Brian Banks logged onto Facebook last year, and a new friend request startled him.
It was the woman who, nearly a decade ago, accused him of rape when they were both students at Long Beach Poly High School.
Banks had recently ended a five-year stint in prison for the rape, and was unemployed and beaten down. So he replied with a question: Would she meet with him and a private investigator? She agreed.
At the meeting, which was secretly recorded, Wanetta Gibson said she had lied.
"No," she was quoted as saying, "he did not rape me."
That admission set off an extraordinary chain of events that culminated Thursday morning. A Superior Court judge dismissed Banks’ conviction, undoing 10 years of turmoil in a hearing that lasted less than a minute.
...According to Banks and his private investigator, Gibson refused to tell prosecutors that she’d lied, lest she have to return the money she and her family had won in court. She also said she feared what her children would think of her, court papers said.
I hope he sues the s*** out of her.
--
http://img.imgcake.com/nio/bokbokbokpngur.png Mr Caffeine? He was awesome. - Ayuyu
Initially, court papers said, she told a classmate in a note containing misspellings: “he picked me up and put me in the elevator and he took me down stairs and he pulled my pants down and he rapped me and he didn’t have an condom on and I was a virgin now Im not.”
Sounds like a big misunderstanding!
-- SuperNiceDog didn't have to reconcile his name... But Dauntless Hunter is now MrGreenonion
As the legal process wore on, Banks had a choice. He could take the he-said-she-said case to trial and, if he was convicted, risk being sentenced to 41 years to life in prison. Or, as his lawyer advised, he could accept a plea deal.
Banks pleaded no contest to one count of forcible rape. He was incarcerated for five years and, after his release, had to register as a sex offender.
Since no crime occurred, one is left to conclude that he was convicted without any evidence.
Jesus ****ing christ. I need to expatriate.
EDIT: Oh, it was a plea deal. I'm....very angry.
I think they had consensual sex, which would be enough evidence to probably convict him in a "he said-she said" case like this. His chances of avoiding jail were very slim.
--
http://img.imgcake.com/nio/bokbokbokpngur.png Mr Caffeine? He was awesome. - Ayuyu
She should be thrown in jail for at least double the time he was, forfeit the money she stole, and have her children taken away from her permanently.
--
Never underestimate the power of stupidity in numbers. ~War13104 Never stoop to the level of idiots. They will drag you down and beat you with experience.
There was an SVU episode like this. Probably my fav episode ever. But in that episode, the kids never went to jail, though they did lose their future college stuff, and I think the girl went to jail.
Since no crime occurred, one is left to conclude that he was convicted without any evidence.
You'd be amazed how easily he-said-she-said arguments turn into "the jury believes her and not him."
A friend of a friend was starting a new relationship with a woman a bit older than him, who had a 16-year-old daughter. The daughter hated him, so she made up a story about how he had raped her. The guy has a rap sheet with a few very minor things on it, so the jury immediately went "poor defenseless girl versus criminal." There was zero evidence, zero anything other than that the girl was a good actress. My friend was asked to testify on his behalf as a "character witness," but it wasn't enough and the dude was convicted for statutory. 16 will get you 20, indeed!
what punishment do you think she should get, Praw?
Whatever the typical sentence for accusing someone of murder would be. I don't know offhand how many years that would be, but it certainly isn't life.
I guess I'm just jaded from seeing so many terrible misogynists on the internet. Rather than assessing the sitiuation like a normal person, they just say "f*** b****es"
-- oh yeah. i am a dog. i smoke cigarettes and vote democratic because i am classy - the dog http://i.imgur.com/x4Tma.jpg
what punishment do you think she should get, Praw?
Whatever the typical sentence for accusing someone of murder would be. I don't know offhand how many years that would be, but it certainly isn't life.
I guess I'm just jaded from seeing so many terrible misogynists on the internet. Rather than assessing the sitiuation like a normal person, they just say "f*** b****es"
I believe it's 3-5 years for false accusation that lead to under 5 years of jail time.
what punishment do you think she should get, Praw?
Whatever the typical sentence for accusing someone of murder would be. I don't know offhand how many years that would be, but it certainly isn't life.
I guess I'm just jaded from seeing so many terrible misogynists on the internet. Rather than assessing the sitiuation like a normal person, they just say "f*** b****es"
there's misogyny and then there's "f*** women who lie about being raped"
if you don't see the difference, you were probably dropped on your head as a baby
-- XS2 is the only good Xenosaga game - Lady Ashe http://backloggery.com/cwistofu
there's misogyny and then there's "f*** women who lie about being raped"
No disagreement there.
It's just that false rape allegations are a major talking point of the MRA crowd so whenever I see these things brought up, it's only natural to associate the two.
-- oh yeah. i am a dog. i smoke cigarettes and vote democratic because i am classy - the dog http://i.imgur.com/x4Tma.jpg
I've spent the last two years chronicling how badly my dad was screwed over in his divorce despite him being completely in the right, and they're still surprised by things like this?
-- TheRock ~ Slow dramatic zoom-pan. Doesn't phase the hooded man. "You have issues." - MWC. Pot. Kettle.
Since no crime occurred, one is left to conclude that he was convicted without any evidence.
You'd be amazed how easily he-said-she-said arguments turn into "the jury believes her and not him."
A friend of a friend was starting a new relationship with a woman a bit older than him, who had a 16-year-old daughter. The daughter hated him, so she made up a story about how he had raped her. The guy has a rap sheet with a few very minor things on it, so the jury immediately went "poor defenseless girl versus criminal." There was zero evidence, zero anything other than that the girl was a good actress. My friend was asked to testify on his behalf as a "character witness," but it wasn't enough and the dude was convicted for statutory. 16 will get you 20, indeed!
It's stories like this that make me wish I was gay sometimes.
--
Brawl is like ZSS' breasts. Well rounded for casual players http://img.imgcake.com/1319527328883gifad.gif
From: CycloRaptor | #039 I think DeepsPraw doesn't mind being falsely accused of rape as much because then at least someone would believe he's had sex.
more likely everyone would just know it was false but still convict him But that's not what HE would think about it, you see?
--
There's always hope for better things in life. But you can't let anything, friend, lover, God himself, be your hope. You have to be your own hope.