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Anthony Broadwater exoneration exposes Syracuse rape‑case failures

newsJun 30, 20265475

ProPublica’s Joaquin Sapien reports that Anthony Broadwater spent 16 years wrongfully jailed for the 1981 rape of Alice Sebold and was belatedly cleared five years ago. The reporting shows Syracuse police routinely brushed off rape reports, prosecutors mishandled confessions, and judges overlooked irregularities that contributed to Broadwater’s conviction. The Syracuse University community also prioritized suppressing news about a broader campus rape problem rather than investigating it, according to the story. Investigations prompted by the exoneration have raised new questions about how one or more serial rapists operated for years with little consequence. The series frames Broadwater’s case as emblematic of a system focused on easy answers and closing cases at the expense of justice for both the accused and victims.

ProPublica
@propublica.org

NEW: At the time of Alice Sebold’s rape, the system was broken in Syracuse. Police brushed off rapes. Prosecutors bungled confessions. Judges overlooked irregularities. The university seemed more intent on suppressing news of a rape epidemic than solving it.

2374h ago
Gina Brown2

“the news detonated in the media, with Sebold vilified even after she apologized to Broadwater. “ She should have been vilified and sued into poverty. She took something from him that he can never get back. Many Black men became Strange Fruit because of white women falsely accusing them of rape.

jonathanmlewis.bsky.social1

Failure after failure after by the system and the people who worked in it. The prosecitors needed disbarred for fabricating a case and the officers fired for incompetence. What a story.

Chris Morran
@themorrancave.bsky.social

He spent 16 years in prison, wrongfully convicted of raping author Alice Sebold. What his exoneration reveals is a system more fixated on easy answers and closing cases than it is on justice for the accused or the victim, both of whom have been left broken. New, by Joaquin Sapien @propublica.org

2223h ago
Charles Ornstein
@charlesornstein.bsky.social

Must read by Joaquin Sapien: The Bestselling Author, the Exoneration and the Rape Crisis the Police Ignored “That Guy Is Still Out There”

123h ago
The Fighting Liberal Texan🌈🌊💙🦋Congress Switchboard 202-224-3121
@fightingliberal.bsky.social

“That Guy Is Still Out There” Five years after Anthony Broadwater was belatedly cleared for the sexual assault of Alice Sebold, the questions of how he came to be wrongly convicted and how one or more serial rapists operated for years with little consequence have only deepened. ...

42h ago
likemind.bsky.social
@likemind.bsky.social

Alice Sebold, the Wrong Man and Syracuse’s Buried Rape Crisis — ProPublica www.propublica.org/article/alic...

2h ago
1 source
propublica.orgThe Wrong Man: The Bestselling Author, the Exoneration and the Rape Crisis the Police Ignored

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