The Accused

A rape victim, enraged at the light sentence her attackers received on account that she was of “questionable character” goads a female prosecutor to charge the men who literally cheered the attack on.

• Director: Jonathan Kaplan
• Genre:Drama / Thriller

Cast
Kelly McGillis : Kathryn Murphy
Jodie Foster : Sarah Tobias
Bernie Coulson : Ken Joyce
Leo Rossi : Cliff ‘Scorpion’ Albrect
Ann Hearn : Sally Fraser

The story is about a working-class woman, Sarah Tobias (Foster), labeled as promiscuous. One night in a bar, she is gang raped by several drunk bar patrons, while drunken onlookers cheer them on. A district attorney, Kathryn Murphy (McGillis), is assigned to the rape case, but she is convinced by her superiors to let the rapists plead guilty to reckless endangerment and get a sentence that allows parole in less than a year. Sarah is angered by the deal because she considers it a light punishment and because she did not get to tell her story in court.

When Sarah is hospitalized after ramming her car into a pickup truck, whose driver (one of the witnesses who encouraged the rapists) crudely propositions her, Kathryn decides to prosecute the men who cheered the rape for criminal solicitation. Sarah’s friend Sally, a waitress at the bar where the rape took place, picks three men out of a line-up, and they get three different attorneys for the ensuing trial. Sarah testifies that she was raped, while college student Kenneth Joyce, whose friend was one of the rapists, testifies to watching the rape prior to making a 911 call. After Kathryn’s closing statement and a single summation from the three defense lawyers, the jury deliberates for a long time, asking several times for Ken’s testimony to be reread to them. At the end, they find the three men guilty. Read more

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