In the summer of 2002, Banks was arrested and charged after classmate
Wanetta Gibson said that he dragged her into a stairway at Polytechnic
High School (Poly) and raped her. Prosecutors offered him a plea deal—plead
guilty and face at most 18 months in prison, or go to trial and risk a
sentence of 41 years to life in prison if convicted. Years later, Banks
said that his lawyer advised him to take the plea deal, saying, "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." A
horrified Banks wanted to talk to his mother, but was told he had 10
minutes to decide whether to take the deal. Banks ultimately pleaded no contest to forcible rape and was sentenced to six years in prison and five years of probation. He also had to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.[16] Wanetta Gibson and her mother Wanda Rhodes sued the Long Beach Unified School District, claiming the Poly campus was not a safe environment, and won a $1.5 million settlement.[17][18]
In March 2011, Gibson contacted Banks on Facebook, met with him, and
admitted that she had fabricated the story. Banks secretly recorded
Gibson's confession, but she refused to tell prosecutors that she had
lied so she wouldn't have to return the money she and her family had won
in court. Nevertheless, with Gibson's taped admission and help from California Innocence Project attorneys, Los Angeles County prosecutors overturned Banks' conviction on May 24, 2012.[18]
On April 12, 2013, the Long Beach Unified School District announced
it was suing Wanetta Gibson for $2 million in an effort to recoup the
$1.5 million she received, along with attorney's fees and punitive damages.[19]
On June 14, 2013, the school district won a $2.6 million judgment
against Gibson, which includes the $750,000 settlement initially paid to
her along with attorney's fees, interest, and $1 million in punitive
damages.[20]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Banks_%28American_football%29#Sexual_assault_case
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