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Former Long Beach HS Football Star Exonerated in Rape Case (Brian Banks)
KTLA news ^ | May 24, 2012 | KTLA News Staff

Posted on 05/24/2012 1:10:25 PM PDT by DoughtyOne

LONG BEACH, Calif. (KTLA) -- A judge has vacated the rape conviction of once-promising high school football star Brian Banks after his accuser recanted.

Banks broke down in tears Thursday morning after a brief hearing in which prosecutors said they had no objection to his conviction being reversed.

His mother and girlfriend, who were in the courtroom, let out cries of joy.

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"There are no words in any language, no gesture in any culture that can explain or describe what I have been through," Banks said moments after the dismissal.

"I hope my story brings light to a major flaw in the judicial system. It is time for wrongful convictions to be addressed in the United States."

Back in 2002, Banks was a 17-year-old rising football star at Long Beach Poly Tech when classmate Wanetta Gibson accused him of kidnapping and raping her.

Banks, who had a full scholarship offer to USC, maintained that the sex was consensual.

But at the advice of his attorney, he pleaded no contest rather than risk 41 years to life in prison if convicted at trial.

Gibson subsequently won a $1.5 million settlement in a civil suit against the Long Beach Unified School District.

She claimed that the school's lax security provided an unsafe environment that led to the alleged rape.

In a strange twist, Gibson 'friended' Banks on Facebook when he got out of prison, explaining that she wanted to "let bygones be bygones."

Gibson met with Banks and admitted she had lied, according to court documents in the case.

She also offered to help him clear his name, court documents show.

However, she later refused to repeat the story because she feared she would have to return the $1.5 million settlement.

She reportedly 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."

The California Innocence Project took on Banks' case based on the new evidence.

"This is a great day for the justice system and for Brian Banks," said Justin Brooks, a professor at California Western School of Law and Director of the California Innocence Project.

"Cases like Brian’s are the reason I do the work I do. I am grateful to the Los Angeles District Attorney's office for reviewing the evidence and joining us in seeking to end this injustice."

Brooks said Banks had been on probation and under electronic monitoring.

He has also had to register as a sex offender and has had trouble getting a job.

Brooks said that Banks is continuing to train, and still has hopes of a future football career.


TOPICS: Local News
KEYWORDS: conviction; exhonerated; longbeach; rape
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To: DoughtyOne

I think that what they are not talking about is law suit that was immediately filed against the school district and was probably going on at the same time as the criminal case.

It appears that the law suit and the money was the whole purpose of the accusation. Maybe someone should look into who put the girl up to this, and represented her in the law suit against the school district. I sincerely doubt that this scheming idiot came up with this idea on her own, I bet that there is some drug dealing boyfriend behind the whole thing.


41 posted on 05/24/2012 2:11:37 PM PDT by Eva
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To: hannibaal

Because women do no wrong. Haven’t you heard?

/sarc


42 posted on 05/24/2012 2:12:28 PM PDT by wastedyears ("God? I didn't know he was signed onto the system.")
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To: WKTimpco
It doesn’t matter what you think about God. It matters what God thinks about you. Only repentance and accepting Christ’s sacrifice for ANY sin or iniquity will make any difference at all, even if your sin is a “meaningless” lie in the 5th grade. Get it ?!?!?!?!

What God wrote or some organized religion wrote? We humans are less than a dividing cell in God''s eyes. We are insignificant. I think God has more of life than watching us and writing down that I may have masturbated on January 8th 2008 at 8:32.58 pm. If he does he needs to get a life . SRS.

I do believe in God, something created but that's it.

Sorry I don't believe what you do.

43 posted on 05/24/2012 2:13:42 PM PDT by trailhkr1 (All you need to know about Zimmerman, innocent = riots, manslaughter = riots, guilty = riots)
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To: wastedyears

You may run into a rotten apple once in a while, but by and large you can tell what a woman is like by dating her for a while before you go farther.

What she like? What are her friends like? What kind of a job does she have? Does she exhibit warning signs? Does she crave the attention of more than one man?


44 posted on 05/24/2012 2:14:08 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (Okay, now lets see if the RNC, Rove, and Card can get him elected without their core base. Game on!)
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To: Eva

Well, that’s certainly worth looking into. I wouldn’t be surprised if some ambulance chasing attorney sifted through the files and latched on to her but guick.


45 posted on 05/24/2012 2:17:16 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (Okay, now lets see if the RNC, Rove, and Card can get him elected without their core base. Game on!)
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To: DoughtyOne
But at the advice of his attorney, he pleaded no contest rather than risk 41 years to life in prison if convicted at trial.

That's terrible to see.

46 posted on 05/24/2012 2:18:04 PM PDT by Darren McCarty (The Republican Party is bigger than the presidency.)
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To: DoughtyOne

What if the bad stuff is hidden well?


47 posted on 05/24/2012 2:21:41 PM PDT by wastedyears ("God? I didn't know he was signed onto the system.")
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To: Darren McCarty

Yes it is. Here’s a kid that had a lot going for him, and some ding-bat broad took a wrecking ball to his life.

It really angers me when someone bears down and achieves, then gets screwed by some low-life person looking for an income stream at any price, someone else will have to pay.

I don’t honestly know how she could live with herself.


48 posted on 05/24/2012 2:22:14 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (Okay, now lets see if the RNC, Rove, and Card can get him elected without their core base. Game on!)
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To: DoughtyOne
That guy should be brought up on charges of legal malpractice.

How did he give the advice? I'm not a crim law practitioner, but if a client came to me in his situation, it would be my duty to run all the possible scenarios by him. These are the consequences of a conviction. These are the consequences of a plea.

49 posted on 05/24/2012 2:23:42 PM PDT by Darren McCarty (The Republican Party is bigger than the presidency.)
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To: DoughtyOne
who says she lied?......sounds like she took pity and like many women do......

I'm sure women lie at times,like men, and for sure, numero uno, rapists ALWAYS deny rape...always...

50 posted on 05/24/2012 2:27:32 PM PDT by cherry
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To: wastedyears
What if the bad stuff is hidden well?

It comes out sooner or later...I can usually tell a good women after a few dates maybe a little longer. It's not that hard.

51 posted on 05/24/2012 2:28:58 PM PDT by trailhkr1 (All you need to know about Zimmerman, innocent = riots, manslaughter = riots, guilty = riots)
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To: wastedyears

You can only cut your chances of making a mistake. You can’t micro-manage all negative effects out of your life.

Even inside your own home there are risks. Once you leave the front door, there’s dangers on your own property, and even more as you venture away from it.

Whether it’s relationships, working, driving, traveling..., there’s going to be a chance of something negative happening. What is life, if it is not filled with these things? Isn’t it already a reduced less than fulfilled life?

If you have a positive outlook, you can never be completely defeated. People have thrived or at the very least survived, under almost every negative condition known to man.


52 posted on 05/24/2012 2:29:45 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (Okay, now lets see if the RNC, Rove, and Card can get him elected without their core base. Game on!)
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To: momtothree
nobody is going to confess to kidnapping and rape unless something bad took place....and no insurance company nor school system is going to hand over a million bucks for nothing, no proof....

micheal jackson didn't give away millions of bucks to some kid just because he liked him....

there's a reason...

53 posted on 05/24/2012 2:29:56 PM PDT by cherry
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To: DoughtyOne
With all that going for him, his attorney told him to accept a plea bargain altering his life forever.

I used to know a Los Angeles public defender. He said that if he didn't plea deal 99% of his cases, he'd have been fired. The whole job is running people through the system as quickly as possible.

54 posted on 05/24/2012 2:31:32 PM PDT by Bubba Ho-Tep ("More weight!"--Giles Corey)
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To: trailhkr1

God does want sex for only those who are married. Your hunch is not confirmed by the Bible.


55 posted on 05/24/2012 2:32:26 PM PDT by yldstrk ( My heroes have always been cowboys)
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To: Darren McCarty

With extenuating circumstances mentioned on this thread, it would be the duty of the defense attorney to explain to the young man that he had a very good chance of being found not guilty.

That doesn’t seem to have happened. That’s why I have spoken out about what looks to me like legal malpractice.


56 posted on 05/24/2012 2:34:04 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (Okay, now lets see if the RNC, Rove, and Card can get him elected without their core base. Game on!)
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To: Darren McCarty
From another story on the case:
The district attorney offered Banks a deal -- plead guilty to rape and spend another 18 months in prison, or go to trial and face 41 years to life, CBS Los Angeles reports.

Banks said his defense attorney told him, "'When you go into that courtroom the jury is going to see a big black teenager and you're automatically going to be assumed guilty.' Those are her exact words."


57 posted on 05/24/2012 2:38:25 PM PDT by Bubba Ho-Tep ("More weight!"--Giles Corey)
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To: cherry

The article says “on advice of counsel” he copped a plea rather than face 41 years if he’d gone to trial and been convicted. The prosecutors had DNA evidence that there had been sex between them; its ‘consent’ was ‘he said, she said.’ Would you have risked 41 years vs. X months, even if you know you were innocent of the kidnap/rape charges?

Once he accepted that plea, the school system became vulnerable and settled with Gibson who, one would assume, will soon be doing her own time behind bars.


58 posted on 05/24/2012 2:39:53 PM PDT by EDINVA
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To: cherry
who says she lied?......sounds like she took pity and like many women do......

She changed her story.  Before the court, that is an admission of a lie.  I see it as a lie.  Most thinking people would see it as a lie.

What possible grounds are you siting that would lead you to believe this woman now simply wants to give the guy a break?


I'm sure women lie at times,like men, and for sure, numero uno, rapists ALWAYS deny rape...always...


Frankly I don't give a damn what other women or other men do at times or in other rape cases.  This was not a rape case.  It was a false charge case that has now come out into the open.

What's a not-gulty guy to do, avoid denying he raped the woman?

Good grief.  Let's stick to this case and you can make up stuff on other threads if you like.

59 posted on 05/24/2012 2:40:47 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (Okay, now lets see if the RNC, Rove, and Card can get him elected without their core base. Game on!)
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To: Bubba Ho-Tep

That may be the case. If so, I’d find myself a reporter and do an in-depth anonymous interview explaining what is taking place in the legal system.

Once the story was out there, the D.A. would have to deny it or acknowledge the truth of it.

I don’t think you play along and screw people into the dirt just because you want to serve your public defender mandate before you move on.

That’s my take, flawed or not.


60 posted on 05/24/2012 2:45:44 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (Okay, now lets see if the RNC, Rove, and Card can get him elected without their core base. Game on!)
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