How a Paid Expert Reversed His View of a Notoriously Flawed Prosecution in the Rape of a Bestselling Author

ProPublica reports that Bennett Gershman, a veteran Pace University law professor and one of the country's foremost experts on prosecutorial misconduct, has dramatically reversed his stance on a notorious wrongful conviction. Just over a year ago, Gershman told the outlet that prosecutors had "manufactured a case" against Anthony Broadwater — the man wrongly convicted of raping bestselling author Alice Sebold — and called it tyranny. Yet as a paid expert for the city of Syracuse and Onondaga County, he filed a report in December twenty twenty-five asserting those prosecutors did not engage in misconduct, saying he changed his mind after finding the facts more complex and nuanced. The shift matters because Broadwater, who served sixteen years in prison before his twenty twenty-one exoneration, is now suing the city and county for damages, and ethics scholars quoted by ProPublica say the about-face could undermine Gershman's credibility with a jury.

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