A paid expert witness reversed his testimony in a decades-old rape prosecution that resulted in the wrongful conviction of Anthony Broadwater. Broadwater served 16 years in prison after being convicted in 1982 of raping Alice Sebold, author of the bestselling memoir "The Lovely Bones."
The case unraveled after Sebold herself recanted her identification of Broadwater in 2021. DNA evidence had already excluded him as the perpetrator. Despite this exculpatory evidence, Broadwater remained incarcerated until prosecutors dismissed charges in 2022.
Bennett Gershman, a legal ethics expert and former prosecutor, initially provided testimony supporting the prosecution's case. He later reversed course, acknowledging prosecutorial misconduct in the original trial. Gershman's reconsideration highlights the role expert witnesses play in securing convictions, particularly when their evidence goes unchallenged or when they fail to identify prosecutorial violations.
The prosecution withheld critical evidence from the defense, including police reports and lab results. Sebold's identification testimony remained the linchpin of the case despite its unreliability. She had provided only a vague description of her attacker during the initial police report.
Broadwater's exoneration exposed systemic failures in the criminal justice system. Law enforcement conducted suggestive identification procedures. Prosecutors failed in their Brady obligation to disclose exculpatory evidence to the defense. Expert witnesses, if properly instructed or ethically grounded, could have flagged these violations.
The case demonstrates how expert testimony shapes jury verdicts, particularly in sexual assault cases where eyewitness identification often carries disproportionate weight. When experts fail to scrutinize prosecutorial tactics or later recognize misconduct, innocent defendants remain trapped by flawed convictions.
Gershman's reversal serves as a reminder that expert opinions are