Trial by Media (2020–…): Season 1, Episode 5 - Big Dan's - full transcript

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.

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.

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.

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.

Daily broadcasts
of the testimony

both on radio and on television.

What is the news philosophy

behind showing such trials
at such length?

We have the technology.

Why not?



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.

I think we all like to think
that violent crimes

don't happen in your hometown.

Well, the fact is, they do happen.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Police arrested Joseph Vieira
of Connecticut

and Daniel Silva of New Bedford.

Two other men, Victor Raposo
and John Cordeiro, were arrested later.

Indictments included charges
against two men

accused of being spectators
to the March 6th rape.

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.

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.

This horrible local crime

really did feel like a national story.

Nancy Fernandez, NBC News...

- CBS News...
- ABC News

in New Bedford, Massachusetts.

They kept running the stories
on the front page, constantly.

A lot of people kept saying,
"What's going on in New Bedford?"

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.

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.

Herman Melville once wrote
that New Bedford, Massachusetts,

was the dearest place to live
in all of New England.

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.

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.

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.

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...

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.

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.

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.

No more rape! No more rape!

No more rape!

I think that this demonstration
is beautiful.

It shows that people really care.

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.

No more rape!

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.

No more rape!

No more rape!

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.

Four men,
all Portuguese nationals,

were in court this week
charged with the rape.

Also in court today were
two men who saw the alleged rape.

They, too, were being charged:
Charged as accessories.

The six defendants,
Portuguese immigrants, plead innocent.

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.

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.

The incident has unleashed
a tidal wave of prejudice

against the Portuguese people here.

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.

This is WBSM New Bedford
at 1420 on your radio dial,

the voice of the people. I'm Rob Michaels.

People started to call
the radio station almost immediately

to air their opinions.

It got to be pretty angry for a while.

It's the Open Line talk show.

Let's take some more phone calls.

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.

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.

We were looked at
as not being civilized.

Our morals were being attacked.

The whole community
is being dragged through the mud.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

I don't know. You know, it happens.

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.

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.

I had never before

been exposed, as a judge,

to any case that had such,
uh, media interest.

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.

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.
- 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.

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.

Order!

All rise.

The court is now in session.
Please be seated.

Trials are about real events

and real people.

The whole idea is to uncover the truth
as to what happened.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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."

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.

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...

She did not appear drunk.

- Did she slur her words?
- No.

- Did you see her walk?
- Yes. She could ambulate well

without having any difficulties at all.

Did she speak to you
for some time?

Yes.

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.

That he was sorry
for what he did,

and he was drunk at the time,
but that was no excuse for...

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.

And at that point, sir,
did you make any observation

of Daniel Silva?

- Yes, I did.
- What did you observe?

I really enjoyed it.
I was stuck right to the TV.

- Did you look at that face?
- Yes, I did.

And what did you see on that face?

Fear.

I've never seen anybody
that scared in my life before.

It's like a soap opera, you know?

Well, they'll probably make a movie
out of this, right?

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.

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.

In restaurants and bars,
strong opinions are being voiced

about what is right and wrong.

And about what rape is.

I don't call that rape.

But it was right
for them to do that?

To a certain extent, yes.

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.

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.

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.

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.

To protect her identity,

Judge William Young
instructed that the woman

not be photographed by television
or other cameras.

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.

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?

I do.

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.

Was she...

- How old are you?
- Twenty-two.

When were you born?

Uh, March 28th, 1961.

- Where were you born?
- New Bedford.

- Where were you raised?
- New Bedford.

What schools did you attend?

Ashley, Normandin,
New Bedford High.

She had the will
to focus upon the job at hand.

Please tell us your name.

Cheryl Araujo.

Might you spell your last name?

A-R-A-U-J-O.

We tried hard
not to show the victim,

but nobody thought about her name.

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.

The name of the woman
who says she was raped

was published and broadcast
on some stations.

It went on the air.

All of it.

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.

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.

I was told. Michael asked me
to put the kids to bed before I went.

And what did you do
in putting the kids to bed?

I had to put their pajamas on
and wash them. Brush their teeth.

Put the nightlight on.
Give the little one her medicine.

- What kind of medicine is that?
- Medicine for her lungs.

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.

The woman could face
cross-examination

by as many as six defense lawyers.

How are you?

We, of course, maintain
that no rape was ever committed.

By any of the the defendants?

I don't speak for anyone else.
Just for my client.

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?

That is not true.

So now, you said to me,
"I don't remember," didn't you?

- Yes, I did.
- That was a lie, wasn't it?

It was not a lie.

In court, she was vilified
in every public way possible.

Had you been taking any drugs
or medication, uh,

prior to going to Big Dan's that night?

- Afterwards?
- No, before.

- Before? No.
- Marijuana?

- No.
- Did you have marijuana in the house?

- In my house?
- Did you have it?

No.

Were you using any drugs
before you went there?

Objection.

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?

You wouldn't have gone
into the place if it was boisterous

and out of control and the men were acting
rowdy, would you?

No, I would not.

You would've turned around on your heels
and walked out, wouldn't you?

I guess.

How could she gauge
how many people there were?

Did six men line up,
waiting for their turn?

I... I don't really believe
I've said that.

What did her ears and her brain witness?

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Order!

Jurors began their deliberations
on Saturday,

then we were all in the courthouse
awaiting word from them.

Mr. Foreman,
has the jury agreed upon verdicts?

The clerk asked them
if they've reached a verdict,

and if they've done so unanimously,

and the foreperson says...

Yes, we have.

Please return the papers
to the officer.

Cheryl was miles away
from the courthouse

at the time that the verdict was read.

The verdicts are in order.
They may be received.

In the case of the Commonwealth
versus Virgilio Medeiros,

how do you find the defendant?

Not guilty.

In the case of the Commonwealth
versus Jose Medeiros?

Not guilty.

The two people
who were accused of cheering

were acquitted.

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?

- Guilty.
- Guilty of what?

Aggravated rape.

When the foreperson said,
"Guilty,"

I heard a, uh...

a series of gasps
in the first row of the audience.

We find the defendant,
John Cordeiro,

guilty. Aggravated rape.

In the case of the Commonwealth
versus Victor Raposo?

- Guilty.
- Guilty of what?

Aggravated rape.

The Commonwealth
versus Joseph Vieira?

Guilty. Aggravated rape.

When the verdict came down,

I think many people felt
that justice had been served.

The people who committed a crime...

were convicted.

Get ready to roll.
There's a relative coming out crying.

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?

There was a large, angry crowd

that had developed
outside of the courthouse.

And I was escorted out of the courthouse
by one trooper.

And he said to me,
"We're getting out of here."

Dad! Dad!

Hey! Don't touch my father!

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!

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."

The Portuguese-American
community of Fall River, Massachusetts

will not give up.

It will not accept the guilty verdicts

returned against
four Portuguese immigrants.

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.

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.

Thousands of members
of the Portuguese community

gathered in front of Fall River City Hall.

At the head
of the line of march, Jose Medeiros

and Virgilio Medeiros,
the two men found not guilty.

What we're doing here today
is just the beginning.

We are opposed to rape,

but we cannot let immigrants
be the scapegoats.

It was very surprising to see

the enormity of the protests

and the emotions
of the Portuguese community.

The people who were supporting
these defendants

were vehement and angry.

It wasn't murder. It was.

She wanted it.

She wanted it.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

I was devastated.

Why did she have to die?

This is truly a tragedy for Cheryl Araujo
in a profound sense.

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.

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.