It Was a Case That 'Should Never Have Happened'

In ProPublica's sprawling reexamination of the rape case at the center of Alice Sebold's memoir Lucky, the real mystery isn't just who attacked her—it's how the system managed to fail almost everyone. Reporter Joaquin Sapien traces how police in Syracuse pushed Sebold's 1981 rape into an "inactive" file just five hours after receiving the case, but then built a new case later based on her disputed identification of Anthony Broadwater and a hair comparison. Broadwater spent 16 years in prison and more than two decades on the sex offender registry before a judge threw out his conviction in 2021, with the local DA saying the prosecution "should never have happened." "The case was yet another reminder, if reminder was needed, of the racism in the US justice system," Sapien writes.

Sapien's 2.5-year investigation argues that missteps in Sebold's case were part of a broader breakdown, with a police department that sidelined rape cases, a university that pushed "no press" labels on reports of violent crimes, and prosecutors who leaned on thin evidence. With physical evidence now gone and statutes of limitations long expired, the question of who raped Sebold may never be answered. Sebold tells Sapien she feels shame and "deep mortification" over what happened, wondering, "What if I hadn't reported my rape? None of this would have happened." As for Broadwater, he's now trying to pick up the pieces of his life after receiving a $5.5 million settlement from the state, though he compares his cleared name and settlement to a "skin graft" over a bad injury, noting, "Still ain't normal. Ain't never gonna be normal. How could it be normal?" More here, including .