Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday authorized a nearly $1 million payout to three wrongfully convicted former prisoners, including Brian Banks, a former Poly High football star who was exonerated on a rape conviction three years ago.
Update: Brian Banks gets a Hollywood ending in his movie, except for his lost career
Banks will receive $142,200 after spending five years behind bars. He was exonerated after his accuser, Wanetta Gibson, a fellow student, recanted her story.
In 2002, Banks was a 17-year-old football standout at Poly High, attending summer school ahead of his senior year, when he had what he always maintained was a consensual encounter with Gibson.
Gibson later claimed Banks raped her. Facing a 41-year sentence for rape and kidnapping, Banks, who once received a scholarship offer from USC, pleaded no contest in order to receive fewer years behind bars.
Gibson recanted her rape story to a private investigator in 2011, after she sent Banks a friend request on Facebook. Banks, who had served more than five years in prison and had to register as a sex offender, asked Gibson to meet with him and the private investigator.
Freddie Parish, a private investigator whose son played football with Banks at Poly, secretly recorded Gibson saying “no” when he asked her if she was raped or kidnapped.
Banks was vindicated in court in May 2012. Lawyers with the California Innocence Project worked to clear Banks’ name.
Officials from the nonprofit law firm could not be reached for comment late Wednesday.
In 2013, the Long Beach Unified School District won a $2.6 million default judgment against Gibson, whose false rape allegation cost the district money. At the time, the district said the amount included $750,000 settlement paid to Gibson and included attorney’s fees, interest and $1 million in punitive damages.
The governor’s office announced Wednesday that he signed legislation distributing the awards approved by a claims board.
A woman who spent 17 years in prison for the death of a homeless man will receive about $600,000. Susan Mellen of Torrance was released last fall after a judge found the 59-year-old woman innocent and called her accuser a habitual liar.
Ronald Ross is getting $229,000. He has sued the city of Oakland for $32 million, saying its police department’s faulty photo lineup led to his misidentification and seven years of incarceration.
