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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.
 
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