine, was exonerated last week of the brutal rape, assault and robbery of best-selling author Alice Sebold.
On my first reading of the book, the portion regarding Sebold’s attempted identification of her assailant at a police lineup disturbed me.
Even with the lack of identification, the district attorney still took Broadwater to trial and he was convicted.
This miscarriage of justice seemed obvious, and I pointed it out to my production team colleagues.
I then hired Dan Myers, a private investigator in Syracuse, and within 48 hours we knew Gregory Madison’s real name, and the basic facts behind the case.
I do not believe that Sebold, as an 18-year-old rape victim, bears any blame.
But I do have questions about the 39-year-old Sebold who wrote Lucky.
The assistant district attorney should never have allowed a case in which the victim could not identify the suspect to go to trial.
A rape victim identifies the wrong suspect in a police lineup and the case goes to trial and the man goes to prison.