Teen’S Nfl Dreams Squashed By Fake Rape Claim, Woman Confesses 10 Years Later

[jtnc]

LONG BEACH, Calif. — The kidnap-rape conviction of a once-promising prep football star was dismissed Thursday following a recantation by his accuser.

Brian Banks collapsed in sobs on the counsel table during a court hearing where a prosecutor quickly conceded the decade-old case and moved for the dismissal.

In the summer of 2002, Banks’ future looked bright: He was a 17-year-old high school football star being heavily recruited by a number of colleges. But in a single day that changed with the accusations of kidnapping and rape by a female student.

He maintained there was no rape and their sexual contact was consensual, but his lawyer urged him to plead no contest rather than risk a sentence of 41 years to life in prison if convicted. He followed the advice and went to prison for six years, shattering his dreams of gridiron glory.

Lawyers for the California Innocence Project were prepared Thursday to argue he should be exonerated.

In a strange turn of events, the woman who accused him a decade ago friended him on Facebook when he got out of prison. Wanetta Gibson explained she wanted to “let bygones be bygones.”

According to documents in the case, she met with Banks and said she had lied; there was no kidnap and no rape and she offered to help him clear his record.

But she subsequently 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.

She was quoted as telling 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.”

Justin Brooks, a lawyer who heads the Innocence Project, said that Banks has remained on probation, under electronic monitoring, has had to register as a sex offender and has had trouble getting a job.

He said Banks continues to train for what he hopes will be a future chance at a football career.

http://newsone.com/2017209/brian-banks-rape-case/

This is very sad, his life, a education, a possible NFL career.....gone. Because of some money-hungry trick.

[Ivan The Awesome]

Hell hath no wrath like a woman's scorn.

[Brokenbad]

I read this earlier on another site.

Many were suggesting that the accuser should have to serve equal time.

Poor kids lawyer let him down, talked him into pleading guilty.

[Brokenbad]

I found he wants to make a comeback:

http://www.nfl.com/n...-for-nfl-future

Brian Banks can. Banks was a 16-year-old high school football star from Long Beach, Calif., when he was wrongfully accused of rape by a 15-year-old classmate. He went from being a heavily-recruited linebacker to a kid in police custody in the blink of an eye.

On the advice of an attorney who said a jury wouldn't believe claims of innocence by a hulking black teenager, Banks plead guilty and spent the next five years of his life behind bars. When he was released, he was required to register as a sex offender and wear a electronic tracking bracelet.

Things changed when Banks' accuser, Wanetta Gibson, contacted him on Facebook and -- incredibly -- told him she wanted to let “bygones be bygones.”

“I stopped what I was doing,” he told Sporting News, “and got down on my knees and prayed to God to help me play my cards right.”

Banks set up a series of meetings with Gibson and convinced her to help him clear his name. The catch was that Gibson wouldn't talk to prosecutors out of fear she'd lose the $1.5 million settlement she received after suing the school district for failing to provide a safe environment. (Related note: This woman is the worst.)

Undaunted, Banks secretly recorded their conversations and attorneys took the evidence back to the original judge. At Thursday’s hearing, his record and name were cleared.

“I haven’t smiled like this in 10 years,” he tweeted Friday morning. “I’m FREE.”

Banks still has the dream to play in the NFL. It's a longshot, but Banks has already overcome far greater odds in getting back the life that should've never been taken from him in the first place.

Makes me want to puke

[King Taharqa]

Very sad story.

[pir8fan05]

Completely fvcked up.

Ruined this guy's life.

One can only hope Karma will catch up to that chick. Doesnt look like she'll get in any legal trouble or have to repay any money.

[pOpCoRnPoPpEr]

_{f n tricks}

[jasonluckydog]

we've been discussing this in the tinderbox....bitch needs to die.

[jtnc]

we've been discussing this in the tinderbox....bitch needs to die.

Sorry, I rarely go there. ;)

[Black]

Cases like this make me sick. Rape is awful, maybe the worst thing a person can commit next to murder, but situations like this, and the Duke lacrosse case really make me feel disappointed with the legal system as well as the media.

[jasonluckydog]

Not only did she hurt him she also hurt other women that have been raped....

[Panthers128]

I don't see why he pleaded no contest to the charges. False charges are part of the legal system. You go through the process and you prove your innocence. The system didn't fail him. The people around him failed him. Whose parents would accept their child pleading no contest to a rape charge that they vehemently denied?

[jasonluckydog]

he was scared that he could get 41 years to life or 18 months apparently his family couldn't afford to good counsel.

[pir8fan05]

Reminds me of the Marcus Dixon story (from GA), or at least in how he got railroaded, except that girl didnt claim rape. It was consensual but the courts considered it rape anyways. I think he only stayed in jail for a year though.