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HomeLatest NewsThe author of The Lovely Bones falsely accused an African-American man of...

The author of The Lovely Bones falsely accused an African-American man of rape. He spent 16 years in prison.

Date: March 28, 2024 Time: 17:32:36

The attack on Sebold took place in 1981 in a park near Syracuse University (New York), where the 18-year-old future writer studied her first year.

Photo: GLOBAL LOOK PRESS

It is often said that everything secret will one day be revealed. However, sometimes the restoration of justice has to wait many years. So Anthony Broadwater, a 62-year-old African American, waited nearly 40 years for justice. According to The New York Times, the state of New York agreed to pay the man 5.5 million dollars (420 million rubles) in compensation for the 16 years in prison that a US citizen spent after being convicted of raping the writer Alice Sebold. , known for the novel The Lovely. Bones.

JUSTICE IS SUPPOSED

Broadwater reached a settlement agreement with US authorities after he was acquitted in the same case in November 2021 and the wrongful sentence was overturned by a state court judge. Now, to comply with all the procedures, the approval of the judge is required, but, according to the representatives of the ex-accused, they already have prior consent.

“I appreciate what State Attorney General Letitia James has done, and I hope and pray that others in my situation can get the same justice,” Broadwater said.

According to his lawyers, his client was especially pleased that the authorities did not require him to return to testify and talk about the events that occurred, since it would be “very difficult for a man to go through this” again.

TRAGIC MISTAKE

The attack on Sebold took place in 1981 in a park near Syracuse University (New York), where the 18-year-old future writer studied her first year. She detailed the incident in her 1999 memoir Lucky, which was the precursor to the best-selling novel The Lovely Bones, which also features a teenager being raped by a man.

Immediately after, the girl contacted the campus security service, spoke about the attack and wrote a statement to the police. According to Siebold, an identikit of the criminal was compiled, but the paradox was that the person described by the student did not look like a real attacker.

How did Broadwater end up in court? Five months later, Sebold passed him on the street and called the police, saying that she may have seen the man who raped her. After that, the African American was arrested.

Later, during the police identification, the writer pointed to another person, without even recognizing the alleged rapist. As she wrote in “Lucky,” Broadwater and the man next to her looked the same, and shortly after the identification, Sebold felt she was wrong. Later in court, the woman pointed to the “right” suspect.

The defendant’s lawyers argued that such behavior was brought about by the misconduct of law enforcement officers, as the prosecutor lied to Sebold, saying that Broadwater and the man next to her were friends who specifically went to the identification together to fool her. This lie, according to defenders, later influenced Siebold’s testimony.

FIGHT FOR RIGHTS

Broadwater struggled to justify himself and always maintained that he was innocent, but in 1982 he was sent to jail. According to his lawyers, the American was denied parole five times because he refused to confess to a crime. He did not even help to successfully pass the polygraph tests twice.

Broadwater spent more than 16 years in prison. After he was released from prison in 1999, employers denied him a job. The stigma of the sexual abuser accompanied the African-American throughout his life.

As a result, the man decided to clear his good name from slander. At the end of 2021, the last court session took place. New York State Supreme Court Justice Gordon Caffee vacated the rape conviction and other related matters against the 61-year-old Broadwater. The district attorney admitted that the case was a terrible mistake.

READ ALSO

An American woman became a successful writer after telling how she was raped by a stranger. 40 years later it turned out that she slandered an innocent

Alice Sebold’s bestseller The Lovely Bones is one of the greatest literary successes of the 21st century. The book sold millions of copies and was translated into dozens of languages, including Russian. (further)

* This website provides news content gathered from various internet sources. It is crucial to understand that we are not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the information presented Read More

Puck Henry
Puck Henry
Puck Henry is an editor for ePrimefeed covering all types of news.
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