Alice Sebold, the author of The Lovely Bones, apologized to a Black man who was exonerated of her rape.  

According to CNN, Sebold wrote about the rape in her memoir Lucky, which Simon & Schuster will stop distributing. While taking responsibility for her role in the conviction of Anthony Broadwater, an innocent Black man, she also blamed a “flawed legal system.”  

RELATED: $1.5 Million Raised for Exonerated Missouri Man Who Spent 43 Years in Prison  

Sebold posted a statement about the wrongful conviction on Medium on Tuesday. “First, I want to say that I am truly sorry to Anthony Broadwater and I deeply regret what you have been through,” she wrote. “I am sorry most of all for the fact the life you could have led was unjustly robbed from you, and I know that no apology can change what happened to you and never will. Of the many things I wish for you, I hope most of all that you and your family will be granted the time and privacy to heal.”  

Sebold was raped on the campus of Syracuse University in 1981 when she was a freshman. Broadwater was convicted for the rape in 1982. He spent 16 years in prison for the crime he maintained he did not commit. He was denied parole multiple times because he would not admit to the crime and tried numerous times to get the sentence overturned, his attorneys told CNN.  

He was convicted based on two pieces of evidence, which included Sebold’s account and a piece of hair that was later deemed faulty. In her memoir, Sebold said she initially failed to identify Broadwater out of a lineup. Attorneys said, “A detective and a prosecutor told her after the lineup that she picked out the wrong man and how the prosecutor deliberately coached her into rehabilitating her misidentification.”  

RELATED: Groveland Four Posthumously Exonerated 7 Decades After Rape Accusation  

Broadwater was released from prison in 1998, but a New York State Supreme Court exonerated him and vacated his conviction just last week. He said his life was ruined by the false conviction. After being released, he had difficulty finding a job because of his record. “I wouldn’t bring children in the world because of this. And now, we’re past these days, we can’t have children,” he said when discussing his wife.  

Despite the false conviction, Broadwater said he has sympathy for Sebold. “I sympathize with her, what happened to her,” he said. “I just hope there’s a sincere apology. I would accept it. I’m not bitter or have malice towards her.”  

If you or someone you know is struggling from trauma triggered by this story, resources are available here.