angiEmedia

Brian Banks was a 16 year old high school football star in Long Beach, California, when a lying girl and the government collaborated to ruin his life. He was falsely accused of rape by classmate Wanetta Gibson after the two had kissed in a stairwell. Gibson concocted an elaborate story claiming that Banks dragged her across campus and raped her. Even though Banks did not commit the crime and in fact there had been no rape at all, his attorney advised him to seek a plea bargain to get a lighter sentence as the government was threatening him with 41 years to life in prison. Choosing what he saw as the lesser of two bad options after his lawyer suggested he would be convicted because he is black, Banks plead “no contest” and was imprisoned for over five years was then put on probation. Upon release, he was forced to wear a GPS monitor, register as a violent sex offender, and was restricted from living near or going near schools.

False accuser Wanetta Gibson is the real rapist (as in financial rape) in this story. She and her family got a large settlement (variously reported as either being $750,000 or $1.5 million) from the Long Beach School District on the basis of her lies and claims that lax school security contributed to causing her “rape”.

Gibson this year admitted Banks did not rape her, but was worried she might have to repay the fraudulently obtained settlement. Students, investigators, and attorneys associated with the California Innocence Project helped to obtain evidence that Gibson had falsely accused Banks which resulted in the overturning of his conviction on May 24, 2012.

As the California Innocence Project web page on the Banks case explains:

Banks was faced with an impossible decision at the time – either fight the charges and risk spending 41 years-to-life in prison, or take a plea deal and spend a little over 5 years of actual prison confinement. Although it would mean destroying his chance to go to college and play football, a lengthy probationary period, and a lifetime of registration as a sex offender, Banks chose the lesser of two evils when he pleaded no contest to the charges.

Teri Stoddard of SAVE (Stop Abusive and Violent Environments) is calling for the prosecution of Wanetta Gibson as part of their effort to quash the epidemic of false allegations of crime and violence that are ruining the lives of many innocent people. She reports that roughly ten percent of Americans have been falsely accused of child abuse, domestic violence, or sexual assault and there are very few protections for such people.

Gibson should be prosecuted for perjury. But that doesn’t go far enough. She should also be prosecuted for criminal fraud that cost taxpayers and insurers an enormous settlement plus legal fees in this case featuring a lying girl and an irresponsible government that encourages more liars to level false allegations by failing to prosecute such crimes.

Significant financial restitution and assistance to Brian Banks and his family is also warranted. It should be paid by the LA County District Attorney, the State of California, and Gibson to Banks and his family.

This boy was placed into prison at the age of 16 years old for 5 years for a rape that did not occur simply because a girl lied against him and the government failed to do its job to determine the truth, instead preferring to bully an innocent child into letting himself be steamrolled by the government because he was male and black and therefore was assumed to be guilty based merely upon a disputed accusation and his race and gender.

Brian Banks is a poster case for the injustices against men and African-American men in particular. If his accuser had been of some other racial group (she is African-American, too), you can get her crime would be the fuse in a powder keg of a potential racial uprising in Los Angeles. There is no doubt that racial bias played a part in the success of the State of California coercing Banks into pleading no contest.
Read more…

A recent complaint filed with the US Attorney by Joseph Zernik, Ph.D., on behalf of imprisoned former attorney Richard Fine highlights how the irregularities in court records and public access to those records may be at the root of much judicial misconduct. When the public cannot be sure of who was involved in a decision, what the decision was, and what evidence and testimony were considered, the entire legal system loses all appearance of justice. Zernik alleges that this is exactly what has happened to Richard Fine and outlines such problems with records he has inspected or attempted to obtain himself. Without easy public access to accurate records, the courts cannot be trusted.

On July 8, 2010, Joseph Zernik, Ph.D. filed a complaint with Andre Birotte Jr. of the US Attorney Office on behalf of American political prisoner Richard Fine. Fine has been imprisoned for nearly a year and a half as apparent retaliation for his challenging of the corrupt Los Angeles Superior Court and its illegal practice of receiving payments from the County of Los Angeles that appears to have influenced the outcomes in many cases heard by the judges receiving these payments.
Read more…

Tonya Craft

False sexual abuse allegations are an appalling mainstay in child custody cases today. They cause immense damage to the falsely accused parent and to the children. The false accuser usually doesn’t care who they hurt so long as they get the kids as a result. The courts and government are quick to side with the false accuser, demanding that a careful investigation be done and in the meantime the children will live with the parent making the accusations.

These “investigations” are often nothing but a witch-hunt that takes multiple years to fizzle out. By that time, the children involved are often suffering badly from the lack of a parent who loves them. The falsely accused parent has often not only lost years with his children but has lost his job, career, home, savings, reputation, and quite possibly a new marriage, too. Usually none of this is remedied. The falsely accused parent doesn’t even receive an apology from anyone. Some “mother’s rights” groups don’t care about any of this and view false sexual abuse allegations as a sure-win strategy of choice because they are willing to do anything to get children away from their fathers, even when it results in psychological damage to the children. But the recent case of Tonya Craft may give reason for them to change their positions. That’s because it is a case in which the mother was falsely accused of sexual abuse by her ex-husband, a malicious parental alienator of the most vile sort named Joal Henke.
Read more…

The US Supreme Court has denied issuing a stay to halt the imprisonment of jailed attorney Richard Fine. Fine has been kept in Los Angeles County jail in solitary confinement by Sheriff LeRoy Baca for more than 14 months due to orders of Judge David Yaffe, a judge who is intent on silencing Fine by abusing contempt of court powers as he uncovered and widely publicized the corruption of the Los Angeles courts and the illegal payments made by the county to the judges there. The corruption has resulted in the county winning almost without exception every lawsuit in which it has been involved since 2005.

In orders issued on April 26, 2010, the US Supreme Court declared:

(from US Supreme Court Orders of April 26, 2010)

09A827 (09-1250) FINE, RICHARD I. V. BACA, SHERIFF, ET AL.

The application for stay addressed to Justice Ginsburg and referred to the Court is denied.

Read more…

Political Prisoner Richard I. Fine

The United States of America and many of its state and local governments are civil rights and human rights violators of large proportions. One recent case of such violations is getting a lot of attention. Richard Fine is a Los Angeles political prisoner who has been locked in solitary confinement in county jail for approaching 15 months without any charges, opportunity for bail, or due process. He’s there because he exposed a bribery scandal and challenged the corrupt judges and governments of Los Angeles and California to stop the bribery. The response was to shut him down at every attempt to get the problems corrected. When he wouldn’t give up, Judge David Yaffe threw him in jail to silence him with the full cooperation and participation of corrupt Sheriff LeRoy Baca who is enforcing the illegal imprisonment. Yet as much as many citizens are burying their heads in the sand and pretending judicial and government abuse can’t happen to them, it is not only happening widely but is poised to get much worse.
Read more…

As I discussed in my previous article America’s Love Affair with Adultery, parents who have affairs are harming their children. The consequent divorces that arise as putrid bubbles from this murky muck of moral confusion and irresponsibility pop and blow up children’s lives, causing even more damage.

There are those who try to justify and rationalize their affairs and lack of commitment. They attempt to delusionally self-soothe with affirmations that they won’t hurt their children by their misconduct. Even very bright people can fall into this trap. Sandra Tsing Loh is one of them. Her recent essay Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off starts with the irresponsibly audacious words “The author is ending her marriage. Isn’t it time you did the same?”
Read more…

Toni Valentin, mother of a 5-year-old daughter, was unhappy with the child custody arrangement she had with her ex-husband. On February 17, 2009, she and her boyfriend Dante Quezada allegedly took the daughter to her father’s brother’s home in the 300 block of West 47th Street in Los Angeles, where she believed the father was located at the time, in a minivan allegedly driven by their friend Felipe Carias. Quezada then allegedly proceeded to shoot out the windows of the home with a semi-automatic pistol, in the process shooting the daughter’s 7-year-old cousin in the chest and arm as she was doing her homework. Apparently they were hoping to kill the 5-year-old’s father while she watched. Fortunately, her cousin is expected to fully recover.
Read more…