Alice Sebold, author of The Lovely Bones

[HolidaysAreHolidays]

people.com/crime/man-exonerated-1981-rape-alice-sebold-author/?amp=true

An interesting and tragic story.

This man served his sentence and was released at the end of it. Now his conviction has been overturned but his life has been ruined.

I'm interested in what might happen next in this story. I wonder if there is additional evidence to review to find the real attacker.

According to the report, the evidence was flawed at the very least. Sebold initially identified another man as the attacker but at trial identified this man.

This is such an awful story. That poor man spending 16 years in jail for a crime he didn't commit. Reminds me of a modern day version of a lynching except the punishment had more of a veneer of respectability because it went through the "justice" system and only ended in incarceration rather than death.

I've seen some hideous things directed at Sebold as a result of this. They're both victims, in very different ways, but have seen a lot of men calling Alice terrible names and demanding retribution.

It's a failure of the justice system all round.

The vitriol against her has been horrendous. I think her unconscious racism was partly to blame (i.e. she could not tell the difference between two black men) but the prosecution and justice system were the real culprits. I'll post her apology in a bit. It just makes me angry that she (and white feminism) is being blamed for everything. She was raped and probably did see her attacker in the street. He just was not the man they pinned it on

‘They’ didn’t pin it on him though.
She did.

They may have guided her that way but in the end she just saw a scary black man and said it was him when she probably knew it wasn’t. As we know she initially identified someone else.

Her apology is very removed from herself. She talks about the flawed justice system and the terribleness of what he has endured. But she doesn’t really apologise for choosing him as the man who raped her when he clearly wasn’t the man who raped her. She doesn’t say I got it wrong, I sent an innocent man to jail.
If she had said no that’s not the man who raped me the other evidence would not have been enough to convict.

nypost article

@Faffandahalf

‘They’ didn’t pin it on him though. She did.

They may have guided her that way but in the end she just saw a scary black man and said it was him when she probably knew it wasn’t. As we know she initially identified someone else.

Her apology is very removed from herself. She talks about the flawed justice system and the terribleness of what he has endured. But she doesn’t really apologise for choosing him as the man who raped her when he clearly wasn’t the man who raped her. She doesn’t say I got it wrong, I sent an innocent man to jail.
If she had said no that’s not the man who raped me the other evidence would not have been enough to convict.

Absolutely agree with this. That poor man.

When she wrote her memoir there must have been a niggling doubt in her mind. That this wasn’t him yet she wrote all about her trauma. In those typing sessions was it really his fave she saw when she remembered the events and wrote them out?
I wonder at her justification for her actions.
She had a terrible experience but a black man also paid the price for her internalised unconscious racism.

I read her book about the rape and it's impact on her years ago, and the bit when she comes face to face with the man who raped her in the street has always stuck with me. She was so sure and so terrified. I think he may have even said something to her implying the sex was consensual. What I don't follow is whether that was the man who ultimately got convicted or actually the rapist, or just fabricated for the book.

As a white feminist, having read about this case, and having been horrified by the Amy Cooper video last year, I've been reading about White women tears and trying to learn and understand. I really don't want to fall into the "not all..." trap.
She may have seen her attacker in the street but she didn't initially pick him up in the line up. As a white woman I feel like I have a responsibility to understand the skewed power that may give me

She was raped (not her fault). She saw a man in the street that she thought was her attacker and went to the police (what she should have done). The police put a suspect in a line up and asked her to identify him. She couldn't but picked someone she felt scared of (evidence of racism unconscious bias but also a clear wish to find the culprit and get closure so mixed). The police should have let him go then. Instead they moved ahead and prosecuted him. (now she could have stopped it but hands in your hearts how many of us would given we were attached and the police were convinced that they had the right man). So she is partly to blame but not deserving of all the hate she has been getting

@Faffandahalf

‘They’ didn’t pin it on him though. She did.

They may have guided her that way but in the end she just saw a scary black man and said it was him when she probably knew it wasn’t. As we know she initially identified someone else.

Her apology is very removed from herself. She talks about the flawed justice system and the terribleness of what he has endured. But she doesn’t really apologise for choosing him as the man who raped her when he clearly wasn’t the man who raped her. She doesn’t say I got it wrong, I sent an innocent man to jail.
If she had said no that’s not the man who raped me the other evidence would not have been enough to convict.

She didn’t pin it on him in the line up once he was arrested. She picked a different man and the police decided to convict him anyway.

No didn’t they say to her she had the wrong guy when she picked some other guy and convince her to change her testimony to say that Anthony Broadwater was the rapist instead?
So yes the police are at fault here. But so is she for wanting closure and allowing a man she surely must have known wasn’t actually her rapist to be jailed.

What I don’t understand is who was the guy she met in the street? Was he the first guy she named? Or someone else entirely?

Complex situation but I think she bears part of the culpability. I hope she does the decent thing and, given her wealth, provides that poor man with some support.

But during the trial she was asked if her attacker was present and she pointed him out - the only black man in the room.
How could she be so sure to go and write books about it when she chose the wrong person in the line out.
It's appalling - 16 years in jail and a life time on the sex offenders register so he can't get a job. Did she really never have a niggle of worry about her decision???.

In her memoir I am sure it is mentioned that the man she does pick in the line up was one of his close friends who he chose to be in the line up with him as they look so similar and were often mistaken for each other. So that was why the line up identification was discredited - as it had been skewed on purpose to make her pick someone else and make her seem like an unreliable witness who didn’t recognise him.

It’s been years since I read the book but that was what immediately came to mind when I read the news article.

Lineups and witness identification are notoriously unreliable.

If you've seen Making a Murderer, Steven Avery served 13 years for a rape and assault he didn't commit and which he physically couldn't have been anywhere near.

His victim picked him out of a photo line up and he was convicted. Steven Avery and the victim were both white.

The corrupt police department wanted a guy locked up and they preferred to go after Avery as he had minor convictions and they disliked him and his family.

It took DNA to finally exonerate him.

I have no blame at all for the victims in these circumstances. They are deeply traumatised and being guided by a system that should know how to gather evidence objectively.

I assume she identified him at trial because she was traumatised and confused. Why would she have done it deliberately? Witnesses/victims of crime are frequently unreliable because of the panic/trauma etc

In her memoir I am sure it is mentioned that the man she does pick in the line up was one of his close friends who he chose to be in the line up with him as they look so similar and were often mistaken for each other. So that was why the line up identification was discredited - as it had been skewed on purpose to make her pick someone else and make her seem like an unreliable witness who didn’t recognise him.

According to the Times on Sunday the prosecutor or police or someone told her that he had done that (brought a friend who looked very similar then the friend looks angry and the guilty guy looks friendly in the line up and the wrong one gets chosen) but he hadn't. It was a lie.

But still awful that they went only on the strength of the line up (also hair test which is not used now as discredited).
As above she should give him half of her money.

@Lazydaisydaydream

In her memoir I am sure it is mentioned that the man she does pick in the line up was one of his close friends who he chose to be in the line up with him as they look so similar and were often mistaken for each other. So that was why the line up identification was discredited - as it had been skewed on purpose to make her pick someone else and make her seem like an unreliable witness who didn’t recognise him.

It’s been years since I read the book but that was what immediately came to mind when I read the news article.

They didn’t look at all alike in the line up apart from all being black men. That’s the thing.

Poor Anthony his life has been totally ruined and he chose not to have children because he did not want them to live with the shame.

It’s awful that they convicted him on such shaky evidence, especially when you consider how hard it is to convict someone who is actually guilty of rape.

I have no blame at all for the victims in these circumstances. They are deeply traumatised and being guided by a system that should know how to gather evidence objectively.

Yes this is true but she's had how many years to mull it over?

She was the victim of a violent rape, the fact the wrong man was convicted is not her fault.
The fact she picked the ‘wrong man’ from the line up (barring in mind they were all the wrong man!) isn’t unconscious bias it’s trauma.
What happened to him is deplorable, what happened to her is deplorable. They are both victims of another mans crime and have both been let down by the justice system in America.

This whole thing is terrifying really…. How weak the legal system is really and how open to abuse and bias. Especially when it involves rape which already has such a low conviction rate.

Interested to know if anyone knows why the hair test is discredited now - does it not work on DNA?

@YourenutsmiLord

I have no blame at all for the victims in these circumstances. They are deeply traumatised and being guided by a system that should know how to gather evidence objectively.

Yes this is true but she's had how many years to mull it over?

To mull what over though? As far as she was concerned she had identified the correct man, she had sent her rapist to jail. What reason did she have to doubt herself afterwards?

@OppsUpsSide

She was the victim of a violent rape, the fact the wrong man was convicted is not her fault. The fact she picked the ‘wrong man’ from the line up (barring in mind they were all the wrong man!) isn’t unconscious bias it’s trauma. What happened to him is deplorable, what happened to her is deplorable. They are both victims of another mans crime and have both been let down by the justice system in America.

Completely agree with this. I remember reading her memoir - the attack was horrific. The police and justice system had the responsibility to collate the correct information in the correct manner and failed