On Thursday, the rape conviction of Brian Banks was dismissed. The former football star in high school dreamed of playing professional football until he pleaded no contest at the age of 16 to raping a childhood friend. She falsely accused him of raping her on school grounds, shattering his future in pro football.
Banks has spent five of the last 10 years in prison for pleading no contest to the forcible rape charge, but on Thursday that charge was dismissed in court. Wanetta Gibson was 15 when she alleged that Banks raped her. Her mother sued the Long Beach School system over the alleged rape and won a $1.5 million judgement.
The alleged victim recanted her story promptly last week’s dismissal of the charges against Banks. Prosecutors said they do not have plans at this time to charge Gibson.
However, she said she would not repeat her story to authorities because she feared her civil suit judgment would have to be returned.
Banks at one time was a middle linebacker for Long Beach High and attracted interest from some of the biggest football powerhouse universities in the country. Banks said a verbal agreement had been made between he and USC when police arrested him. Thursday after the dismissal in court of his charges, he said he still wanted to try to play professional football.
