GIST: "New York State has agreed to pay $5.5 million to Syracuse resident Anthony Broadwater for his wrongful conviction in the 1981 rape of Alice Sebold, who later turned her account of the attack into the best-selling memoir “Lucky.”
Broadwater, now 62, spent 16 ½ years in state prison and more than two decades longer on the sex offender registry for a conviction based on a botched police lineup as well as since-debunked science.
He was a young Black man who returned to Syracuse from the military to care for his dying father when he was arrested based on accusations by Sebold, a white college student at Syracuse University.
Broadwater was exonerated in 2021 after an extraordinary effort by two defense lawyers to clear his name that was also championed by the current district attorney. But that did little to change the course of Broadwater’s livelihood, which consisted of collecting scrap metal, demolitions and other odd jobs.
Broadwater’s multi-million-dollar lawsuit against the state for wrongful imprisonment remained in a legal holding pattern for seven months, as the state appeared in no hurry to settle with his attorneys.
“It’s a struggle,” Broadwater told Syracuse.com last September as he collected scrap metal that he sells to make a living. “I’ll just continue to do what I do.”
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He finally got some good news in October when Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard asked state Attorney General Letitia James about the state wrongful imprisonment lawsuit. She acknowledged the injustice against Broadwater and expressed hope that a settlement could be reached.
“Soon. Very soon,” James said after she was asked when such a deal might be struck.
After her comments were published by Syracuse.com, Broadwater’s lawyers said settlement negotiations began in earnest: the AG’s office abandoned a court process that could have taken years, instead asking his lawyers what amount Broadwater might accept.
Now, Broadwater has a proposed settlement with the state for $5.5 million, according to his Syracuse-based lawyers, David Hammond and Melissa Swartz. The settlement, presented to a judge Tuesday, is pending final approvals.
The lawyers credited the AG’s office for moving with lightning speed following James’s input. Local assistant attorney general Bonnie Levy agreed that the state would pay out millions without talking to Broadwater directly under oath, something she could have demanded as part of the court process.
Broadwater had originally asked for $50 million, a large amount used to start the conversation.
Broadwater was “thankful” for the $5.5 million settlement, but also cried because nothing could bring back the 40 years of normal life he lost, his lawyers said. Broadwater was not immediately available Tuesday for comment.
He has a second federal civil rights lawsuit against Syracuse police and the county district attorney’s office, who together arrested and prosecuted him on evidence that has since been ruled faulty. No dollar figure was placed on that lawsuit, and neither the city nor county have signaled a willingness to negotiate to this point.
“We still have a lot of work to do to hold those accountable” for what happened, said Hammond, one of Broadwater’s lawyers.
Syracuse police arrested Broadwater, months after Sebold’s rape, when she said she spotted her attacker walking down Marshall Street near SU’s campus. Police arrested Broadwater and prosecutors pressed a case, despite the fact that Sebold picked a different Black man out of a police lineup. In her book, “Lucky,” Sebold described a prosecutor improperly explaining away the botched lineup by claiming that Broadwater and the other man had intentionally tried to trick her.
In fact, Broadwater had never met the other man and there’s no evidence he’d ever been in a lineup before. The only other evidence against Broadwater, besides the botched lineup, was microscopic hair analysis, which has been since deemed junk science by the FBI.
Despite the lack of evidence, a judge found Broadwater guilty in a 1982 non-jury trial and multiple appeals fell on deaf ears. Sebold later wrote of her role in helping convict Broadwater in “Lucky,” a memoir that went on to sell more than 1 million copies before being pulled after Broadwater’s exoneration.
Sebold has not spoken directly to Broadwater. She penned an open letter on Medium.com in which she apologized to Broadwater and bemoaned “another young Black man brutalized by our flawed legal system.” Broadwater has said he accepts her apology and has no intention on suing Sebold personally.
The wrongful conviction robbed Broadwater of his prime years, job opportunities and even the chance to be a father: he said he could never bring himself to have children saddled with his reputation as a registered sex offender.
“I wouldn’t bring children into this world because of this,” Broadwater said the day in 2021 a judge in Syracuse tossed his conviction, his voice cracking with emotion. “And now, we’re past (that) age. We can’t have children.”
Broadwater’s $5.5 million payout is similar to $5 million the state paid to each of two men recently cleared in the 1985 assassination of Malcolm X. The two men -- Muhammad A. Aziz and Khalil Islam -- each spent more than 20 years in prison before their convictions were tossed by a judge after revelations that key evidence had been withheld at their long-ago trials.
Broadwater will likely get the money in one or two months, once the details get ironed out, Hammond and Swartz said. It’s customary in civil litigation for his lawyers – who also include New York City civil rights lawyer Earl Ward – to get one-third of the settlement. That means Broadwater will be left with about $3.68 million.
Broadwater knows exactly what he’s going to do with his fortune: escape his dilapidated South Side home with his wife, Liz, and buy some land in the country to live out his remaining years in peace and quiet. It’s a dream rooted in his childhood, when his most cherished memories are spending time on a farm in Madison County where his family gathered after moving from the South.
“I’d like a nice farm with a brick house, an energy-efficient fireplace and some fruit trees,” Broadwater said in October. “I don’t need a mansion.""
The entire story can be read at:
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:
David Hammond, one of Broadwater’s attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, “Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it’s the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.”
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