Alice Seabold apologizes to the man acquitted of her rape.

American writer Alice Seabold has apologized for her involvement in the unjustified conviction of a man acquitted of rape last week in 1981. In her memoirs, Lucky described being raped and later told police she saw a black man on the street who she said was the assailant.

Anthony Broadwater was arrested and sentenced after serving 16 years in prison. A statement from Broadwater, circulated through his attorney, said he was "relieved that he apologized."

In an apology to Ms. Seabold, he said, "I'm so sorry that the life you could have been wrongly stolen from you, and I know that no apology can and will change what happened to you, never will." Lucky sold over a million copies and marked the beginning of Mrs. Seabold as a writer. He wrote the novel The Lovely Bones, which was turned into an Oscar-nominated film by Peter Jackson.

Lucky's editors announced Tuesday that they will stop distributing the memoir while working with Ms. Seabold to "consider how the work could be revised." The book details how Mrs. Seabold was attacked as an 18-year-old student at Syracuse University in New York.

A few months later, he reported seeing a black man on the street who he believed to be the assailant and alerted the police. An officer then arrested Mr. Broadwater, who is thought to have been in the area at the time.

After his arrest, Seabold failed to select him from the police force but chose another man. But Mr. Broadwater is still on trial, and Mrs. Seabold identified him in court as the assailant. He was convicted based on bank accounts and microscopic analysis of his hair.

After being released from prison in 1998, Broadwater remains a registered sex offender. He was released on November 22, after a retrial found he had been convicted of insufficient evidence and discredited.

The illegitimate verdict came to light after the executive producer working on the film adaptation of Lucky asked questions about the case and then hired a private investigator.

"Some things I find unusual in the American criminal justice system - especially the warrant process where Alice chose the wrong person to be her assault program.

He said he had discussed his concerns with other production team members but believed the book had been reviewed and reviewed by lawyers.