MYERS: It was obvious to me that something was off because he had no other criminal history. Timothy Mucciante used his own money to hire Dan Myers, now a private investigator, to research Broadwater's case. The producer was skeptical enough to leave the film. The executive producer became convinced while working on the script that there were issues with the story - not with Sebold's assault, which was real and horrific, but who got convicted for the crime. ULABY: Myers says the reason why this case got reexamined is largely because of a planned movie adaptation of Alice Sebold's memoir. The mind does some funny things, but I'm sure that her description of what happened is accurate. Dan Myers is a former police officer with the county.ĭAN MYERS (PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR): Identifying people is difficult. ULABY: In court this week, the Onondaga County district attorney apologized, saying junk science was used to convict Broadwater, along with a single identification. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) WILLIAM J FITZPATRICK (COUNTY DA): This should never have happened. His conviction was based on two pieces of evidence - Siebold's identification and a now-discredited method of forensic hair analysis. Broadwater always maintained his innocence. She first picked the man sitting next to him in a police lineup but later identified Broadwater as her rapist in court. ULABY: Five months after her attack, Sebold, then a Syracuse University freshman, spotted Anthony Broadwater on the street and called the police saying she'd seen her assailant. Do you understand? If you scream, you're dead. (SOUNDBITE OF AUDIOBOOK, "LUCKY") SEBOLD: (Reading) He said these words - I'll kill you if you scream. ULABY: Sebold reading from the audiobook of her harrowing 1999 memoir, "Lucky." (SOUNDBITE OF AUDIOBOOK, "LUCKY") ALICE SEBOLD (AUTHOR): (Reading) This is what I remember. ULABY: Author Alice Sebold was only 18 years old when she was raped and beaten by a stranger in a park. (SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE LOVELY BONES") SAOIRSE RONAN (ACTOR): (As Susie Salmon) I waited for justice. The book is told from the point of view of a teenage girl in heaven after she's been killed and mutilated by a rapist. Sebold wrote the hugely popular novel "The Lovely Bones." It sold more than 8 million copies. Broadwater wept in court last Tuesday in a video captured by after it was proved he was wrongly convicted for the 1981 rape of Alice Sebold. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) ANTHONY J BROADWATER (GENERAL PUBLIC): (Crying). But this is a story about real-life sexual violence, and what follows may be upsetting to some listeners. That backstory, as NPR's Neda Ulaby tells us, unfolds like a thriller. SCOTT SIMON (HOST): A man convicted of the rape of a bestselling author, who wrote about her attack in a celebrated memoir, has been fully exonerated.
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