The California Innocence Project

This is a worth while project to support if anyone is interested.
[YOUTUBE]HcFW4YeOSZA&feature=youtu.be[/YOUTUBE]
One of the cases they are working on is Brian Banks who was wrongfully accused and convicted of rape as a 16 year old. So many things are wrong with his case. He was tried as an adult, no DNA evidence was found inside or outside the alleged victim. He was also as a 16 year old denied consulting and was denied to talk to his parents before he had to choose to take a plea deal (10 minutes to choose). 18 months or 45 years to life. He was locked away for 6 years.

He was a star line backer at LB Polytech and had a full scholarship to USC - his life was ripped away and the girl got 1.5 million dollars - he has not a dollar to his name, no job, no education, no nothing.

Still he has not become bitter or angry, he is hell bent to get to NFL and a never ending optimism - amazing does not cover it - I would be angry and bitter as hell. He is engaged in trying to change some laws regarding issues like this.

His case is coming up next month. I hope and pray he gets his well deserved justice and that the woman is deemed to pay back all of the 1.5 mils she received.

There are so many cases like this. If you want, please show some love and like his page on FB
https://www.facebook.com/TheBrianBanksStory?ref=ts

Here is the link to California Innocence Project:
http://www.californiainnocenceproject.org/

 

Ok, Im bumping this. Please if you can, take a moment to go to Brian Banks page on FB and like it... or go to the other two sites. People like this deserves to be heard.

 

Absolutely disgusted by shit like this. They stole that man's childhood. Makes you wonder is justice ever really served.

 

They stole his future and dreams. The whole thing stinks to high heaven. So many stories like this. I hope he gets restitution next month - and a bunch o money, preferably the money that was awarded to the lying bitch.

 

How does a person lie like that? Humans never cease to disgust and amaze me

 

Nothing drives me madder than the sickening feeling of wrongful accusations. I, too, want to ensure his successes.

 

That is an infuriating read. I am quite annoyed.

 

What were they thinking charging him as an adult? Ridiculous.

 

Update: His conviction is vacated.





http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/ncf/...sc-trojans-recruit-exonerated-rape-conviction


Brian Banks' rape conviction vacated
Updated: May 24, 2012, 5:23 PM ET
Associated Press
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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.

[+] Enlarge
AP Photo/Nick Ut
Brian Banks broke into tears after hearing that his rape conviction was dismissed Thursday.
In 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 a defense investigator who was at the meeting.

It was uncertain Thursday whether Gibson will have to return the money.

Prosecutors also said they didn't immediately know if she might be prosecuted for making the false accusation when she was 15.

Gibson did not attend the hearing on Thursday.

Banks, once a star middle linebacker at Long Beach Polytechnic High School, said he had verbally agreed to attend USC on a four-year 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.

Banks said outside court Thursday 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.

“
It's been a struggle. But I'm unbroken and I'm still here today.
”
-- Brian Banks
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 Thursday's 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."

 

OUTSTANDING!

Bloody awesome news!! Brilliant!! :smt109 Liars never prevail, thank God! May he feel more at peace now,
at least for that hanging over his head.

 

Awesome step one complete.
Step two sue the hell out of the state, the county, and the city and that bitch for taking away ten years of his life. Let justice truly prevail.

 

He has a loooong way to go. He has absolutely NO money what soever and like he said, "just because I got justice doesn't mean I have a bag of money landing in my lap".

His future, education and scholarship to USC is gone. He trying to qualify for the NFL as a kicker. I do hope and pray he gets all his dreams fullfilled and then some.

If you can spare a few dollars, please go to the California Innocence Project and donate some money to Brian Banks, he will continue to need it for a while.

 

this is one reason why i still view rape allegations with a questionable eye

this guy went to prison for 5 years for what?

when a woman says a man raped her, people are so quick to throw the man under a bus

 

Wow. Bet she doesn't have to pay any of it back either.

 

Now that the conviction has been vacated she needs to be ordered to hand the money she was awarded over to Brian. He deserves it and more. She deserves nothing.

 

what can i say, but wow .

 

Update:

He is trying out for Seahawks next month!!!

 

Another, really cool update;

Brian Banks has signed for at falcons!
I wish him all the best. He deserves it, 100 times over!

 

:smt038 Best news. ever. :freehug::smt080