BACKGROUND: (From an earlier post of this Blog. Link below.) "Anthony Broadwater: Syracuse, New York - From our 'Enough to Make One Weep' department: Horrifically flawed identification process - and, if that wasn't enough, junk hair analysis. Author Alice Sebold apologises to man cleared of her rape, BBC News Reports..."Lucky sold more than one million copies and launched Ms Sebold's career as an author. She went on to write the novel The Lovely Bones which was turned into an Oscar-nominated film by Peter Jackson. Lucky's publisher announced on Tuesday that it would stop distributing the memoir while working with Ms Sebold to "consider how the work might be revised". The book detailed how Ms Sebold was attacked when she was an 18-year-old student at Syracuse University in New York. Months later, she reported seeing a black man in the street who she thought was her attacker, and alerted police. An officer then detained Mr Broadwater, who had reportedly been in the area at the time. After his arrest, Ms Sebold failed to pick him out in a police line-up, selecting another man. But Mr Broadwater was tried anyway and Ms Sebold identified him as her attacker in court. He was convicted based on her account and microscopic hair analysis. After he was released from prison in 1998, Mr Broadwater remained on the sex offenders register. He was exonerated on 22 November after a re-examination of the case found he had been convicted on insufficient and now-discredited forms of evidence."
PASSAGE OF THE DAY: “Unlucky” delves into Broadwater’s wrongful conviction, as well as Mucciante’s mission to help clear his name. Mucciante got involved in the case first as an executive producer for the film adaptation of Sebold’s book “Lucky,” but says he soon realized glaring red flags in Sebold’s story. He recalls later departing the movie after disagreements with the director, who wanted to change the race of the assailant from Black to white. (The assailant in the original story was Black.)
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "Though Mucciante was no longer involved with the feature film version, he hired a private investigator to look into his questions about the book and the script. When it became evident that Broadwater was innocent, people raised money and hired attorneys in an effort to overturn his conviction. The documentary will also cover Broadwater’s work to rebuild his life that was lost through prison time and the stigma of a rape he didn’t commit."
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STORY: "Documentary about Anthony Broadwater's wrongful rape conviction in the works," by Reporter Rebecca Rubin, published by 'Variety' on December 1, 2021.
GIST: "A new documentary will chronicle the wrongful rape conviction of Anthony Broadwater.
From Red Badge Films and Red Hawk Films, “Unlucky” will follow the story about the Syracuse man who spent more than 16 years in prison, and another 20 being labeled as a registered sex offender, before being exonerated of the 1981 rape of best-selling author Alice Sebold.
Sebold wrote about the rape in her 1999 novel “Lucky,” based on her sexual assault as a freshman at Syracuse University. In the book, she details her experiences in overcoming trauma by helping convict the man she believed attacked her.
Broadwater was absolved of his rape conviction last week. A film adaptation of “Lucky” played a part in proving his innocence once Timothy Mucciante, an executive producer on the movie, left the project after raising concerns about discrepancies between the book and the screenplay.
“Unlucky” delves into Broadwater’s wrongful conviction, as well as Mucciante’s mission to help clear his name. Mucciante got involved in the case first as an executive producer for the film adaptation of Sebold’s book “Lucky,” but says he soon realized glaring red flags in Sebold’s story. He recalls later departing the movie after disagreements with the director, who wanted to change the race of the assailant from Black to white. (The assailant in the original story was Black.)
Though Mucciante was no longer involved with the feature film version, he hired a private investigator to look into his questions about the book and the script. When it became evident that Broadwater was innocent, people raised money and hired attorneys in an effort to overturn his conviction.
The documentary will also cover Broadwater’s work to rebuild his life that was lost through prison time and the stigma of a rape he didn’t commit.
Scott D. Rosenbaum is writing, producing, and directing “Unlucky” with Red Hawk Films production partner Tony Grazia. Broadwater, his legal team, the private investigator and key players in the incident are participating in the film, which is currently shooting.
Sebold has since apologized to Broadwater, decades after misidentifying him as her rapist.
In a Medium post, she wrote, “First, I want to say that I am truly sorry to Anthony Broadwater and I deeply regret what you have 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.""
The entire story can be read at:
