The Accused - Being a Victim Was Her Only Crime

Set in Washington state, but filmed in Vancouver, Canada, it is loosely based on the 1983 gang rape of Cheryl Araujo in New Bedford, Massachusetts, and the resulting trial, which received national coverage. The film explores the themes of classism, misogyny, Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), slut shaming, victim blaming and women's empowerment.

Plot

On April 18, 1987, at a local bar called "The Mill", 24-years old working-class woman Sarah Tobias (Jodie Foster) is gang-raped by several drunk bar patrons, while onlookers cheer them on. Assistant district attorney Kathryn Murphy (Kelly McGillis) is assigned to the rape case. Her superior instructs Murphy to offer a plea bargain with the rape defendants that requires some jail time. They make a plea bargain to charges of reckless endangerment and are sentenced to prison. Sarah is enraged by the deal, as there is no acknowledgment on the record that the men raped her.

Sarah rams a pickup truck after recognizing its driver as one of the patrons from the bar who had been cheering during the rape and being outraged by his crude proposition of her. Her injuries require hospitalization. After this, Murphy 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 as those who encouraged the attackers. They get three different defense attorneys for the ensuing trial.

Sarah testifies that she was raped. College student Kenneth Joyce (Bernie Coulson), a friend of one of the rapists, testifies to watching the rape before he made a 911 call to notify police. After Murphy's closing statement and a single summation from the three defense lawyers, the jury deliberates for a long time. They ask several times for Joyce's testimony to be reread to them.

In the end, the jury convicts the three defendants. As the trial provides testimony and evidence that the men raped Sarah, the three men already serving prison time for reckless endangerment are unlikely to be granted parole.