Brian Banks, a promising high school
football player who had committed to play
at Southern Cal, was an innocent man
accused of rape. He remembers sitting at the
defendant's table 13 years ago and not one
person in the courtroom would look at him
or talk to him or acknowledge him.
"It was like I was not even in the room," he
said Monday. "I felt like I wasn't a human
being. I was a number."
He naturally has been paying close attention
to the rape case of Stanford swimmer Brock
Turner, 20, who was convicted on three
felony counts related to a 2015 sexual
assault on an unconscious and intoxicated
woman, who is now 23. Santa Clara County
Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky
sentenced Turner on Friday to just six
months in county jail — he could get it
reduced to three months with good
behavior.
Banks, who works in the NFL's Los Angeles
office, was 16 years old when he was accused
of rape and tried as an adult. He was sent to
juvenile hall for a year before his case came
up. He faced 41 years to life in prison and
first turned down plea deals for 25, 18 and
nine years. Why? He didn't do it. He finally
agreed to undergo 90 days of observation in
Chico State Prison with assurances from his
attorney that he would then get probation.
It was a better option, he was told, than a
young black kid facing an all-white jury.

Instead, Banks received six years from the
judge.
"It was like he was ordering McDonald's at a
drive-thru window," Banks said. "It was like
he was ordering food and took off."
Persky elected not to send Turner to state
prison and came up way short on the
maximum 14 years he could have handed
down. He will have to register as a sex
offender. "A prison sentence would have a
severe impact on him," the judge said. "I
think he will not be a danger to others."
As if a prison sentence and living among
hardened criminals twice his age didn't have
a severe impact on Banks.

"I would say it's a case of privilege," Banks
said. "It seems like the judge based his
decision on lifestyle. He's lived such a good
life and has never experienced anything
serious in his life that would prepare him
for prison. He was sheltered so much he
wouldn't be able to survive prison. What
about the kid who has nothing, he struggles
to eat, struggles to get a fair education?
What about the kid who has no choice who
he is born to and has drug-addicted parents
or a non-parent household? Where is the
consideration for them when they commit a
crime?"
It wasn't until 2012 when the Banks’ accuser
recanted her story that he got his life back
and was declared an innocent man. He
wound up serving five years and two
months in prison and five years of high
custody parole.

Turner didn't have a criminal history. He is
white. Banks didn't have a criminal history,
either, didn't even have a speeding ticket.
He is black. He was making out on his high
school campus in Long Beach, Calif., with a
15-year old girl during the summer of 2002
and by the end of the day, she accused him
of rape. To this day, Banks doesn't know
why.
Turner's father, in what amounts to an
insensitive admission of guilt for his son,
wrote a letter to the judge that included,
"These verdicts have broken him and
shattered our family in so many ways. His
life will never be the one he dreamed about
and worked so hard to achieve. That is a
steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action
out of 20 plus years of life."

He later said in a statement to the
Huffington Post, "What I meant with that
comment is a 20-minute period of time. I
was not referring to sexual activity by the
word 'action.' It was an unfortunate choice
of words and I did not mean to be
disrespectful or offensive to anyone."

Banks was sent from prison to prison, but
said the Los Angeles County jail was the
worst. He was a big kid and well known in
the area for his football ability, so he never
was physically abused in prison, even though
those charged with rape and sexual assualt
are typically assaulted behind bars.
Black inmates don't ask other black inmates
why they are in prison, he said.
Banks is "surprised" the courts found a way
to consider Turner's background and that
"he wouldn't know how to deal with career
criminals."


Nobody took that into consideration for
Banks. He was just 16 and he was an
innocent man. "You know a man is guilty, so
why aren't we unleashing half of the
punishment that was unleashed on Brian
Banks when he was innocent and there was
no evidence?" he said. "They gave me six
years. They gave him six months."
Banks feels the female victim in the Turner
case "has been totally ignored. She has to
live with her hardship and tragedy for the
rest of her life."
He has to live with 10 years being taken
away from him, losing a college scholarship
and a potential NFL career. In addition to
working for the NFL, Banks has gone from
client to board member of the California
Innocence Project, which helped clear his
name, and he gives inspirational speeches as
a life-coach.
"I wasn't physically
raped, but I was raped
in a sense of my
freedom," he said. "I
was kidnapped, taken
against my will, placed
in a box for five years
and two months. I was
denied all human
rights. When I
screamed and pleaded
and begged, it fell on
deaf ears. It's a
different form of being
assaulted and taken
advantage of. I know
what she is going
through."


But Brock Turner won't know what Brian
Banks went through. He served hard time.
Turner got off easy.

False accusation of sexual assault
In the summer of 2002, Banks was arrested and
charged after classmate Wanetta Gibson falsely
accused him of dragging her into a stairway at
Polytechnic High School (Poly) and raping her.
Faced with a possible 41 years to life sentence,
he accepted a plea deal that included five years
in prison, five years of probation, and registering
as a sex offender. 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. [18][19] 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.
[19]
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 .[20] 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. [21]
Banks now serves as a spokesperson for the
California Innocence Project and is working on a
documentary about his story.


source: www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/wrongfully-convicted-brian-banks-disgusted-brock-turner-ruling-article-1.2663595

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