Kidnapping and rape charges against a former Southern California high school player were dismissed Thursday in a Los Angeles County Superior Court. In 2002, Brian Banks was accused by a classmate of the crimes and took a plea to avoid trial and the risk of a 41-year prison sentence.
The alleged victim claimed that she had been forced to the school’s basement and raped without a condom, but DNA testing did not find sperm on her underwear. Banks pleaded to one count of forcible rape and spent five years in prison. Upon his release, he was forced to register as a sex offender and wear an electronic monitoring bracelet.
After Banks was released, the alleged victim contacted him on Facebook. She eventually admitted to him what he already knew—that there had been no kidnap and no rape. She offered to help him clear his record if it didn’t affect the $1.5 million settlement she received from the school district after her family filed a lawsuit about the incident.
Banks recorded their conversations and took the evidence to the California Innocence Project. Director Justin Brooks presented prosecutors with the project’s findings, and they agreed the case should be dismissed.
Read more about the case in the
Los Angeles Times
.
News 05.25.12
Conviction Dismissed Against Former High School Football Player
Featured news
9 Women Who’ve Made History in the Legal System
From the first woman to practice law in the U.S. to the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court.
News03.22.23
9 Women Who’ve Made History in the Legal System
New Colorado Law Makes It Easier for Wrongly Convicted People to Prove Innocence Using DNA Evidence
(Denver, CO — March 10, 2023) Today, Governor Jared Polis signed into law legislation that fixes Colorado’s post-conviction DNA testing ...
News03.10.23
New Colorado Law Makes It Easier for Wrongly Convicted People to Prove Innocence Using DNA Evidence
Loading...
Thanks for your comment
Thank you for visiting us. You can learn more about how we consider cases here. Please avoid sharing any personal information in the comments below and join us in making this a hate-speech free and safe space for everyone.