This is a wild story. TLDR:
• Alice Sebold was raped as a freshman in college in 1981
• Months later she spotted Anthony Broadwater, a black man, on the street who she claimed looked exactly like her attacker
• Broadwater was arrested, but Sebold picked out a different man in the police lineup
• Broadwater was tried anyway, and convicted on two pieces of evidence: microscopic hair analysis (which has since been debunked as junk science) and Sebold's testimony
• Broadwater served 16 years in prison and was registered as a sex offender
• Sebold wrote of the rape in her memoir "Lucky"
• "Lucky" was set for a film adaptation, and executive producer Tim Mucciante became skeptical when the events described in the script differed from the book
• Mucciante hired a private investigator and later two lawyers (David Hammond and Melissa Swartz) to look into the case
• Hammond and Swartz successfully fought to have Broadwater's conviction overturned due to the flaws in the prosecution
Articles:
Conviction overturned in 1981 rape of 'The Lovely Bones' author Alice Sebold
He spent years in prison for the rape of author Alice Sebold, the subject of her memoir, 'Lucky.' A judge just exonerated him
Some quotes from the articles:
I understand these kinds of stories are dicey to talk about, since they're sometimes used to concern troll about false accusations/cast doubt on rape accusations, but this one is worth reading about. What a travesty of a prosecution, and what a crazy way to finally get the case overturned.
• Alice Sebold was raped as a freshman in college in 1981
• Months later she spotted Anthony Broadwater, a black man, on the street who she claimed looked exactly like her attacker
• Broadwater was arrested, but Sebold picked out a different man in the police lineup
• Broadwater was tried anyway, and convicted on two pieces of evidence: microscopic hair analysis (which has since been debunked as junk science) and Sebold's testimony
• Broadwater served 16 years in prison and was registered as a sex offender
• Sebold wrote of the rape in her memoir "Lucky"
• "Lucky" was set for a film adaptation, and executive producer Tim Mucciante became skeptical when the events described in the script differed from the book
• Mucciante hired a private investigator and later two lawyers (David Hammond and Melissa Swartz) to look into the case
• Hammond and Swartz successfully fought to have Broadwater's conviction overturned due to the flaws in the prosecution
Articles:
Conviction overturned in 1981 rape of 'The Lovely Bones' author Alice Sebold
He spent years in prison for the rape of author Alice Sebold, the subject of her memoir, 'Lucky.' A judge just exonerated him
Some quotes from the articles:
I understand these kinds of stories are dicey to talk about, since they're sometimes used to concern troll about false accusations/cast doubt on rape accusations, but this one is worth reading about. What a travesty of a prosecution, and what a crazy way to finally get the case overturned.
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