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June 14, 2012

Brian Banks
Brian Banks

Brian Banks Tells Audience of 3.6 Million on The Tonight Show of His Wrongful Conviction


by Frederick H. Lowe
Brian Banks, who was exonerated for a crime he didn't commit after serving five years in prison, recently appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno before the largest television audience ever to see and hear from a wrongfully convicted man.

Banks received a standing ovation from the studio audience when he appeared on the program that aired June 6, 2012. 

During the first 37 weeks of the 2011-2012 broadcast year, the show’s nightly television audience reached 3.695 million viewers, versus The Late Show with David Letterman, which reached 3.196 million television viewers, according to the website TV By The Numbers.

Justin Brooks, director of the California Innocence Project at the California Western School of Law, which represented Banks, said his client “reached an amazingly diverse audience."

In an e-mail message to The NorthStar News & Analysis, he added: “We have had emails and good wishes from all over the country. Brian looks forward to working with others who have been exonerated bringing, the issues that led to his wrongful conviction to even more people."

The studio audience included his parents and other relatives. Actress Julia Louis Dreyfus, who was also a guest on the show, patted Banks on the shoulder. Leno had Banks recount what had happened to him so members of the studio and television audience who were not familiar with his story would know it in some detail. Leno appeared to be clearly touched by Banks' story.

Banks was a student at Long Beach Polytechnic High School in Long Beach, Calif., when Wanetta Gibson, a classmate, told school officials that Banks dragged her into a school elevator, where he raped and sodomized her. Although the Los Angeles County Sheriff's department did not find DNA evidence implicating Banks, his unnamed lawyer told Banks to plead guilty to two counts of forcible rape, one count of sodomy and one count of kidnapping.

Banks told The Tonight Show audience his mother sold her house and car, and she borrowed a large amount of money to hire a lawyer to defend her son. Banks said, however, he was given 10 minutes to agree to the plea bargain without being able to seek counsel from his parents. 

“They refused to let me see my parents,” Banks told the audience.

On Oct. 8, 2003, a judge sentenced Banks to six years in prison and ordered him to pay $200,000 in restitution. The judge also ordered Banks to register as a sex offender. Banks served five years in prison and five years on parole.

After Banks was released from prison, he received a friend request on Facebook from Gibson, who admitted she made up the entire incident because she did not want her mother, Wanda Rhodes, to know she was sexually active. In a face-to-face meeting, Gibson appeared not to understand the seriousness of what she had done. He said she told him, “Let bygones be bygones.”

The California Innocence Project, which is based in the California Western School of Law in San Diego, presented the new evidence to Judge Mark C. Kim of the Los Angeles Superior Court. On May 24, 2012, Judge Kim exonerated Banks based on Gibson's admission.

“May 24 was the biggest day of my life because I was given my freedom,” Banks told “The Tonight Show” audience.

Before his arrest and incarceration, Banks was one of the nation's top high school football prospects. He planned to attend the University of Southern California on a football scholarship as a stepping stone to a pro football career.

Pete Carroll, who was head coach of the USC Trojans football program from 2000-2009, recruited Banks to play for the school.

Carroll, who is now head coach of the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League, recently invited Banks to the team's football mini-camp. Five other NFL teams have requested that Banks try out.

Banks is raising funds to film a documentary regarding his ordeal. Readers can donate through the website www.brianbanks.org

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