Wanetta Gibson is the accuser of Brian Banks who in 2002 attended Long Beach (Calif.) Poly High. Brian was convicted of r*pe, lost his USC scholarship. and landed in jail.
In 2012, Wanetta acknowledged her deceit, and Brian was set free.
Scroll down and read about Wanetta here.
Meet Wanetta Gibson, Brian Banks Accuser
Brian Banks was a 17-year-old football player in high school who had a bright career in front of him in 2002. Regretfully, he was wrongly accused of kidnapping and ra*ing Wanetta Gibson (her real name is Kennisha Rice), a female student, which caused his life to drastically change. She accused him of raping her in a stairwell.
Despite his insistence on his innocence, Brian was found guilty and sentenced to more than five years in jail for a crime he did not commit due to a combination of inadequate legal representation, a dearth of investigative work, and a malfunctioning justice system.
The tale of Brian serves as a vivid illustration of the abuses that the criminal justice system is capable of committing. The newest episode of Legal Talk Network’s new “California Innocence Project Podcast” centers on his amazing tale of unjust conviction and subsequent exoneration.
Brian was taken into custody for the crime even though there was no DNA discovered on the accuser or her clothing, no eyewitness account, and no other proof to back up Gibson’s allegations. His attorney, who thought he wouldn’t be able to win in court, encouraged him to accept a plea offer after the client had been waiting months for a trial.
Brian was just seventeen years old, yet he was facing an adult trial. He was forced to choose between accepting a plea offer that would have resulted in a reduced sentence and serving time in prison for a crime he did not commit, or fighting the charges against him and running the chance of spending 41 years to life in prison.
The person who accused Brian contacted him on social media over ten years after the alleged crime and after he was released from prison. Wanetta had admitted lying to Brian and his legal team. 2012 saw the overturning of Banks’ conviction thanks to the California Innocence Project and the recanted testimony of Wanetta.
“We don’t really know what the truth really is as to why she lied,” he told the New York Daily News in 2015. “I never really got a clear reason.”
According to the convicted, Brian and Wanetta “made out” that day but never had sex. Wanetta, who was 15 years old at the time of her charges against him, may have been concerned that her elder sister would discover that she had been kissing Brian and inform their mother, he conjectured to the outlet. He continued his theory by suggesting that she might have been worried that he would tell his friends about the interaction.
Brian further surmised that Wanetta might have been thinking of being raped by a security guard who had seen her in the hallway following the encounter. Years later, Wanetta’s legal team would assert in court filings that she had told Brian that the grownups in her life had “put stuff in [her] head,” according to ABC News.
In retrospect, Brian told the Daily News that the tragic day was just like any other. He told the publication that while he was attending summer school, he briefly left the classroom to make a phone call and ran into Gibson in the hallway.
“We met, hugged, started talking and agreed to go to an area on our campus that was known as a make-out area,” Brian explained. “We went to this area and made out. We never had sex.”
Brian was detained by the police at the end of the day, according to Banks, after being arrested for rape and kidnapping. He ended up in jail after entering a plea of no contest on the counsel of his lawyer. He was placed on parole for an additional five years after his release, during which time he had to register as a sexual offender and wear a GPS-tracking device around his ankle.
Where Is Wanetta Gibson Now?
Brian Banks managed to get Wanetta Gibson to confess on camera that she had falsely accused him with the assistance of a private investigator.
“I will go through with helping you,” she says during the taped confession. But on the other hand, “it’s like, at the same time, all that money they gave us, I mean gave me, I don’t want to have to pay it back.”
Wanetta refused to tell authorities the truth, though, so after making false claims, she and her mother sued the Long Beach school system and won a $1.5 million settlement. Regarding Wanetta, a neighbor noted that she spent her entire $1.5 million “buying cars, big screen TVs, and all sorts of things.”
“She showed up with a brand new Altima with some great rims,” said the neighbor, who asked not to be identified. “And she bought her mom a Suburban and a Dodge.”
According to public records, she and her mother are deeply in debt and are constantly changing residences in an attempt to elude debt collectors.
According to the Post, Wanetta confessed to him that she was terrified of having to return the money. According to NBC Los Angeles, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge mandated that Gibson repay the $1.5 million award plus an additional $1.1 million in costs the following year.
Brian has declared that he has no ill will against his accuser despite everything that has happened to him. “When you put yourself in position where you have to make a decision whether you forgive somebody or you don’t, that means you are still dealing with it,” Brian told the Daily News in 2015. “I’m not dealing with it anymore. The past is the past. It already happened. Tomorrow is a mystery.”
Wanetta has never married but has two children by different men, the neighbors said. Although an adult she lived with her mother, who has a stranglehold over her life. Even then, she was living with her mother who had a stranglehold over her life.
“She was put up to this by her mother; (Wanetta) was only a teenager at the time,” said attorney Alissa Bjerkhoel of the California Innocence Project. The neighbor said, “Wanetta wasn’t bright enough to think that up.”
Wanetta Gibson Age
In 2002, Wanetta Gibson was only 15 years of age. As of 2024, she is at least 36 years of age.
Wanetta Gibson Mother
Wanda Rhodes is the mother of Wanetta Gibson. Public records reveal that the women now move around, always one step ahead of debt collectors putting liens on their property after frittering away their money.
Wanda has a long criminal history that includes narcotics charges, burglaries, stalking, and assault with a lethal weapon.
“They don’t even have those cars, the bill collectors came and repossessed them,” the neighbor said. “Then they started selling everything. I remember Wanetta came up here and asked me if I wanted her kids’ new PlayStation for 50 bucks.”
Is Wanetta Gibson On Social Media?
No, Wanetta Gibson is not available on social media.
Related FAQs
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Where Is Wanetta Gibson From?
Wanetta Gibson hailed from Long Beach, California.
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When Is Wanetta Gibson Birthday?
It is not clear when Wanetta’s birthday is.
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Is Wanetta Gibson Married Today?
The marital status of Wanetta is unclear. It was reported that she was never married but had two children.
