Brian Banks Exonerated From Rape Charges After Praying to God
Former High School Football Star Pleads With NFL for Opportunity
Brian Banks, once a high school football star who was being scouted by USC and UCLA, was set free on Thursday from the prison where he spent five years for raping a girl. However, that girl recently admitted that he was in fact innocent of the crime.
According to the former football star, his prayer helped him through the tragic ordeal of being convicted and imprisoned for a crime he did not commit.
Wanette Gibson accused Banks of raping her in the summer of 2002. Banks was a 16-year-old linebacker at Long Beach Poly High School in California, who was being courted by some of the best football programs in the country.
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After Gibson, then 15, accused Banks of rape he decided to plead no contest instead of risking taking the case to trial which could have resulted in a 41-years-to-life prison sentence.
Banks pleaded no contest to forcible rape and was forced to register as a sex offender. However, Gibson had a change of heart 10 years later and decided to find her old companion on Facebook to admit that things may not have happened the way she initially reported to authorities.
When Banks first heard from Gibson last year, he recalled praying for God to deliver him from the situation.
"I stopped what I was doing and got down on my knees and prayed to God to help me play my cards right," Banks said in a Los Angeles Times report.
Still, Gibson did not admit that she had lied about the raping incident after winning a $1.5-million settlement after suing the Long Beach Unified School District. However, a taped conversation between the accuser and a private investigator stated, "No, he did not rape me."
Despite the time he lost in prison and being labeled a rapist, Banks told the "Today" show that he would not remain angry at his accuser.
"I know it's best for me to try and move forward in a positive manner for the betterment of me, it hurts no one but myself to hang on to the type of negative energy," he said.
Now, the former prisoner with football dreams wants a shot at joining the NFL.
"Let me show you what I can produce," Banks told any NFL coaches watching "Today." "I think that any team that gives me an opportunity will be really impressed with what I can do despite what I've been through these past 10 years."
