The story of Brian Banks is especially pertinent in the #MeToo era. A high school football player in Long Beach, California, Banks was falsely accused of rape by a classmate. He was railroaded into a plea deal by the district attorney, then stunned by a lengthy jail sentence for a crime he did not commit. A promising athlete’s life was destroyed by flimsy he said, she said evidence. The film Brian Banks recounts the incident, his time in prison, and the extraordinary lengths he went to clear his name. It is a harrowing, insightful look into an appalling miscarriage of justice.
Brian Banks, played superbly by Aldis Hodge, was on the fast track to athletic stardom. A star football player at his Long Beach high school, he had a scholarship to the University of Southern California promised after graduation. One fateful afternoon, Banks clandestinely met with a girl (Xosha Roquemore) for a stairwell makeout session. They were caught by a security guard. When his crush went back to class, she claimed that Banks had raped her.
Years later, Banks works as a gym trainer. He tries to pick up the pieces of his life under the guidance of a loving mother (Sherri Shepherd). But he is stunted by the baggage of being a registered sex offender and felon rapist. The burden of his past shackled his future. Brian Banks begins an arduous campaign for the services of lawyer Justin Brooks (Greg Kinnear), a rights advocate for the California Innocence Project. Brooks initially shuns Brian Banks, but finally is shown the details of his case. He realizes that Banks was a victim of an overzealous prosecutor, who did not properly investigate the accuser’s claim. Justin Brooks and Brian Banks embark on a risky plan to get her confession. Complicated by the millions she won by suing the school district.
Brian Banks will gnaw at your gut.
“…millions she won by suing the school district.” Xosha Roquemore proven to have falsely accused Banks. Where is the fraud charges against her? Come on school district, come on PD/DA?
I can tell you from personal experience it is very difficult to get a fair trial where sexual attack underpins charges. There is a long history of injustice on the issue going as far back to Calder V Bull 3US86(1798). Curiously the case was about the state legislature of Connecticut being found in error. Of particular interest in my FTR case – the 4th defect.
https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/3/386/
The problem is we hold institutions/companies responsible for people’s behavior when there is no direct negligence by school or company. It shouldn’t be and had that not been the case this would be a different story.
So true. There was another case in LB where a white LB Park Employee was arrested and thought to be a serial rapist! He was even positively identified, until DNA evidence proved otherwise! The real perpetrator was black? My counselor (Lawyer) told me (same city) told me about a college student he was representing. His ex accused him of rape! She was later found to be lying after her aunt informed the DA they had been together after the accused fact and she had accused another ex after he broke up with her? Pretty sick
I knew one person in MI who got sent to prison because he confronted his girlfriend about her sexual relationship with her father.
After the argument they had make up sex.
After that she hit him in the head with a brick and called the cops saying that he raped her.
He was sent to prison for 5 years and now has to register for life. He was 18 and she was 17.
For my crime the whole process started after my “friends” had called “the victim” fat.
Thats when the cops came to my house and played guess the number with me after asking if we had intercourse.
I plead no contest due to the fact that I didn’t know I committed a crime at the time it happened. I even brought my evidence to court with her telling me she was over 18.
Like how to tell when they have piercings, tattoos, and a house full of liquor?
🤷♂️
What enraged me after watching this movie was why police, police departments, DAs and at least Brian’s own defense attorney would not have investigated this girls story. Why aren’t police looking into any victim’s story before making an arrest? In this movie it was brought up over and over that all the Long Beach Police had to do was go to the building, stairwell at the school and see that there 10 classes in sessions with doors open and that there would have been no way a girl would have been dragged down a hallway against her will without being seen or heard by other students or faculty. Why is it that today police are so quick to make an arrest and destroy a life without first investigating that the victim’s story is somewhat true? It is just shameful. But yet what can be done about it?