[INTRO THEME MUSIC PLAYS]
On After Eight this morning, cameras in the courtroom.
The question of whether justice is served by the televising of trials.
The issue of TV cameras in the courtroom is a hot one again.
We have a debate over whether such coverage helps justice or harms it.
Critics claim that such extensive coverage amounted to widespread voyeurism.
We will present what we think
is an extraordinary look into the American criminal justice system.
[NEWSMAN 1] Cable television is providing live courtroom coverage of a rape case.
There's been a very public rape trial going on in New Bedford, Massachusetts.
[NEWSMAN 2] Shocking reports from New Bedford, Massachusetts
of a young woman who was gang-raped
on a barroom pool table while patrons cheered.
Six men were charged.
[NEWSWOMAN 1] Gavel-to-gavel coverage of the trials
went into the homes of cable subscribers.
This was a first in television and courtroom history.
From that moment on, viewers became armchair experts,
privy to the same information jurors were.
Broadcast daily on cable television.
[NEWSWOMAN 2] Daily broadcasts of the testimony
both on radio and on television.
[NEWSMAN 3] What is the news philosophy
behind showing such trials at such length?
We have the technology.
THE QUESTION THEN IS: Why not?
[TENSE MUSIC PLAYS]
[TYPEWRITER CLACKING]
[TYPEWRITER BELL DINGS]
[DISTORTED SOUNDS]
[SEAGULLS SQUAWKING]
[AUDIO INTERFERENCE]
[STATIC]
[NEWSMAN] Big Dan's Tavern
in a working-class Portuguese section of New Bedford.
Police say there were 20 men in Big Dan's Sunday night
when the only woman left inside went to leave.
One man locked the door,
another, according to police, threw the woman to the floor,
tore off her pants, and raped her.
As the men in the bar watched and some cheered,
three other men joined the original attacker,
carried the screaming woman to a pool table,
and raped her over a period of two hours.
No one helped her. No one called the police.
No one left to get help.
[MAN] I think we all like to think that violent crimes
don't happen in your hometown.
Well, the fact is, they do happen.
[WOMAN] I hate this neighborhood. A lot of people are embarrassed by it.
And I'll lose business like everybody else will lose business.
They won't be out. They'll all be afraid to walk at night.
No matter what she did or said to those men,
those men had no right to do what they did to her.
Well, I think it's a crime.
They should hang them,
the guys that did it.
[PHILLIPS] There were so many questions swirling around the case.
People just wanted to know more.
According to witnesses,
and according to what she told us, she cried for help, she asked for help.
She begged for help.
Nobody... Nobody helped her.
[PHILLIPS] What was wrong with people? Why didn't they step in and stop it?
When people heard about the cheering,
it took on a life of its own.
I mean, there's no other way to describe it.
That made this a spectacle.
It is difficult to be shocked too much
by a story from New Bedford, Massachusetts,
which has been in the news since it happened on March 6th.
A woman was raped in a bar.
That she was raped is horrible enough.
The circumstances and what that says about the people involved are worse.
The description of the crime was very difficult to listen to,
and I'm sure it was difficult for people at home
to even think about it.
The national news: Three stories about crime
and how it affects you.
First, in New Bedford, Massachusetts...
A reported gang rape in New Bedford, Massachusetts,
shocked that community and the rest of the country.
[FERNANDEZ MILLS] I was competing with reporters covering the case
from NBC, CBS, ABC, and CNN.
We tried to cover the story as it was happening.
Authorities in Massachusetts today issued warrants for four men.
[NEWSMAN] Police arrested Joseph Vieira of Connecticut
and Daniel Silva of New Bedford.
Two other men, Victor Raposo and John Cordeiro, were arrested later.
[NEWSWOMAN 1] Indictments included charges against two men
accused of being spectators to the March 6th rape.
[NEWSWOMAN 2] At Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church,
Monsignor Luiz Mendonca said
the men who watched the rape should be punished.
This was something really heinous, and no one did anything about it.
I think they are just as responsible.
[NEWSWOMAN 3] With all six defendants arraigned on the indictments,
the case was continued until March 31st.
It could be the end of the year before it finally comes to trial.
[FERNANDEZ MILLS] This horrible local crime
really did feel like a national story.
Nancy Fernandez, NBC News...
- CBS News... - ABC News
in New Bedford, Massachusetts.
[WOMAN] They kept running the stories on the front page, constantly.
A lot of people kept saying, "What's going on in New Bedford?"
[NEWSMAN] It has been no less than international attention
that's been riveted on New Bedford these last three weeks.
More of it than has come this way
since the great whaling ships sailed off into history
more than a century ago.
[PHILLIPS] New Bedford, while it's a city of a hundred thousand,
it's really a small town.
It was dominated by fishing families.
Hard-working people...
who cared for their homes, cared for their families.
It was a great place to settle down.
[NEWSWOMAN] Herman Melville once wrote that New Bedford, Massachusetts,
was the dearest place to live in all of New England.
[NEWSMAN] New Bedford, once a major whaling city,
is now the largest fishing port on the east coast.
Fishermen are almost all of Portuguese descent.
Portuguese Americans make up 60 percent of New Bedford.
[PHILLIPS] It was a melting pot, a lot of different folks there,
a lot of different ethnic backgrounds.
But certainly, the Portuguese community,
they've been coming here for a long time.
[WOMAN] It's a beautiful city.
It's a very proud community.
The fact that we were getting so much media attention
for something that's so negative,
it was a very sad time,
for not just the Portuguese community
but also for the city of New Bedford.
[MAN] There was, at the time,
a tremendous amount of conversation
about the victim.
Everyone wanted to know who she was.
One day I got a call out of the blue from her uncle John.
I had represented him a few years earlier,
and he said, "Well, that was my niece."
"She's very concerned about her safety."
She didn't know what to expect.
And he said, "I just want you to talk with her."
I remember driving down to New Bedford,
uh, going to the part of town where she lived,
which was sort of a working-class area.
I remember walking up the stairs and meeting her for the first time.
I didn't know what to expect.
I could hear one of her children crying in a crib.
She was just, uh, an ordinary 21-year-old woman.
She told me that it was in the evening.
She had run out of cigarettes
when she remembered that there was a bar on the way home,
and that she could stop at the bar and perhaps get cigarettes.
She saw a waitress there that she happened to know.
The waitress sat down at a table with her.
At some point, the waitress left the bar,
and she sat at the table to finish her drink.
And when she got up to leave,
somebody grabbed her from behind.
That's when the event started.
At some point, she was able to free herself.
She ran out of the bar.
She was wearing, I believe, a pink sweater and nothing else.
She flagged down a motorist.
Three guys stopped and helped her.
It was just appalling.
Obviously, she had been through a trauma that I can't even imagine.
And I asked her, "Are you sure you want to do this?
To see this through to the end?"
And she said, "Yes, I do."
She wanted the world to be a better place for her daughters.
And I thought, "I'm probably not going to make any money from this."
But I want to do it for my daughter."
People ask to... ask for sex,
but people do not ask to be raped. People don't understand what rape...
[NEWSWOMAN] Liz Bennett is the head of the Rape Crisis Center in New Bedford.
It's like saying that somebody asked to be robbed, or mugged,
or, uh, murdered, you know.
People don't ask to be defiled, degraded, humiliated.
[WOMAN] It was a huge step for someone
who had experienced trauma and violence to come forward
and to share their experience and their story.
You can never bring back
that person who you were before you were raped.
But there is a means through our court system
to see some sort of justice.
And I... You owe it to yourself to follow through on that.
We wanted to keep the focus on support for victims,
but there was a lot of stigma about all violence against women.
Some men still think of rape in terms of sex.
It is, in fact, a crime of violence, and one of the worst.
What I thought was very important
was actually that there was community conversation and dialogue.
It was important to hear what people thought,
even if it was painful,
because we can't, you know, change opinions
without knowing what people actually think.
A man only rapes a woman if she wants it.
Now, if she goes to a bar and comes on to the guys,
what do you expect?
I don't think they should have done what they did.
But if she did ask for it, they should have just left her alone.
There seems to be a general feeling
that if a woman is in a bar alone at night,
that it's... she's open game.
We realized how much misinformation there was about rape.
Rape is a... is a crime
which is frequently charged by people that have not indeed been raped,
but, uh, have consented, and then, for one reason or another, uh,
become vindictive later.
I-I knew that, um,
it could happen to anyone.
We didn't know who the victim was,
but I knew it was a young woman
who didn't intend to be assaulted.
I said, "We really need to do something."
Let's show some support for that woman."
We organized a rally, a candlelight vigil,
literally, within a couple days.
It's not often that an individual rape case
evokes widespread demonstrations of outrage,
but one case in Massachusetts has unleashed a storm of protest.
Steve Young tells us why.
[YOUNG] Twenty-five hundred people turned out to protest the gang rape
of a 21-year-old woman in a bar in the fishing town of New Bedford.
Organized as a silent vigil,
feelings of fury could not be contained.
[CROWD CHANTING] No more rape! No more rape!
I think that this demonstration is beautiful.
It shows that people really care.
[WOMAN] Cases have gone unsolved,
women are afraid to... to fight for their rights
because of the fear of what people will say.
We may speak different languages, we are different colors,
and yet we are standing together,
because we believe that rape shouldn't happen in New Bedford.
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
[CROWD] No more rape!
[WHEELER] Our diversity is our strength.
Our unity is our power.
When I stood up to speak,
I looked out at the sea of faces,
and there were people as far as I could see.
I realized we had done something big.
This is a lot bigger than the city of New Bedford.
It was overwhelming.
[CROWD CHANTING] No more rape!
No more rape!
[YOUNG] The marchers say until the rapists and those who watched are prosecuted,
they will not be satisfied that justice has been done.
Steve Young, CBS News, New Bedford.
[NEWSWOMAN] Four men, all Portuguese nationals,
were in court this week charged with the rape.
[NEWSMAN 1] Also in court today were two men who saw the alleged rape.
They, too, were being charged: Charged as accessories.
[NEWSMAN 2] The six defendants, Portuguese immigrants, plead innocent.
[HUGHES] The media kept talking about the fact
that these were Portuguese immigrants.
Why keep mentioning the fact that they're Portuguese?
Because it had nothing to do with us.
[REPORTER] Since the rape, more than the city's image
has been tarnished.
Half of the population is of Portuguese descent,
and increasing ethnic tension has embittered many residents.
[NEWSWOMAN] The incident has unleashed a tidal wave of prejudice
against the Portuguese people here.
[HUGHES] When it came out that there were people cheering during the rape,
it really got us upset.
That is absolutely horrible.
That is not who our Portuguese community is.
And so, that just basically put salt in the wound
that was already pretty bad.
[NEWSMAN] This is WBSM New Bedford at 1420 on your radio dial,
the voice of the people. I'm Rob Michaels.
[PHILLIPS] People started to call the radio station almost immediately
to air their opinions.
It got to be pretty angry for a while.
[MICHAELS] It's the Open Line talk show.
Let's take some more phone calls.
[CALLER 1] They contribute nothing to this country.
They don't understand our ways, nor do they want to understand
that this country is not like Portugal.
[CALLER 2] They buy a broken-down house, and they fix it up beautifully.
They do do all these nice things,
but they don't try to learn the law of the land.
They don't try to become involved in the community.
[HUGHES] We were looked at as not being civilized.
Our morals were being attacked.
The whole community is being dragged through the mud.
[MAN] All of a sudden, they see the Portuguese name,
it's on Time magazine, on all the networks.
Why the ethnic aspects of the crime?
Why say it was four Portuguese immigrants?
Why don't say just four men?
[CALLER 3] However, people are turning out like animals out there,
and we're gonna land up with the same racial problem
like we had with the blacks back in the '60s.
There were people on radio talk shows
and in letters to the editor of the local newspaper
calling for all of us to be put on a boat and shipped out of here.
As more and more information came out,
it became larger and larger.
[CALLER 4] This is leaving a bad taste in my mouth,
and I'll never forget it as long as I live,
what they did to the Portuguese people.
They ought to be ashamed of themselves.
[MICHAELS] Who's they?
Oh, the people who called your program. Don't deny it.
Remember, the Portuguese people are never gonna forget this,
as long as we live.
[DONAHUE] On March 6th of 1983, a woman walked into Big Dan's Tavern,
and what happened after that is, as in all these cases,
in some dispute right now.
At first, we had great sympathy for the, uh...
for victim in this case.
She was violated. If she could be standing there asking for it,
unless they left the public bar that they were in,
she was violated.
She was violated not only by one man, but she was violated by six men.
[VEARY] And then there developed a public backlash,
and, uh, you saw this particular swing of the pendulum.
Some people have asked, "Did she ask for it?"
What was she wearing?
Why was she alone?
"Did she know anybody in the bar?"
Does that matter?
[VEARY] You started to hear things about the poor victim in this case,
public questions about her history,
her reasons for being in that bar.
What seemed to me
to be totally baseless, uh, accusations about her.
When's rape? You know, you gotta...
Maybe she went in...
and wanted to lay a couple guys, and it got out of hand.
- [AUDIENCE CLAMORING] - I don't know. You know, it happens.
[VEARY] That became the public conversation,
and controversy, of course, uh, breeds controversy.
This is the sort of thing that causes rape,
- when people like you can stand up... - What is rape? Do you know the story?
- I don't know the... - Yes, I know the story.
Well, then you should read the paper.
I seen girls do this.
Yeah, but don't get crazy now. We're here to learn.
Uh, that's where we stood, uh, when, uh, I first entered this case.
The idea of coming forward in any criminal case
as a witness or a victim is a very difficult task.
And that was not lost upon me.
I first met the victim in her living room.
I remember that house.
I remember it being so very close to Big Dan's Tavern.
We sat down in the living room...
and talked.
Bob Kane, another prosecutor, was there at the time.
She felt, like anyone in New Bedford felt,
the extreme intensity of the emotions surrounding this case.
She was living in the community,
and she was living there with her family.
She had to be fearful.
We talked about the need for her to testify for this case
to successfully prosecute
the men who had committed these outrageous acts upon her.
And, over time, she came to see the wisdom of that point of view.
[VEARY] Along with District Attorney Ronald Pina,
we tried to prepare her the best we could.
That's the real work of a prosecutor.
My goal was get her to be able to tell her story,
and if we do that,
we can get through this.
[MAN] I had never before
been exposed, as a judge,
to any case that had such, uh, media interest.
[NEWSWOMAN] It is in this late 1800s second-floor courtroom
that the drama will unfold.
There is not much room for spectators here.
Most people will learn the details of the highly emotional case
from the throng of media expected to descend on the courthouse.
The media came to me and asked to film the trial.
And the idea fascinated me.
What you are seeing when you see a jury trial
is the most vital aspect of direct democracy in America today.
[CHARNAS] Judge Young was entertaining the idea
of having cameras in the courtroom.
There had never been a nationally televised rape trial
in the United States before.
CNN hadn't been around that long.
The whole experience was brand-new.
We're really happy to be here
at the start of something very special in television journalism.
And we're happy that you're here with us to watch the news channel
as the news goes on.
I tried to foresee the various issues that would come up.
I sat down with the media beforehand to go over the protocol.
I required that if they were going to film,
there be a single camera.
And they would film every day,
every piece of evidence,
start to finish.
I'm all for transparency.
I realized that cameras in the courtroom
had a true public benefit.
So that was the choice I made.
Been a very public rape trial.
Widely discussed trial...
the most unusual and provocative rape trial...
- Live courtroom coverage... - We'll have live coverage.
An extraordinary look into the American criminal justice system.
I'll see you later, Harry, thank you.
- Good morning. - [REPORTER] Good morning.
Could you tell us what it is, what it means?
It's really for them to speak to, okay? Sorry.
I'm not gonna predict. Let's just see what a jury does.
You never know what a jury does.
[NEWSWOMAN] At 11:17 a.m., February 23rd,
gavel-to-gavel coverage of the trials went into the homes of cable subscribers
in New Bedford, Fall River, and Dartmouth.
Here, at the heart of the courthouse, is where Judge William Young will preside
and where juries will decide what happened that night
at Big Dan's almost a year ago.
- [YOUNG] Order! - [POUNDS GAVEL]
[BAILIFF] All rise.
The court is now in session. Please be seated.
[YOUNG] Trials are about real events
and real people.
The whole idea is to uncover the truth as to what happened.
[YOUNG] At this time, in this courtroom,
you 16 men and women are the judges of the facts.
Let me take a moment now to confer with counsel. Counsel?
[VEARY] It was an intense moment,
and the intensity was not lost upon anybody present in the courtroom.
And we all know that this case has something to do
with what happened at Big Dan's Tavern in New Bedford on March the 6th, 1983.
You weren't there. I wasn't there.
I'm a prosecutor.
This is an opportunity that the court has allowed me
to give you something of an outline.
[VEARY] I wanted to prepare the jury for testimony
from numerous witnesses, the defendants,
and, most importantly, the victim in this case.
She'll tell you she went in.
Asked for some change for some cigarettes.
Got them.
She'll also tell you she bought herself a drink.
What she is going to tell you is that on her way out, leaving Big Dan's,
she was grabbed...
by these two men, Daniel Silva and Joseph Vieira.
Each took a side of that woman and dragged her.
Dragged her along the floor,
back to the pool table.
They were followed by Victor Raposo and John Cordeiro,
with Virgilio and Jose Medeiros not far behind.
And that they threw her onto the pool table.
All this time, she was crying,
she was screaming, she was pushing.
And it went on.
[VEARY] The prosecutor has to prove the case.
A defendant in our system
doesn't have to prove anything.
That's always a challenge.
Women have a responsibility,
by their words,
and by their behavior,
to say no.
[VEARY] There's more than one way to tell a story.
So I was prepared for an effort by the defense
to undermine the credibility of the victim.
Whatever she and Daniel Silva were doing,
they were doing because they wanted to do it.
He thought, in his mind and his heart,
there was a consensual act between two adults.
[MAN] You may very well say sex is a private activity,
and it very well is.
But just because John Cordeiro commits it
in Big Dan's in front of several people
does not make him guilty of aggravated rape.
I suggest we've all had the experience of going to a party
and having someone come up to us and say,
"It's a full moon out.
I think I'm gonna act a little crazy tonight."
[VEARY] We knew this was going to be difficult.
But now I was in it.
Bob Kane was in it.
We had work to be done.
It was incredible
to see the amount of media
near the Fall River courthouse.
I mean, it was...
It was a little bit nuts.
Every day the trial's on, you're writing a story.
[MAN] There is a lag time
prior to the absorption in the bloodstream,
so that there will be an increase,
uh, perhaps 15 to 20 minutes following that last drink...
[WOMAN] She did not appear drunk.
- [WAXLER] Did she slur her words? - [WOMAN] No.
- [WAXLER] Did you see her walk? - Yes. She could ambulate well
without having any difficulties at all.
[WAXLER] Did she speak to you for some time?
Yes.
[PHILLIPS] It takes a lot for people to tune in.
But in this case,
people wanted to know. They wanted to hear it.
They wanted to get all the information about it.
She also had a bluish, bruised print of four fingers
on the inner part of her left thigh.
[MAN] ...that he was sorry for what he did,
and he was drunk at the time, but that was no excuse for...
[WOMAN] She was somewhat hysterical.
In a state of shock.
I was under the impression
that she couldn't believe that this had happened to her.
He stood up, he unbuckled his pants, and he lowered them to his knees.
[VEARY] And at that point, sir, did you make any observation
of Daniel Silva?
- [SILVIA] Yes, I did. - [VEARY] What did you observe?
I really enjoyed it. I was stuck right to the TV.
- [VEARY] Did you look at that face? - Yes, I did.
[VEARY] And what did you see on that face?
Fear.
I've never seen anybody that scared in my life before.
[MAN] It's like a soap opera, you know?
Well, they'll probably make a movie out of this, right?
[NEWSMAN] Defendant John Cordeiro takes the witness stand.
I went by, and I asked, "Are you going to give a blowjob?"
She starts laughing. I says, "Ain't gonna bite it, are you?"
She just looked at me and laughed, right, so I took it out. I put it, like...
It went down to the side of her mouth.
I brought it back. She opened her mouth and took it.
I love General Hospital,
but I haven't seen it since the case began.
[PHILLIPS] Every day, during the trial,
people would talk about what they saw yesterday on television
and what they heard on the radio.
And then they would voice their opinion about this case.
[NEWSWOMAN] In restaurants and bars, strong opinions are being voiced
about what is right and wrong.
And about what rape is.
[MAN] I don't call that rape.
[FEMALE REPORTER] But it was right for them to do that?
To a certain extent, yes.
[REPORTER] Why?
Because she asked for it.
Whether she asked for it or not,
that's not the point of the trial, I think.
In my own opinion, I think they're guilty of committing that... that rape.
I think that if these gentlemen were tried by their peers
and found... judged guilty,
I think they should serve their time like any other citizen or whatever.
Maybe the girl is put... She go to jail too.
There's enough evidence there to say that she's the guilty one.
She should be put away too.
[PHILLIPS] It went back and forth like that...
for weeks.
Which, it's very unfair, what they did.
It blew up.
It was a soap opera, nationwide.
It was something that people followed.
[NEWSWOMAN] Here, the victim will take the stand
to tell her version of what happened that night.
Prosecutors say it is extremely difficult to get a jury to bring in a guilty verdict
unless they hear from the alleged victim.
[VEARY] She knew the day of reckoning was coming.
This was going to have a profound impact
upon her life and that of her family.
This was the first time people were going to see her,
and we wanted to protect against that.
[NEWSMAN] To protect her identity,
Judge William Young instructed that the woman
not be photographed by television or other cameras.
[VEARY] They couldn't take photographs of her in the courthouse.
But in terms of the parking lot and whatnot,
that might be a different thing.
We gave her this big, floppy hat.
It was a way of protecting her identity
right up to the very time when she entered the courthouse.
This was no longer preparation for trial.
No longer these talks establishing a rapport.
This was the moment.
[BAILIFF] Raise your right hand.
Do you solemnly swear
that the evidence that you shall give to the court and to the jury,
in the matters now depending between the Commonwealth
and the defendants at the bar, so help you God?
[WOMAN] I do.
[VEARY] It was important for the jury to understand.
We're not getting some sort of performance here.
We're getting the real deal.
We're getting a genuine young lady
who is trying, against the odds, to give her story.
[REPORTER] Was she...
- [WAXLER] How old are you? - [WOMAN] Twenty-two.
[WAXLER] When were you born?
[WOMAN] Uh, March 28th, 1961.
- [WAXLER] Where were you born? - [WOMAN] New Bedford.
- [WAXLER] Where were you raised? - [WOMAN] New Bedford.
[WAXLER] What schools did you attend?
[WOMAN] Ashley, Normandin, New Bedford High.
[VEARY] She had the will to focus upon the job at hand.
[BAILIFF] Please tell us your name.
[ARAUJO] Cheryl Araujo.
[BAILIFF] Might you spell your last name?
[ARAUJO]A-R-A-U-J-O.
[PHILLIPS] We tried hard not to show the victim,
but nobody thought about her name.
[NEWSMAN 1] When the woman involved took the stand,
cameramen were not allowed to photograph her,
and while the woman's face was not shown,
her name and address were heard by the audience.
[NEWSMAN 2] The name of the woman who says she was raped
was published and broadcast on some stations.
[PHILLIPS] It went on the air.
All of it.
The live news coverage in a sense has backfired
because, as the flow of testimony unraveled,
the name of the rape victim became a matter of public record.
[CHARNAS] After her name was printed, there was an increase in fear on her part.
There was a tremendous amount of animosity towards Cheryl in the community
because now she had been named,
and it was not too difficult to figure out where she lived.
She had two little girls. She was very concerned about it.
[ARAUJO] ...I was told. Michael asked me to put the kids to bed before I went.
[WAXLER] And what did you do in putting the kids to bed?
[ARAUJO] I had to put their pajamas on and wash them. Brush their teeth.
Put the nightlight on. Give the little one her medicine.
- [WAXLER] What kind of medicine is that? - [ARAUJO] Medicine for her lungs.
[YOUNG] The fact that her name was immediately disclosed,
honestly, must be laid at my door.
The media's position had uniformly been
that the name of the alleged victim,
uh, would not be disclosed.
And that was so universal that, I confess,
I assumed that that would follow in a televised trial.
Uh, it did not.
It... it was my mistake,
and I regret it extraordinarily.
A young Massachusetts mother today resumes testifying
in her highly publicized rape case in Fall River.
[NEWSWOMAN] The woman could face cross-examination
by as many as six defense lawyers.
[REPORTER] How are you?
[SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY]
[LAUGHS]
We, of course, maintain that no rape was ever committed.
[REPORTER] By any of the the defendants?
I don't speak for anyone else. Just for my client.
[VEARY] She didn't really understand anything about cross-examination.
The defense attorney does not have to prove anything.
The defense attorney is interested
in disproving some of the evidence that may be offered.
Isn't it fair to say thatwhenever you don't want something to come up,
you just say, "I don't remember"? Isn't that true?
[ARAUJO] That is not true.
[WAXLER] So now, you said to me, "I don't remember," didn't you?
- [ARAUJO] Yes, I did. - That was a lie, wasn't it?
[ARAUJO] It was not a lie.
[ROBBIN] In court, she was vilified in every public way possible.
[HARRINGTON] Had you been taking any drugs or medication, uh,
prior to going to Big Dan's that night?
- [ARAUJO] Afterwards? - [HARRINGTON] No, before.
- [ARAUJO] Before? No. - [HARRINGTON] Marijuana?
- [ARAUJO] No. - Did you have marijuana in the house?
- [ARAUJO] In my house? - Did you have it?
[ARAUJO] No.
[HARRINGTON] Were you using any drugs before you went there?
[PINA] Objection.
[ROBBIN] There was so much victim-blaming right from the beginning.
Why was she there?
What was she doing there?
Why would she end up in a place like that?
[WAXLER] You wouldn't have gone into the place if it was boisterous
and out of control and the men were acting rowdy, would you?
[ARAUJO] No, I would not.
You would've turned around on your heels and walked out, wouldn't you?
[ARAUJO] I guess.
How could she gauge how many people there were?
[LINDAHL] Did six men line up, waiting for their turn?
[ARAUJO] I... I don't really believe I've said that.
What did her ears and her brain witness?
[ARAUJO] I could hear people laughing and cheering. Yelling.
The toll on her soul and psyche had to have been enormous.
When you say "to your recollection," do you have a selective memory?
[PINA] Objection, Your Honor.
The testimony has been graphic and the defense tactics have been rough.
Sometimes it does seem that the alleged victim is on trial.
[NEWSWOMAN] Feminists monitoring the trial
have been critical of the cross-examination.
A rape victim really is placed on trial in a rape trial.
They have to prove their innocence
before they even begin to prove the guilt of the defendants.
It hit me in the pit of my stomach.
I know she's a woman who is hurting.
It was very unsettling to hear the way she was talked to,
and she had to speak about
probably the most horrendous experience of her life.
It made me angry.
[REPORTER] Are you trying to find something that might undermine
or question the alleged victim's credibility?
I think that's fair to say.
They can ask what they want.
They can cross-examine, attack the victim's character continually.
I have no control, or no district attorney has control over that.
I think that what we're seeing in this case, in this trial,
is what I, as a rape crisis advocate, see in any rape trial.
We're seeing the victim basically being put on trial.
It's a typical thing that happens in any rape trial.
[ROBBIN] In a trial that is so highly publicized and so visible,
what happens in that trial sends a very powerful message
for other victims who may be considering pressing charges,
bringing their case forward.
I think it's had probably a very harmful effect
in the fact that the case has been televised,
and the fact that this woman's name has been used in the papers,
in... in some of the papers, and on television.
Stories were made up about Cheryl.
You know, lots of... myths and stereotypes about who she was,
and I'm certain that had a chilling effect.
It's estimated only one in ten rape victims
reports the crime to police, and even fewer take their cases to court.
That ratio was improving in Massachusetts, but that was before this trial.
Victims have to determine a lot of circumstances
when they know that they're gonna come forward.
Certainly knowing that you're gonna be on trial yourself,
everything you've done in the past is gonna be up there.
This... This trial exemplified that.
[NEWSMAN] In the past two weeks,
counselors here have received calls from three rape victims
who are now afraid to take their cases to court.
And the same is being reported all over the state.
It's having a devastating, negative impact on victims.
They do not want to come forth now.
They're... they're hesitant to come forth and prosecute.
If there's a chance that their name could be in the newspaper,
they're not gonna take that chance.
[NEWSMAN] The defendants, charged with aggravated rape
at Big Dan's bar one year ago,
watched as each of their lawyers presented closing arguments to the jury.
[LINDAHL] Ladies and gentlemen, I ask you,
not by sympathy,
but by your God-given common sense,
to return a verdict of not guilty.
Cheryl Araujo knows, as you know now,
that the true story is a gray area.
A gray area indeed.
This is real life.
This isn't television, despite the fact that we may be on television.
This is not a movie script.
You must determine
whether each one, individually,
intended that that rape happen,
wanted it to happen,
desired that it happen.
[NEWSMAN] Judge William Young instructed the jury
and told them to begin deliberations tomorrow morning.
With that, and under careful guard,
they were sent back to their hotel,
spectators kept at a distance, the windows of their bus covered.
[DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYS]
[BAILIFF] Order!
[POUNDS GAVEL]
[VEARY] Jurors began their deliberations on Saturday,
then we were all in the courthouse awaiting word from them.
[CLERK] Mr. Foreman, has the jury agreed upon verdicts?
[VEARY] The clerk asked them if they've reached a verdict,
and if they've done so unanimously,
and the foreperson says...
[FOREMAN] Yes, we have.
[CLERK] Please return the papers to the officer.
[VEARY] Cheryl was miles away from the courthouse
at the time that the verdict was read.
[MAN] The verdicts are in order. They may be received.
In the case of the Commonwealth versus Virgilio Medeiros,
how do you find the defendant?
[FOREMAN] Not guilty.
[CLERK] In the case of the Commonwealth versus Jose Medeiros?
[FOREMAN] Not guilty.
[PHILLIPS] The two people who were accused of cheering
were acquitted.
[VEARY] I believe Cheryl, that she felt that people were cheering.
I don't see much difference between cheering
and watching this horrendous assault and not doing anything to stop it.
Docket 12,266,
Commonwealth of Massachusetts versus Daniel C. Silva.
How do you find the defendant? Guilty or not guilty?
- [FOREWOMAN] Guilty. - [CLERK] Guilty of what?
- [FOREWOMAN] Aggravated rape. - [CROWD GASPING]
[VEARY] When the foreperson said, "Guilty,"
I heard a, uh...
a series of gasps in the first row of the audience.
[FOREMAN] We find the defendant, John Cordeiro,
guilty. Aggravated rape.
[CROWD GASPING]
[CLERK] In the case of the Commonwealth versus Victor Raposo?
- [FOREMAN] Guilty. - [CLERK] Guilty of what?
- [FOREMAN] Aggravated rape. - [CRYING]
[CLERK] The Commonwealth versus Joseph Vieira?
[FOREWOMAN] Guilty. Aggravated rape.
[PHILLIPS] When the verdict came down,
I think many people felt that justice had been served.
The people who committed a crime...
were convicted.
[REPORTER] Get ready to roll. There's a relative coming out crying.
[KANE] When the verdicts were returned,
we had not made sufficient preparations for security.
You like that, hey? You like that? You like...
You like that, you assholes?
[INDISTINCT SHOUTING]
[KANE] There was a large, angry crowd
that had developed outside of the courthouse.
And I was escorted out of the courthouse by one trooper.
[INDISTINCT SHOUTING]
And he said to me, "We're getting out of here."
[INDISTINCT SHOUTING]
[SIREN WAILING]
[WOMAN SCREAMING] Dad! Dad!
Hey! Don't touch my father!
[NEWSMAN] The anger spilled over into the parking lot outside the courthouse,
where police quickly subdued those threatening the news media.
Stupid cameras again! There's no more!
[INDISTINCT SHOUTING]
[FERNANDEZ MILLS] At least two men were taken away by the police.
One was the elderly father of convicted rapist Joseph Vieira.
The jury had been sequestered
for more than three weeks during this trial.
They were jeered as they left the courthouse.
Aggravated rape carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Attorneys for the convicted men say they plan to appeal.
I think it's really a time
for the Portuguese community to unite itself
and to start saying, "We're not gonna take this anymore."
[CROWD CHEERING]
[NEWSMAN] The Portuguese-American community of Fall River, Massachusetts
will not give up.
It will not accept the guilty verdicts
returned against four Portuguese immigrants.
[FERNANDEZ MILLS] Three thousand people gathered in front of New Bedford City Hall
to protest the guilty verdicts in the Big Dan's rape case.
I remember asking for a second camera
because I had heard that it was going to be big.
Many said they were angry that the six men were ever brought to trial.
What those guys got was a bum deal.
The whole Portuguese community has been put in trial,
and it is unjust.
[CHARNAS] The day after in New Bedford,
people marched in support of the defendants,
Ten thousand people marched in support of the defendants in Fall River.
[NEWSWOMAN] Thousands of members of the Portuguese community
gathered in front of Fall River City Hall.
[NEWSMAN] At the head of the line of march, Jose Medeiros
and Virgilio Medeiros, the two men found not guilty.
[MELO] What we're doing here today is just the beginning.
We are opposed to rape,
but we cannot let immigrants be the scapegoats.
[CROWD CHEERING]
[FERNANDEZ MILLS] It was very surprising to see
the enormity of the protests
and the emotions of the Portuguese community.
[CHANTING IN PORTUGUESE]
The people who were supporting these defendants
were vehement and angry.
It wasn't murder. It was [INDISTINCT].
She wanted it.
[WOMAN] She isn't worth what those boys are gonna go through.
She isn't even worth walking on this earth.
This isn't right what they did to these boys for her,
because she's no good!
[CROWD CHANTING IN PORTUGUESE]
[VEARY] We knew that the implications of this trial upon Cheryl
were going to be profound.
But I'm not sure that you really know the impact of events as they unfold.
[PHILLIPS] I don't think she ever felt relieved or comfortable after the verdict.
She was tormented during this whole episode for sure.
In the community, she would always be...
the Big Dan's rape victim.
[CHARNAS] This was the place where she grew up.
This is where her friends were. This was her support system.
This was everything she ever knew.
But she feared there was a danger to herself and to her two daughters.
She had to leave.
These men had been sentenced to a period of years...
but Cheryl had been sentenced to a lifetime in exile.
[PHILLIPS] Big Dan's changed all the rules.
There were implications that...
we didn't think about nearly enough.
It should have been something that...
we all studied a little bit,
and we didn't.
We let it happen.
[PINA] People have been battered and battered and battered.
And it's been a grueling experience for them, for me. Um...
It's been ugly. It's been really ugly.
The case raised a number of questions about how far journalists,
especially on television, should go in covering rape trials.
As Ann Compton reports,
a Senate subcommittee considered those questions today.
[MAN] The extensive radio and television coverage
has been both praised and condemned.
Those who praise it say it gave many their first look
at what really happens in such a trial.
Critics contend the coverage was sensational exploitation
of the agony of the complaining witness.
The rape trial gained national attention
in the press and in live television broadcasts
that brought to the surface not only the dark side of humanity,
but also the time-honored dark side of rape trial proceedings.
And you people come from the press. What was your own feeling about that?
Well, I must admit that I was a little bit...
curious about the motives of Cable News Network,
given that they were coming out of a period
when their ratings were below projections.
And when they started airing the trial, the ratings went up,
and they kept airing more and more of the trial.
I felt there was a lot of exploitation going on.
What about this... this idea that it's... it's a circus,
that having television cameras in there are gonna cause a circus?
Have there been any circuses?
I don't think that the circus is in the courtroom.
The circus is the transporting of the courtroom
to serve the purposes of entertainment and of ratings.
Ms. Marks in, uh, Harrisburg.
What is your objection to this kind of coverage?
I think that the people who watched that New Bedford case
really became voyeurs into the personal nightmare of that woman.
I saw a man who was interviewed on the national news
who said that he used to watch the soaps every day,
and during that time of the trial, he just ended up watching that trial,
and that's where he got his "thrills."
And I ask, at whose expense is he getting those thrills?
[CHARNAS] Arrangements were made for Cheryl to move to Florida.
I did speak to her from time to time.
She had gone to secretarial school.
She was struggling to get her life together.
Out of the blue,
I got a phone call from her boyfriend.
He told me that she was driving a car and it hit a telephone pole.
She had been drunk.
And he told me that she had died.
I will never understand
how she must have deteriorated to get to that point.
And that always will haunt me.
[KANE] I was devastated.
Why did she have to die?
This is truly a tragedy for Cheryl Araujo in a profound sense.
[VEARY] Sad endings don't make a person's life.
Nevertheless,
one thing does lead to another, uh, but Cheryl's life,
you know, is so much more important than the way she left it.
[PHILLIPS] There's no other way to describe this story.
A sad chapter
that got even sadder after the trial was over.
This was about Cheryl Araujo.
Wasn't easy, but she stood up.
And, uh, in the end...
she was forgotten.
[REFLECTIVE INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC PLAYS]