Posted on 04/04/2013 8:05:31 AM PDT by doug from upland
By now, Brian Banks is used to waiting.
He sat in prison for five years, punished for a crime he didn’t commit. Freed last May after the victim admitted she had falsely accused him, the former USC recruit has been trying patiently but persistently to get a shot at the NFL.
Finally, he’s getting one.
Jay Glazer of FOX, who has worked extensively with Banks to get him into NFL shape, reports that the Atlanta Falcons have signed Banks to a contract.
Banks, a linebacker, received tryouts last year from the Seahawks, Chargers, and Chiefs. Eventually, he joined the UFL — and then the UFL promptly imploded.
The NFL won’t be imploding any time soon. But the road for Banks remains steep.
Teams may have up to 90 players on the roster in the offseason. He’ll now have to earn one of 53 regular-season spots or, failing that, one of eight jobs on the practice squad.
But at least he finally has a chance. We wish him well as he tries to make the most of it.
They should jail his accuser. 5 years MINIMUM.
Good for them and him. I hope he makes it and does well.
This "victim" should be put in jail herself...
I saw him on the news this morning. I hope he makes the team. Good luck to him.
I'm guessing that she copped a plea to come clean in return for immunity and anonymity. Otherwise, Banks would still be sitting in the slam. The cost of five prime earning years lost could easily exceed a Powerball jackpot.
In a few minutes, he will be on the Dan Patrick show on FOX Sports - in Los Angeles that is 570am
Is the girl in jail? She should get 2 days for each day he spent
That’s the problem. Because they don’t do that, it’s easy to make a false accusation. They don’t want to change that situation because it makes women look bad AND it makes you unable to buy your way out of a rape charge (which happens quite a lot).
Folks, he apparently plead, “No Contest” to the rape charge. That’s why he’s been in jail.
An innocent person would have fought a faked charge.
“An innocent person would have fought a faked charge”.
Not necessarily. Remember, he was a teen when this happened. I am sure the deal was presented to plead no contest and serve 5 RATHER than serving 25 years. The article doesn’t mention if he had a public defender.... I have the gut feeling that his parents couldn’t afford a high priced criminal attorney.
Brian Banks’ accuser didn’t want to repay settlement, video shows
There’s an awesome video here of how the private investigator getting her to confess.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/06/brian-banks-accuser-money-wanetta-gibson.html
Wrong. Here is more background.
H. Elizabeth Harris The Attorney Who Recommended Brian Banks’ Plea Deal is a Judge Now
by Robert Littal | Posted on Thursday, May 31st, 2012
Just imagine for a moment you are 17 years old.
You have been arrested and accused of raping someone. You know that you didn’t do it and you have told your defense attorney this many times and she looks at you in the eye and says.
“You’re a big black teenager and they’re automatically going to assume you are guilty and you’ll be facing 41 years to life. What do you want to do?”
“This is the offer – good for now and not later. It’s your decision and not your mom’s,”
This is what Brian Banks said his then defense attorney H. Elizabeth Harris said to him. He wanted to discuss his options with his mother, but wasn’t allowed to.
Can you blame a scared and frightened Banks for taking the plea deal?
Without hearing Ms. Harris’ side of the story it is hard to say what exactly was going on, but knowing what we know now about Wanetta Gibson’s going to trial wouldn’t have been such a bad thing. A good defense attorney would have destroyed her story on the stand.
While Banks sat in jail and Gibson and her mom was making it rain with their $1.5 million settlement, Harris continued on with her life.
In 2004 she got a promotion.
Veteran criminal defense lawyer H. Elizabeth Harris has been elected a Los Angeles Superior Court commissioner by the court’s judges, a court spokesperson said Friday.
Harris, 61, was the top-ranked candidate among 35 nominated by a panel of judges, and was the only one named on a majority of the ballots in voting for two positions.
Harris is now one of the Commissioners of the court, you can verify it here.
It appears that everyone went on to have a great life except Banks, image that……
He has a shot with the Falcons which is great. If that doesn’t work out maybe he should consider the CFL for a few years. Money isn’t what it is in the NFL but the quality of football is good, comparable to larger college football programs here in the US.
This is extremely naive. First, most people don't have the money to fight a criminal prosecution. Second, the acquittal rate of those that do fight is very low. Third, the sentences for those that do fight and lose are much, much higher than those that plead guilty. Put all of that together and there are a lot of people who are not guilty but make the determination that the best way to cut their losses is to plead guilty.
The bottom line is that, innocent or not, if you are indicted, you have big, big problems.
That’s what you think because that is what you would do. There are thousands who take a no contest plea after prosecutors pile charges on top of charges and tell you that you will get 20-30 years.
Your public defender is a putz, you have no money for a lawyer who will believe you and fight for you.
Then they offer you a plea bargain and you take it because you are scared and broke and you can’t gamble 30 years of your life with the public defender putz rolling the dice.
Most people know jack squat about how the system works. It is a meat grinder.
I remember hearing about the case how his lawyer was pressuring the young teen to plead no contest for his best interest or face more years in prison. If I recalled correctly, the lawyer was telling him that there was no way he could win the case
An innocent person would have fought a faked charge.
From what I read, his attorney advised him that he was going to get convicted based on the witness testimony and they made a deal with the DA for a shorter sentence.
I know that in a perfect world, we think that innocent people are always found not guilty, but that's not how it always works in reality.
Testimony from a rape victim can be extremely powerful, even if it's false. The defense attorney probably thought the five years was the best deal he had in front of him.
“It appears that everyone went on to have a great life except Banks...”
AND that is why I am happy for him. I hope he gets this chance! I can’t imagine being a 16 year old kid... signing on to a D1 college deal and having everything... college, your reputation and your freedom just taken away by some liar. I truly hope he can live out his dream....
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