May 26, 2012

• Tragedy of the Day

  Today’s tale begins ten years ago, when Brian Banks and Wanetta Gibson had a make-out session during school. Gibson accused Banks of taking her to an elevator and raping her. In reality, they never had sex, and any DNA test could have determined that.

  Brian Banks was 16 at the time, a star football player who already had a scholarship to play at USC. If convicted, he would have faced up to 41 years of prison. His lawyer told him he was a big black teenager, and that no jury would believe him. So he took the plea bargain, served five years in prison, and then tried to make a life for himself as a convicted sex offender with a monitoring ankle bracelet.

  Wanetta Gibson contacted him on Facebook, saying she wanted to help clear his name. She refused to talk to prosecutors because she had received $1.5 million from suing the school district. Banks secretly videotaped a conversation they had. With her taped confession, Banks was acquitted. He hopes now to try out for the NFL.

  This story makes me furious. In other tales of wrongful conviction or false arson, everyone tries to do what is best to protect people, and sometimes mistakes are made. But this case was not the result of accumulated mistakes. It was the result of a stupid girl lying for money, throwing away someone else’s life so she can have money, and even after all these years placing her own money above another’s good name.

  What a shameful way for a person to behave.

  • 11:58 pm
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