Conviction overturned in 1981 rape of author Alice Sebold

By KAREN MATTHEWS
Associated Press

A 39-year-old rape conviction at the center of a memoir by award-winning author Alice Sebold has been overturned because of what authorities determined were serious flaws with the prosecution. Anthony Broadwater was cleared by a judge in Onondaga County, New York on Monday of raping Sebold when she was a student at Syracuse University. Sebold wrote about the rape in her 1999 memoir, “Lucky.” The Post-Standard of Syracuse reports that when the judge officially cleared Broadwater, he shook with emotion, sobbing as his head fell into his hands. Broadwater said he never thought he would see the day that he would be exonerated.