When television and film portray the law, the audience usually sees
stirring courtroom drama.  The defendant jumps out of his chair and
screams “that witness is lying!”  The judge bangs his gavel and says
“I’ll have order in this courtroom or I’ll clear the place!”  A
witness breaks down on the stand under the severe stress of a
cross-examination and cries while reluctantly telling the truth.
However, what these films ignore is that by most calculations, only
two to three percent of cases actually go to trial (not to mention the
fact that even at trial, most of the action is mundane and not nearly
as dramatic as one would expect).  Granted, the world of settlements
and plea bargains does not make a good show, but that is the reality
for most cases.  While “The Accused” ends with a climactic courtroom
scene and satisfying verdict, the film understands the reality of plea
bargains and how they deprive victims and society of justice.

The makers of “The Accused” understand The Myth of Moral Justice.
Plea bargains are a sham.  Defendants accept a false amount of guilt,
and victims are left knowing that their attackers are not in jail for
the true crimes they committed.  Society is also deprived of the
historical justice of storytelling and a legal record.  Thus is the
set up that will bring us to the big courtroom scene in “The Accused.”

The movie begins with the gang rape of Sarah Tobias (played by Jodie
Foster, who won the Oscar for this role) at a grungy bar.  The
Assistant District Attorneys find several of Sarah’s attackers, but
decline to prosecute them at trial because they fear Sarah would not
be a convincing witness.  Sarah was seen as a drunk, drug-user, who
went to the bar in a revealing outfit, and therefore it would be hard
to convince a jury that she was truly raped.  The ADAs meet with the
rapists’ lawyers and settle on a plea bargain: the rapists will plead
guilty to reckless endangerment, and not any sexual offense.  They
will go to jail, but for a much shorter sentence than a rape
conviction would have required.

In a brilliant manner of showing how the criminal justice system often
ignores the victim, Sarah learns of the plea deal by watching TV,
seeing her story on the news.  Sarah knows that she was raped and that
reckless endangerment is not the crime that was committed.  So she
goes to the home of ADA Kathryn Murphy (played by Kelly McGillis) and
confronts her, screaming that she “sold her out.”

Kathryn knows that the plea bargain was not true justice, but once
accepted, there was nothing more she could do to Sarah’s attackers.
She knows that a large part of justice for Sarah would have been the
storytelling that a trial provides.  In order to get Sarah the
opportunity to tell her story in court, Kathryn decides to prosecute
other patrons of the bar who witnessed and encouraged the rape that
night.

This is a risky legal move, and Kathryn’s boss tells her she may be
setting herself up for disaster.  But Kathryn knows that no matter the
outcome of this trial, justice will be served by telling Sarah’s story
in a public forum that will be recorded for posterity.  Now we get to
the stirring courtroom drama, and frankly this drama is the least
important part of the film.  Kathryn has done the right thing and
Sarah gets justice no matter what the outcome of this trial.  Even if
the witnesses/encouragers are acquitted, her rape will be on record,
and her rapists’ crimes will go down as sexual assault and not just
reckless endangerment.

That is what makes “The Accused” stand out as a legal film.  We have
our exciting trial, but no matter the verdict, justice has been
served.

-Matt M.