New Bedford Rape Trial: 1984

On March 17, 1984, Daniel Silva and Joseph Vieira were convicted of aggravated rape by a jury of eight men and four women. Some people in the courtroom cried, "Shame!" When news reached the parking lot, others smashed their fists on cars and shouted obscenities. Women's groups and their supporters sponsored a candlelight march, in which 2,500 people participated.

News of the convictions was kept from the other jury, which convened as scheduled on Monday the 19th. The defense continued to characterize the woman as a drunken liar, and John Cordeiro testified that "she was enjoying herself."

On March 22, the last verdicts were rendered. Virgilio Medeiros and Jose Medeiros were acquitted; John Cordeiro and Raposo were found guilty. There was immediate upheaval in Fall River as 3,000 to 4,000 people attended a candlelight vigil in support of the victim, while 7,000 to 10,000 marchers protested the convictions. Judge Young sentenced the four men to six to 12 years in prison. He also responded to what had become an underlying question. He had not reduced the sentence because the victim had been in a bar, he said, because to do so would "virtually outlaw an entire gender for the style of their dress, the length of their skirts or their choice to enter a place of public refreshment." The four men first asked for retrials and then appealed; all attempts to overturn their convictions were unsuccessful. The woman moved to Miami with her children and was killed in an automobile accident in December 1986.