Alice Sebold pens letter of apology to man wrongly convicted

[tulipsandroses]

Author Alice Sebold apologized to a man who last week was exonerated of her rape, a crime she wrote about in her memoir "Lucky," but the writer also appeared to place as much blame on a "flawed legal system" as she did on the role she played in his conviction.

"First, I want to say that I am truly sorry to Anthony Broadwater and I deeply regret what you have been through," Sebold, the author of "The Lovely Bones," wrote in a statement posted on Medium.com.


https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/30/us/alice-sebold-apology-man-exonerated-rape/index.html

[artemisia1]

1. This was a tragedy for both of them. Respect to her for doing this. Now the scummy prosecutor

(if still alive) needs to be held accountable for withholding exculpatory evidence.

[exboyfil]

2. The bad lineup was known at trial

The defense attorney brought it up and also brought up how little Sebold actually saw her attacker. At least according to her book Lucky. It was a bench trial, and I figure the judge was just there to cook em (any black guy will do). She has an ex parte approach documented in her book by the judge to her which seems highly inappropriate.


My impression after reading the passages in Lucky related to the trial (I read them after this happened for the first time) is that sending this man to prison was a moment of empowerment for her. She was 19 years old, and the prosecutor was leveraging the crappy hair analysis to help her along.

That being said after reading Lucky, I have to wonder why she didn't do something as a 40 year old when she published Lucky. It is clear from the passages that this was an insane identification. Stranger IDs are nearly useless in the best of circumstances. She said 4 and 5 were twins. Even in the not so great black and white picture, I can easily tell the difference. The fact we weren't asking ourselves in 2000 - "Was this even the guy?" says something about us.

No one is naming and shaming the judge (who is dead), the prosecutor, the cops, or the hair analysis guy. Hopefully with their real names, they will feature prominently in the upcoming movie Unlucky (they have to make it).

[LisaL]

3. Microscopic hair analysis is junk science.

Her ID was obviously worthless, she couldn't even pick the falsely accused from a line up. I wonder why the falsely accused went with a bench trial instead of a jury trial? Did defense think bench trial was going to be more impartial?