Another difference between the movie and the real story was the witness. In the movie Kenneth Joyce, a friend of one of the rapists, calls police from a payphone outside of the bar after having witnessed the rape. When Sarah and her lawyer need him to testify against the bystanders in court, he is unwilling. In the end, he chooses to do the right thing (even though it means longer jail time for his friend) and testifies for Sarah. His testimony is crucial in bringing the “onlookers” to justice.
This makes for a great Hollywood plot, but was quite different than what happened in the real story.
In the real story, there were three men (two of whom were brothers) who picked up Cheryl Araujo the night of the rape.
“We noticed a bunch of guys that had come out of the bar after her,” said Michael, 31 at the time, “but they saw us and ended up going back into the bar.”
"Araujo would wrap her hands around Dan’s neck so hard that police would have to pry each of her fingers off him hours later. Araujo told the three men that she had just been raped by a group of men in the bar and the three men gave her their coats so she could cover herself up."
"Police called their homes the next day, and the evidence began to mount against a number of men that were inside the bar that night. Although the O’Neills were never able to identify a single face that night, their testimony, combined with that of the embattled rape victim, was instrumental in the case, according to U.S. District Court Judge William Young, who was the Superior Court judge who preceded over the entire Big Dan’s case." (Pateakos)