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Merged Brian Banks case / What should happen to his accuser?

Puppycow

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Puppycow
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Onetime top Calif. football prospect exonerated after serving 5 years on rape charge

(CBS/AP) 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, had 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.

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."

In a strange turn of events, the woman, Wanetta Gibson, friended him on Facebook when he got out of prison.

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.
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What an awful, horrible person, this Wanetta Gibson. I hope she does at least five years in prison as well as has to return every cent that's left. :mad:

Also, if he was offered a deal for 18 months if he pled guilty, why did he have to spend over 5 years in prison? The DA screwed him.
 
That certainly looks horrible. Truly a 'what the hell?!?' case.
 
tyr_13 said:
That certainly looks horrible. Truly a 'what the hell?!?' case.
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While I don't have a problem with the concept of sentence reductions and plea bargains, the disconnect between the two sentences in this case is really shocking.

How could anyone, particularly a district attorney who is at least meant to be concerned with justice, be equally happy with sentencing the same man to either 18 months or 41 years to life for the same crime? At least one of those two sentences must be patently unjust.
 
Puppycow said:
What an awful, horrible person, this Wanetta Gibson. I hope she does at least five years in prison as well as has to return every cent that's left. :mad:
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I'm going to withhold judgement until I see what she looks like.

Puppycow said:
Also, if he was offered a deal for 18 months if he pled guilty, why did he have to spend over 5 years in prison?
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He didn't take it?
 
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What should happen to Brian Banks accuser?

Brian Banks was just exonerated from a rape he did not commit. He was falsely accused by a woman whose family later received 1.5 million.

He spent 5 years in prison and 5 years probation. She later friended him on Facebook and agreed to meet with him, later agreeing to help clear his name. She didn't want to admit to the lie because she did not want to return the 1.5 million.

What should be done with her?

I'm pretty conflicted. What I think she deserves and what should be done are two different things. She deserves to go to prison. But also she did try and make things right. And it would seem to me throwing the book a her isn't exactly going to help others sitting falsely accused in jail.

What do yo think?
 
Caper said:
Brian Banks was just exonerated from a rape he did not commit. He was falsely accused by a woman whose family later received 1.5 million.
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I've read this wasn't a situation where she accused the wrong guy of an actual crime, she simply invented the entire story. There was no rape and kidnapping. She reported a fictional crime, committed perjury to pin it on someone, and then made huge profit from it. If that is actually the case, I'd say the very least that ought to happen is that she be imprisoned for her jurisdiction's maximum sentence for the crimes she invented. Plus whatever you get for perjury and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, or whatever that's called. And of course all the money, plus interest, needs to be returned because you can't profit from a crime. Then Banks and whoever paid out can sue her as well.
 
Caper said:
He spent 5 years in prison and 5 years probation. She later friended him on Facebook and agreed to meet with him, later agreeing to help clear his name.
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Did she? My understanding is that he had to secretly record their conversation and then present it to the judge in order to absolve him of the charges, according to this article. She didn't even attend the hearing.
 
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She should serve at least the same time in prison as her victim did.
And the money should be returned, with interest.
 
Swap. She goes to prison for 5 years and he gets 1.5 million. Done.
 
kerikiwi said:
But the 1.5 million belonged to someone else, not the criminal.
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It is not uncommon for wrongful arrest to end in litigation and payouts from the city.

IMHO the fact that she sued over a safe schooling environment is fully justified, only not for her, for him. He was not safe from baseless accusations. The city owes him a lot more than 1.5 mill IMHO, and she deserves a lot more than 5 years.
 
Puppycow said:
What an awful, horrible person, this Wanetta Gibson. I hope she does at least five years in prison as well as has to return every cent that's left. :mad:
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Not every cent that's left, but every cent she got, with interest. If she doesn't have the $1.5 mil left, well, too bad. The school district can deduct that from her paycheck.

Of course, she should also pay Banks for the loss of a football scholarship and missed earnigns opportunity as an NFL linebacker. I don't know what the scholarship cost would be, but let's assume that if it wasn't for the jail sentence, he'd have had a 6-year career as a back-up and a special teamer, making $600,000/year, so that makes $3.6 million + interest.
 
The law of unintended consequences

If the penalty against a false accuser is too great, it may discourage one from voluntarily stepping forward. Perhaps a suspended sentence is appropriate for one who voluntarily recants his/her false allegation. The present case is more than a little murky in that regard. Tangentially, it is sometimes the case that a recantation is not enough to bring about an exoneration.
 
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halides1 said:
If the penalty against a false accuser is too great, it may discourage one from voluntarily stepping forward. Perhaps a suspended sentence is appropriate for one who voluntarily recants his/her false allegation. The present case is more than a little murky in that regard. Tangentially, it is sometimes the case that a recantation is not enough to bring about an exoneration.
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I'm sorry, are you suggesting that we should reduce the penalties for crimes lest it discourage criminals from admitting guilt? This wasn't a "mistake", it was a deliberate deception upon the justice system, for profit.
 
TragicMonkey said:
I'm sorry, are you suggesting that we should reduce the penalties for crimes lest it discourage criminals from admitting guilt? This wasn't a "mistake", it was a deliberate deception upon the justice system, for profit.
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I understand what halides1 is saying. It is the same corundum on how to handle police and prosecution misconduct. If the penalty for being found not to have disclosed evidence is too high, won't they just make sure that the evidence is destroyed instead? I think in this case she should definitely have to return the money. She should also have some type of punishment. I would like to see her serve as much time as Brian Banks served, I don't know if that is really the best thing to do though. She stole 5 years of his life. Isn't that just as bad as the rape she accused him of? If not worse.
 
timhau said:
Not every cent that's left, but every cent she got, with interest. If she doesn't have the $1.5 mil left, well, too bad. The school district can deduct that from her paycheck.

Of course, she should also pay Banks for the loss of a football scholarship and missed earnigns opportunity as an NFL linebacker. I don't know what the scholarship cost would be, but let's assume that if it wasn't for the jail sentence, he'd have had a 6-year career as a back-up and a special teamer, making $600,000/year, so that makes $3.6 million + interest.
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There may well not be enough money left in play to make the legal fees worthwhile.

A purjury conviction and jail term (courts have views about people lying to them) also aren't great in terms of employment prospects. Although the guity plea complicates that.
 
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Did she at any point testify before a court? Because if not its entirely possible that no crime (filing a false report perhaps?) has been commited.

Brian Banks plead no contest so no statement from the accuser required there and the compensation payment may have been delt with in a (which the criminal conviction it is unlikely that the school would have tried to argue the act didn't happen).
 
kerikiwi said:
Worse, much worse, than that: it was a deliberate attack on another human being.
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Actually, by abusing the justice system she has attacked the whole of society. If we cannot have faith in our fellow citizens not to make up crimes for profit, then we can trust no verdict, no charges, no case, no testimony. That's why I think the least punishment should be a prison sentence equal to the maximum possible sentences for the crimes she invented. I would actually prefer the death penalty be a possibility here. Her actions demonstrate that she is inimical to orderly society.
 
Caper said:
He spent 5 years in prison and 5 years probation. She later friended him on Facebook and agreed to meet with him, later agreeing to help clear his name. She didn't want to admit to the lie because she did not want to return the 1.5 million.

What should be done with her?
Click to expand...

She said that she would help him clear his name, but she didn't want to give back any of the money they had gotten out of it. He had a PI secretly filming everything. Banks said that she and her mother cooked up the plan so that they could sue the school, ultimately.

They pretty much wrecked this guy's life by intentionally falsely accusing him of an entirely fictitious crime. He was convinced by his lawyer to accept a plea bargain because the court would see him as a huge black man (he had a promising football career ahead of him at the time) and immediately assume he was guilty.

If there were any justice in the system, they'd serve at least as long as he did. I wouldn't be surprised if they agree to pay back the money and no charges are ever filed against them.
 
I don't know anything about this story but if it is as Tragic Monkey says then I would think there must be a way of sueing her in a civil court and maybe prosecuting her for perversion of the course of justice. I imagine the courts and the police don't take kindly to investigating false crimes. That said, the courts and the police should obviously take a long hard look at themselves if they were satisfied that the defendent was guilty.
 
Caper said:
I'm pretty conflicted. What I think she deserves and what should be done are two different things. She deserves to go to prison. But also she did try and make things right. And it would seem to me throwing the book a her isn't exactly going to help others sitting falsely accused in jail.
Click to expand...

I find this a little bit of an odd statement. Do you consider the accuser's behaviour to be widespread and the number of people falsely imprisoned for rape to be very high?
 
The girl was fifteen at the time. I do think she should be convicted of the appropriate crime, but not jail time. That should be for the mother, the adult, who did the real evil here. She did it to Mr. Banks, the school and city, and actually to her daughter to a lesser extent as well.



EDIT: If I missed any misspelling s or other mistakes in the above I apologize. I was pushing carts all day in 95 degree heat without help and might have some heatburn issues.
 
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TragicMonkey said:
Actually, by abusing the justice system she has attacked the whole of society. If we cannot have faith in our fellow citizens not to make up crimes for profit, then we can trust no verdict, no charges, no case, no testimony.
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This. The girl filed a false accusation with the police - I assume that's as much a crime in the USA as it is in my country. Throw in perjury as well when she testified that under oath. Go for maximum possible sentence. To what extent this whole affair is of her making or of her mother's, well, that's for a jury to decide - but she's the one who claimed to be the victim, and with 15 she wasn't anymore a naive child.

On top of that, the school district should sue her to get the 1.5m back (plus interest), and Banks can sue for another couple of millions for loss of income. Has he still any chance at a football career? He's 26 now...

The problem with this scenario is that she only might be able to pay that all during her lifetime with a good career. However, she has no incentive whatsoever to make a career, as every penny she makes would go to Banks and/or the school district.
 
halides1 said:
If the penalty against a false accuser is too great, it may discourage one from voluntarily stepping forward.
Click to expand...

Except in this case she didn't voluntarily step forward. He had to record her saying these things because she didn't want to step in a courtroom.

Perhaps a suspended sentence is appropriate for one who voluntarily recants his/her false allegation.
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So they don't really get punished?


The problem is that we shouldn't be encouraging people to voluntarily step forward and tell the court that their statement was false, we should be making people not make false statements to begin with.
 
Caper said:
What should be done with her?
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Pay back the money in double amount, half of which goes to its owner and the extra half to the man, plus spend in jail the time that she allowed the man stay in jail.

Ugh, justice has spoken.
 
jasonpatterson said:
He was convinced by his lawyer to accept a plea bargain because the court would see him as a huge black man (he had a promising football career ahead of him at the time) and immediately assume he was guilty.
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So she wasn't the only liar. If he was innocent then he should have pled Not Guilty. Perhaps if he had done so then the justice system would have been able to do its job, and none of the rest would have happened?
 
Roger Ramjets said:
So she wasn't the only liar. If he was innocent then he should have pled Not Guilty. Perhaps if he had done so then the justice system would have been able to do its job, and none of the rest would have happened?
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That would have been the correct and reasonable way. Which the attorney ruined. I wonder if there is a way to get back at that attorney for that harebrained advice.
Whether that would have prevented him going to jail is anybody's guess.
 
Who says the attorney was wrong? The whole case rested on "he said/she said" like so many sexual assault cases.
 
Roger Ramjets said:
So she wasn't the only liar. If he was innocent then he should have pled Not Guilty. Perhaps if he had done so then the justice system would have been able to do its job, and none of the rest would have happened?
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And maybe he would have gone to jail for 30 years, in which case he wouldn't have been able to confront and record his accuser for another 20 years or so.
 
penalty for a false accusation

Wildy said:
Except in this case she didn't voluntarily step forward. He had to record her saying these things because she didn't want to step in a courtroom.



So they don't really get punished?


The problem is that we shouldn't be encouraging people to voluntarily step forward and tell the court that their statement was false, we should be making people not make false statements to begin with.
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Wildy,

She initially contacted him but did not follow through, and she also was only fifteen. Both of these are mitigating factors in the present situation (for me the second is of greater import than the first). I am not wedded to the idea of a suspended sentence in this case; I just threw it out for consideration. However, my understanding of a suspended sentence is that it hangs over one's head until the period of probation has been completed. It might be linked to her and her mother paying restitution, for example.

More generally, I would say that a false accusation is an odd-duck sort of crime. Most crimes I can think of hold out the possibility of being proved without the accused making a confession, and some confessions happen only after evidence has been accrued. Some false accusations would never be identified as such unless the false accuser spoke up. Even cases in which the accused had an ironclad alibi could be explained by the accuser making a mistaken identification in some instances.

Legal journalist Stuart Taylor and historian KC Johnson wrote a book about the Duke lacrosse case (Until Proven Innocent). On page 381 they wrote, "And even accusers who admit that they have lied should usually be given a break lest other false accusers be deterred from recanting by fear of punishment. But when it is clear that the accuser has lied and refuses to recant, the accuser should be prosecuted...to deter others from doing the same." Taylor and Johnson do not specify what they mean by break. Perhaps they mean a reduced sentence, but that is my speculation.
 
two questions

tomwaits said:
Who says the attorney was wrong? The whole case rested on "he said/she said" like so many sexual assault cases.
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Did the accused and accuser have sex, as opposed to making out? I was under the impression from the article that I read, that the two used to make out in the stairwell. Did the woman undergo a medical examination for rape by a trained nurse or doctor? The SANE program was designed for this situation.
 
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timhau said:
Why should we now start thinking about her incentives?
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That was purely about paying the huge amounts of money involved. The school district will want their 1.5m back. You made a back-of-the-envelope calculation that Banks' loss of income is 3.6m. Together: 5m.

Now, when someone is faced with creditor(s) demanding 10k, they can realistically pay that back within a year and be done with it: no more threat of debt collectors at your door, or of your creditors trying to repo your car, or to repo part of your wages, of whatever measures they can take to try to get at their money.

However, with 5m as debt there is no realistic horizon when you're done with repaying the debt. A good job would enable you maybe to repay that debt just around retirement. But when every penny you earn above welfare level income goes to your creditors, what incentive do you have to even try to hold a well-paying job?

That's the problem I see: both the school district and mr. Banks are, IMHO, entitled to that money, but the one who has to pay has no incentive whatsoever to earn the money they should pay in the first place.
 
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