Author Alice Sebold publicly apologized Tuesday to the man who was exonerated last week in the 1981 rape that was the basis for her memoir “Lucky” and said she was struggling with the role she played “within a system that sent an innocent man to jail.”
Anthony Broadwater, 61, was convicted in 1982 of raping Sebold when she was a student at Syracuse University. He served 16 years in prison. His conviction was overturned Nov. 22 after prosecutors reexamined the case and determined there were serious flaws in his arrest and trial.
In a statement released to The Associated Press and later posted on Medium, Sebold, the author of the novels “The Lovely Bones” and “The Almost Moon,” wrote to Broadwater that she was truly sorry for what he’d been through.
“I am sorry most of all for the fact that the life you could have led was unjustly robbed from you, and I know that no apology can change what happened to you and never will,” she wrote.
She wrote that “as a traumatized 18-year-old rape victim, I chose to put my faith in the American legal system. My goal in 1982 was justice — not to perpetuate injustice. And certainly not to forever, and irreparably, alter a young man’s life by the very crime that had altered mine.”
Although her apology cannot undo the significant harm experienced by Anthony Broadwater, I think it was a meaningful gesture for Alice Sebold to apologize. An even more meaningful gesture would be to share the royalties she received from writing and publishing her book.
And in the meantime, every police officer, detective, criminalist, and braggadocious self-righteous arrogant know-it-all government attorney that played a part in this trainwreck of a prosecution (and let’s not forget the judge who let this happen)…they ALL turn their heads, close their eyes, put their fingers in their ears, etc. and remain totally unaccountable for destroying a man’s life. Do we EVER hear any apologies from ANY of them on cases such as this? Any of them on any registry for this crime (and this WAS a crime in my book)? Any govt. lawyer get dis-barred as a result? But forget to give a phone number when registering, and these same people will make sure you get nine years in prison.
Yeah, the woman is a real hero for apologizing. I’m sure Mr. Broadwater feels so much better now.
Apologize with a check for a certain amount containing zeros is sufficient. She should write a book with him on mistaken identification on her part, being falsely accused of a crime resulting in a conviction, being placed on the registry and what life is like, and educating the public.