Exxonerated

[SillyGirl]

Brian Banks, CA Football Player, Exonerated Of Rape Charges After Over 5 Years In Prison

LONG BEACH, Calif. — A former high school football star whose dreams of a pro career were shattered by a rape conviction burst into tears Thursday as a judge threw out the charge that sent him to prison for more than five years.
Brian Banks, now 26, pleaded no contest 10 years ago on the advice of his lawyer after a childhood friend falsely accused him of attacking her on their high school campus.
In a strange turn of events, the woman, Wanetta Gibson, friended him on Facebook when he got out of prison.
During an initial meeting with him, she said she had lied; there had been no kidnap and no rape and she offered to help him clear his record, court records state.
But she refused to repeat the story to prosecutors because she feared she would have to return a $1.5 million payment from a civil suit brought by her mother against Long Beach schools.
During a second meeting that was secretly videotaped, she told Banks, "`I will go through with helping you, but it's like at the same time all that money they gave us, I mean gave me, I don't want to have to pay it back,'" according to Freddie Parish, a defense investigator who was at the meeting.
It was uncertain whether Gibson will have to return the money and unlikely she would be prosecuted for making the false accusation so long ago, when she was 15.
Gibson did not attend the hearing and she could not be reached for comment. Prosecutors and defense attorneys said they were unable to find her recently.
Banks, once a star middle linebacker at Long Beach Polytechnic High School, had attracted the interest of such college football powerhouses as the University of Southern California, Ohio State University and the University of Michigan, according to the website Rivals.com, which tracks the recruiting of high school football and basketball players.
Banks said he had verbally agreed to attend USC on a scholarship when he was arrested.
He still hopes to play professional football and has been working out regularly. His attorney Justin Brooks appealed to NFL teams to give him a chance.
"He has the speed and the strength. He certainly has the heart," Brooks said. "I hope he gets the attention of people in the sports world."
Gil Brandt, an NFL draft consultant, said Banks would be eligible to sign with any team that might show interest. However, his years away from the game will be hard to overcome.
"History tells us guys who come back after one or two years away when they go into the service find it awfully hard," Brandt said. "And this has been much longer a time."
Brandt compared the challenge to someone who has been out of high school for years trying to get an A in their first class in college.
Banks said outside court that he had lost all hope of proving his innocence until Gibson contacted him.
"It's been a struggle. But I'm unbroken and I'm still here today," the tall, muscular Banks said, tears flowing down his face.
He recalled being shocked and speechless on the day Gibson reached out to him after he had been released from prison, having served five years and two months.
"I thought maybe it wasn't real," he said. "How could she be contacting me?"
He said he knew that if he became angry when he met with her it wouldn't help, so he struggled to keep calm.
"I stopped what I was doing and got down on my knees and prayed to God to help me play my cards right," he said.
In court, Deputy District Attorney Brentford Ferreira told Superior Court Judge Mark C. Kim that prosecutors agreed the case should be thrown out. Kim dismissed it immediately.
Banks had tried to win release while he was in prison, but Brooks, a law professor and head of the California Innocence Project at California Western School of Law in San Diego, said he could not have been exonerated without the woman coming forward and recanting her story.
Brooks said it was the first case he had ever taken in which the defendant had already served his time and had been free for a number of years.
Banks remained on probation, however, and was still wearing his electronic monitoring bracelet at the hearing. His lawyer said the first thing the two planned to do was report to probation officials and have it removed.
"The charges are dismissed now," Brooks said. "It's as if it didn't happen. ... It was the shortest, greatest proceeding I've ever been part of."
Banks had been arrested after Gibson said he met her in a school hallway and urged her to come into an elevator with him. The two had been friends since middle school and were in the habit of making out in a school stairwell, according to court papers.
There were contradictions in Gibson's story, as she told some people the rape happened in the elevator and others that it happened in the stairwell.
A kidnapping enhancement was added to the case because of the allegation Banks had taken her to the stairwell. That enhancement also was thrown out Thursday.
Outside court, Banks donned a sweat shirt that read "Innocent," as several friends and family members wept. His parents were jubilant, and Banks thanked them for standing by him.
"I know the trauma, the stress that I've been through, but I can't imagine what it's like to have your child torn from you," he said. "I don't know what I would have done without my parents."

Bitch should do time. Lots and lots of time.

 

[Madman]

That's disgusting! She should be jailed and all of her money and assets should immediately be given to the falsely accused man.

 

[God]

What a bitch. Will the money be returned now or at least assets like homes and cars to be handed out to Brian?

 

[Jesus Quintana]

Seeing how he was being courted by Colleges for football - it means that he had great potential... maybe the next Joe Namath (Yah the last time I followed football was that long ago.)
Sounds to me that he has grounds for a civil suit not only against the School, but Mom and the daughter.

 

[-b]

How one person can destroy another life and their
dream that they work so hard to achieve .....

She should be jailed .......

 

[Wilt The Stilt]

It doesn't explain why she accused him of rape in the first place?.

 

[train]

Bitch should do time. Lots and lots of time.

Along with the guy's lawyer.

 

[Insertion]

That is the problem with sexual charges of any kind. The man is guilty and must prove his innocence verses innocent til proven guilty.

 

[Wanker]

I hope they went through the proper channels when she was secretly videotaped so will stand in court.

 

[Boing]

Like SG said.

Bitch should do time. Lots and lots of time.
Bitch should do time. Lots and lots of time.
Bitch should do time. Lots and lots of time.
Bitch should do time. Lots and lots of time.

Bitch should do time. Lots and lots of time.

 

[blackram]

The scales of justice have been severely tilted towards the accuser's side in the last few decades. Certain sorts of corroborating evidence cannot be presented anymore. It is now guilty until proven innocent for the accused. I know exactly why it was done, because it was reaction to the way accusers were put through the ringer when the trial started. But the people who put the victims through the ringer were the lawyers on both sides, so instead of reigning in the adversarial lawyer system to be more gentle with these victims, they just made entire classes of evidence non-admissible. Basically it's the tail wagging the dog.

 

[billybob]

The scales of justice have been severely tilted towards the accuser's side in the last few decades. Certain sorts of corroborating evidence cannot be presented anymore. It is now guilty until proven innocent for the accused. I know exactly why it was done, because it was reaction to the way accusers were put through the ringer when the trial started. But the people who put the victims through the ringer were the lawyers on both sides, so instead of reigning in the adversarial lawyer system to be more gentle with these victims, they just made entire classes of evidence non-admissible. Basically it's the tail wagging the dog.

Trudat brother

 

[Lofting_around]

exonerated but not vindicated...so sad

 

[Jesus Quintana]

Exxoneration is just a Shell game.

 

[peace]

either way, he is screwed. His reputation is tarnished regardless if he is not guilty. He probably has PTSD. His innocence is lost. Then there are his parents too. They suffer(ed) too.

 

[tboy]

That is the problem with sexual charges of any kind. The man is guilty and must prove his innocence verses innocent til proven guilty.

exactly, that's why many women feel that the cards are stacked against them when reporting a rape......how many times do we see stories from women in the news stating that someone raped them and the police didn't do enough? I think at least up here, they may take their time to do due diligence to insure the guy isn't wrongfully convicted.

I like how they state that she was only 15, wtf difference does that make? And I agree with sg: the bitch should do time and those monies should be immediately and forewith be handed over to the guy......

I think she should be made an example of so that anyone else considering making a false accusation against some poor schmuck might think twice about it....

 

[tboy]

I hope they went through the proper channels when she was secretly videotaped so will stand in court.

I think in the US a private citizen has the right to video tape etc without prior consent or a warrant. It's only the police that have to obtain a warrant or notify someone...then again, they use incar cameras to convict or provide evidence so maybe they don't have to either......but that could be because if something is recorded incar, you're in public and have no right to privacy when you're in public......

 

[Curly]

Brian Banks, the former high school standout linebacker who was wrongfully convicted of rape and kidnapping, is getting a chance to earn a spot on the Seattle Seahawks‘ roster.
RELATED: Brian Banks Plans To Sue California State For Prison Sentence

ESPN reports that the Seahawks are expected to try him out on June 7. Pete Carroll, who previously recruited him to play at USC back when Banks was a teen, is the Seahawks’ head coach.

https://newsone.com/2018199/brian-banks-rape-case-2/

 

[a 1 player]

She should do every minute in jail that he did + 1 year, have all of her assets seized, and have to pay retribution for the rest of her life once she is freed.

The same goes for any person who makes a false claim that lands another person in jail.

Even better, if one makes false charges, they should be subject to the same penalty that the accused would have gotten.

 

[SillyGirl]

It's awesome he's getting a tryout, I hope he makes the team.