Writer Alice Sebold's public statement on pardon of Anthony Broadwater.

December 4, 2021 4:31 PM

Production of the movie Lucky based on the biography by Alice Sebold has been cancelled and the conviction of for Anthony J Broadwater for the historical rape has been overturned. Alice Sebold has issued an apology to Anthony Broadwater after a weeks silence. I didn't really want to post this but I thought there was an interesting back story with producer Timothy Mucciante hiring a private investigator to exonerate Anthony J. Broadwater after finding inconsistencies in the 1982 court process.

Alice Sebold was the writer of The Lonely Bones the basis of director Peter Jackson's 2009 film.

Some previous Metafilter comment on Alice Sebold
https://www.metafilter.com/155048/Some-books-are-clearly-disappointing-however
https://ask.metafilter.com/233677/Rape-isnt-funny
www.metafilter.com/143893/So-no-I-dont-always-believe-them-and-yeah-I-let-them-know-that

posted by Narrative_Historian (11 comments total)

Correction: Alice Sebold wrote The Lovely Bones.
posted by Flock of Cynthiabirds at 5:32 PM on December 4, 2021 [1 favorite]

A short update from late November may be helpful here:

Mr. Broadwater, in an interview with The New York Times on Tuesday, said he was “relieved and grateful” for Ms. Sebold’s apology.
“It took a lot of courage, and I guess she’s brave and weathering through the storm like I am,” he said. “To make that statement, it’s a strong thing for her to do, understanding that she was a victim and I was a victim too.”
posted by ferdydurke at 5:37 PM on December 4, 2021 [8 favorites]

I’m glad she apologized and glad Broadwater is getting peace and closure from her apology. but this doesn’t sit right or add up to me. Just from the excerpts from “Lucky,” I can count three, and probably four separate black men who Sebold confused for each other: her actual rapist, the man who said hello to her on the street, the man in the lineup she initially identified, of whom she wrote, “the expression in his eyes told me that if we were alone, if there were no wall between us, he would call me by name and then kill me,” and finally, Anthony Broadwater. The lineup photo has been released and its implications are very bleak; none of the men look at all alike, including the two Sebold called nearly identical. She was sure the first man she identified knew her name and was ready to kill her, but forgot about that as soon as the police told her to pick Broadwater? What was the thought process there? At the time, or years later writing her book? I’m reminded of Liam Neeson telling a story about wandering the streets looking for black men to beat up after hearing a female acquaintance had been assaulted— this idea that black men are interchangeably criminal and any one can be made to pay for the crimes of any other. It just feels like there’s more going on, I can’t shake the horror of the likely three men (the man in the street, the man in the lineup and Broadwater) being chosen at random to be punished for someone else’s crimes just because they were black and close to hand.
posted by moonlight on vermont at 7:23 PM on December 4, 2021 [24 favorites]

So if Anthony Broadwater hadn't happened to have been accused of raping someone who become famous 30 years later, and if she hadn't written a memoir about the assault, and if no one had optioned the movie rights, he’d still be a convicted felon and would still be on the sex offender registry. I guess he was pretty lucky himself. Too bad for the other people who the state railroaded into a conviction when they knew damn well they had the wrong man.
posted by holborne at 7:36 PM on December 4, 2021 [6 favorites]

Broadwater is a moral giant, from what I can see, and Seybold "will forever be sorry for what was done to him." The evasive passive! Somebody did something to him, and isn't it regrettable! I think it would be the least of things for her to split the royalties from her books 50-50 with this man, unjustly punished on her say-so.
posted by homerica at 7:44 PM on December 4, 2021 [11 favorites]

I don’t feel especially comfortable with the anger directed above at Ms. Seybold. From what I can tell, she was traumatized and then manipulated into testifying against Mr. Broadwater by the police and prosecutors (the people who truly deserve scorn and anger). Now, she has to publicly acknowledge that whatever emotional closure she’d achieved is a lie and her testimony ruined a man’s life for four decades. That’s a helluva lot of cognitive dissonance to overcome. Mr. Broadwater’s expression of grace seems to be the best reaction to me.

But yeah — she probably does owe him compensation for profiting (even unintentionally) off the gross miscarriage of justice he was forced to endure.
posted by Big Al 8000 at 9:04 PM on December 4, 2021 [10 favorites]

100% of proceeds, imho.
posted by j_curiouser at 9:28 PM on December 4, 2021

I have to agree with Big Al. Sebold was very young when this happened, and she was traumatized. I don't think it's fair or even humane to judge her. I feel very comfortable judging the prosecutors, however.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 9:44 PM on December 4, 2021 [9 favorites]

“I started having some doubts,” he said, “not about the story that Alice told about her assault, which was tragic, but the second part of her book about the trial, which didn’t hang together.”

100% of proceeds, imho.

God. Really? She was raped and then had to navigate that trauma and the court system hoping for some semblance of justice. Writes a book about it. Apologizes when it becomes clear that the system steered her in the wrong direction. And she should just give it all away. Fuck.

My kid has been sexually assaulted by two men who exerted power over her, when she was 17 by a 23 year old she knew who thought she was "hot" and told her it was their secret, and at 25 by an athletic therapist who was later tried and convicted for the assault of others like her.

She agreed to testify in the first case which was fucking terrifying for her and for us, her parents, and that charge was stayed because "he said, she said" is never enough for the law, and she let the second situation play out anonymously because, well, who the fuck would want to do that again.

So, like maybe a little sympathy? I've read Lucky and The Lovely Bones. I don't know what "lucky" is but anyone who's experienced that terror isn't lucky. Much less able to operate clearly cognitively. So I'm gonna give her a pass on that and say that there might be factors involved in a wrongful conviction that do not include, "the victim was after the money".
posted by kneecapped at 9:53 PM on December 4, 2021 [12 favorites]

I think we all know how easy it is for the police to manipulate traumatized people, especially young people. That said, I wouldn't feel comfortable keeping any money from the book myself.
posted by praemunire at 10:01 PM on December 4, 2021 [2 favorites]

i think you're putting commentary where there was one. I don't think, "the victim was after the money." at all.

she ruined a person's life, and also, turned it into professional recognition and cash.

he deserves restitution - from her. maybe also from others. but definitely from her.
posted by j_curiouser at 10:33 PM on December 4, 2021