MovieChat Forums > The Accused (1988) Discussion > The Waitress belonged in prison too

The Waitress belonged in prison too


How did she get off? She witnessed her FRIEND getting raped, and instead got her coat and left the bar like nothing was happening. Then later she tries to act like she doesn't know what happened when Kelly McGillis questions her, and then had the gall to go on the witness stand and make Jodie look bad. She belonged in jail.

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She did not see the rape happening. All she saw was a crowd. She knew something was going on, but didn't wait long enough to see.

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I do not buy for one second that she didn't piece together what was going on. Especially after she was told "you're next" and then promptly left.

Proud mama of Rottie..Daisy!

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That was my impression also. When Leo Rossi (Scorpion) said "You're next," she seemed to get very frightended, and she may have assumed something bad was going on, but she did not know what was actually occurring. How can you prosecute someone for being frightended, not knowing what was going on, and not reporting it? Neither the prosecutor nor her boss mentioned prosecuting the waitress, as they shouldn't have.

I wonder what the sentences were of Leo Rossi and the other white trash who cheered the rapists on. I seem to recall that he three rapists each got 5 years. I don't know whether it was with or w/o parole. But I bed the rapists, especially if they looked like the college punk (the one with the "little fuxxxcxking college asxxs"), would have gotten raped in prison.

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That was my impression also. When Leo Rossi (Scorpion) said "You're next," she seemed to get very frightended, and she may have assumed something bad was going on, but she did not know what was actually occurring. How can you prosecute someone for being frightended, not knowing what was going on, and not reporting it? Neither the prosecutor nor her boss mentioned prosecuting the waitress, as they shouldn't have.


I really don't recall thinking or saying she should have been prosecuted. It probably would have been a waste of time for Kathryn Murphy seeing as how she was putting all of her effort into going after the realy guilty parties. Was the waitress probably scared? Definitely. Did she know a rape was going on? That depends on the interpretation of the viewer. I think, given the context of Leo Rossi's line and the fact that she knew something fishy was going on, that she figured out what had happened. I just feel that she should have done the right thing and called the police when she was in a safe environment. I certainly wouldn't have advised her to go and break the rape up herself.

Couldn't she have at least told the bartender(s)? I know a couple of bartenders and I know for a fact that they along with some other regulars would have definitely not allowed that to happen in their bar. It did seem like they were in a less than desirable sort of bar with all kinds of shady sorts but I'm sure there had to be at least one or two decent men in there? It just absolutely floors me that something like this could have happened in a bar and not a soul stepped in to stop it. At least Ken reported what was going on to the police but it was still not enough to stop anything.



Proud mama of a Rottie..Daisy!

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Everyone who knew what was going on and did nothing should have been charged including the waitress. Its understandable leaving because you don't want to be targeted but she could have at least called the police.

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No, she did not belong in jail. Unlike the guys who were cheering, the waitress did nothing to urge on the rape or the rapists. It is not a crime to not report a crime. Force of one, my man. Stick em.

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It is not a crime to not report a crime.


Not true. People can be criminally charged with failure to report a crime. Whether or not she belongs in jail is a debatable subject. But, she is nonetheless a despicable human being.



Proud mama of a Rottie..Daisy!

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Are you an attorney? If not or even if you are, please prove your claim. Please cite a statute confirming your view.

I is uncertain exactly what she saw. In any event, she was not prosecuted, nor was there any iota of negativity directed toward her by the prosecxutor in the case.

Did you ever think that she may have been afraid of these slime balls in the back room? And with good reason. Force of one, my man. Stick em.

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First of all, you don't have to be an attorney to have the common sense to know that certain things are criminal offenses. In some cases, not reporting a crime is a criminal offense. Generally speaking, being an accessory to crime is knowing something took place, but did nothing to stop it or did not alert authorities. Tell me why family members of murderers get charged with accessory or obstruction of justice when they don't disclose what they know of a crime? For more specifics, refer to the following.

Exhibit 1: For this example, we will site Ohio state law. Reno Saccocia. He is the coach of the Steubenville high school football team. According to witness testimony and evidence (text messages), he knew about the rape but did not report it. That is a crime under Ohio State Law. In fact, it is mandated in pretty much ALL states for doctors, nurses, teachers, counselors, and other professionals to report a crime or suspicion of a crime against a child to the police.

Exhibit 2: For this example, Texas law will be sited. Texas Penal Code - Section 38.171. Failure To Report Felony. Per the texas penal code, this is a class A misdemeanor. Although not a felony, it is still considered a crime nonetheless.

Did you ever think that she may have been afraid of these slime balls in the back room? And with good reason.

Of course I did. That doesn't mean she couldn't have left the scene and called for help. The only person who did that was Ken and if anyone had a reason to be afraid besides Sara, it was him.

Force of one, my man. Stick em.

The fact that this has been your concluding words on your last few posts is very alarming. Do you honestly find those words spoken by that scumbag to be THAT funny?


Proud mama of a Rottie..Daisy!

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I think you do have to be an attorney or otherwise have knowledge of law to know conclusively whether certain acts are a crime.

What is the puurpose of your examples? This was not a crime against a child. To my knowledge, this incident did not occur in Ohio. There is your Exhibit 1.

What "example" are you referring to in your Exhibit 2? Did this incident occur in Texas?

The word "cited" is spelled "cited," not "sited."

In my view to prosecute the waitress and send her to prison would be ridiculous and overkill. She could not see exactly what was going on. She was afraid of those animals. And you have not proved, at least not to me, that exactly what the waitress did not do or did is a crime in the State in which the inclident occurred, nor what kind of crime.

I do think those words are funny. And so are other comments of the dirtball Leo Ross played. Not in the context of this horrific incident. But they are funny in other contexts. If that is "alarming" to you, I'd suggest you lighten up a bit.

You seem very serious and intense and that is ok. But you do not have all the answers. Aplogies in advance for any typos.

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I think you do have to be an attorney or otherwise have knowledge of law to know conclusively whether certain acts are a crime.

Really? Because I'm pretty sure you don't have to be a lawyer to "know conclusively" that murder is an act of crime. Or embezzlement. Or theft. Lawyers are experts of the law and the interpretation of the law, but a reasonable person should be able to know that certain things are illegal.

I wasn't discussing with you whether or not the waitress should be prosecuted. I was merely informing you that there are times when it is indeed a crime to not report a crime.

The purpose of my examples was to prove that there are laws put in place that make it a crime to not report a felony. Obviously, it doesn't relate to the gang rape of a woman in a bar. It relates to your original statement that it isn't a crime to not report a crime. Exhibit 2 is an actual law in the Texas Penal Code. Not an event. It is against the law in Texas to not report a felony. Exhibit 1 is me referring to an event citing that the person did in fact break a law that you were questioning exhisted. Just because the prosecutor didn't go after the waitress doesn't mean she wasn't guilty of something. I don't care if she was afraid or not. You can anonymously report crimes. Why couldn't she have picked up the phone when she got home and called the police? Again, the movie indicates only one person did that which was Ken. I think that any moral, upstanding person would *want* to report a violent rape like what happened in this movie, especially a woman.

It is "alarming" to me because we live in a society where rape is downplayed. We live in a rape culture where the victim is often blamed and rape is seen as not that big of a deal by many people. Have you seen the tweets regarding the Steubenville rape trial? Many people have said things along the lines of "boys will be boys" or "the slut was asking for it". Leo Rossi did say some dramatic and over the top things. Yes, in retrospect, they seem funny for how incredibly dumb they are but to have them on every post is a bit much, don't you think? Your signature are the words spoken by a character cheering on a violent gang rape.

My apologies for mispelling "cited". Although I will point out you misspelled apologies with "aplogies" ironically when you were apologizing for typos. I suppose my one typo somehow voids any of my valid points.


Proud mama of a Rottie..Daisy!

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Agree to disagree.

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Fair enough.

Proud mama of a Rottie..Daisy!

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But, she is nonetheless a despicable human being.

She had just been threatened by Kurt and she was scared. Calling her a despicable human being kind of makes you a despicable human being.

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Life doesn't imitate art, it imitates bad television

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It is not a crime to not report a crime.

True. UNLESS you are a doctor or a teacher or a social worker. These people are legally bound to report certain crimes if they know of their existence.

It is also a crime not to report IF you are an indirect participant (otherwise known as Accessory After The Fact or Co-Conspirator).
But in the case of the waitress in the film, then NO it is not a crime.
Its immoral probably, but not illegal to silently watch a rape & do nothing about it.


I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus.
Didn't he discover America?
Penfold, shush.

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I am not an attorney, but your points sound reasonable to me.

It was not clear to me what the waitress actually saw. And, of course, we don't know how closely the movie followed the actual case.

I could not tell if the waitress saw Sarah being dorked, although it may have been a sound conclusion. There was no question that Ken saw Sarah taking it from all three of those jerks.

I do not know what actual laws say about the criminality of people cheering and goading the rapists. And I don't know how much of this occurred in the actual case.

It would never happen, but one could almost wish that the three rapists and three cheerers all went to prison. And the worst of the six- Danny, Kurt, and Scorpio (Played by Leo Rossi) were bent over a workout bar and browned many nights and then had their teeth knocked out to facilitate ease of entry. Well, that's following a terrib;e crime with another crime, but those dirtballs- they should have burned ever one of em. Force of one, my man. Stick em.

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I don't blame her for leaving but she obviously knew something ill was going down she either could have informed others in the bar or called the police.

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Yeah, I don't think she belongs in jail, but the least she could have done was call the police when she left! That was her friend back there.

But I think what happens to a lot of people whenever something really bad happens is they start to rationalize it.

'They were just having a little fun, maybe they were playing around, it couldn't have been rape, I must have just been seeing things, she's my friend and my friend is ok, she has to be'

Some things are too terrible to believe, so many people just don't believe them.

I LOVE it when it's hamburger day!- Romy White

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It was played like the Waitress just thought she was whoring it up back there and she left in total anger at her friend.

The rape scene itself, frankly glorified rape. The 1st guy literally got his rocks off.

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It was played like the Waitress just thought she was whoring it up back there and she left in total anger at her friend.

That was my impression too. That the waitress knew something *nasty* was going on, but I didn't get the impression that she knew for sure it was rape.
I thought from the way that 'scorpion' guy said to her "You're next, eh?!"
and her face at that comment showed she thought Sarah was gang-banging or some such, not being gang-raped.



I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus.
Didn't he discover America?
Penfold, shush.

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During the flashback scenes, the waitress goes near the game room and has a curious look on her face, from her point of view, it looks as though there is just an intense game of pinball happening..her view of Sara was blocked by the large crowd. Plus she also told the prosecutor that she thought Sara was just partying in there. When scorpion man yelled out to her, "you're next".. I got the impression that she thought he was talking about playing pinball. In the 80s, it was not uncommon to see large crowds huddled in game rooms..watching someone play a video game. That's my take on it anyway.

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Yessss she ran out of there (not finishing her shift) because she was afraid of being challenged to a pinball match. Idiot.

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It was played like the Waitress just thought she was whoring it up back there and she left in total anger at her friend.

I didn't get that impression at all. She looked very scared.

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Life doesn't imitate art, it imitates bad television

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The waitress did nothing wrong, so why should she go to jail? She was very scared. Maybe you should go to jail, Jayson, with he rapists.

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She wasn't the one who was involved in soliciting the crime, like those other scumbags who were cheering on the rapists. She could have found out what was going on and reported it, yet she was also scared being female herself. Nice touch that it was a male who took upon the initiative to see what was happening and do something about it, even if he couldn't physically stop the rapists. I would have liked to have seen that happen actually, or at least make an attempt to pull one the dirtballs off Tobias.

Don't eat the whole ones! Those are for the guests. 🍪

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