A Most Egregious Act

[indago]

From CBS News 24 May 2012:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
A former high school football star whose dreams of a pro career were shattered by a rape conviction burst into tears Thursday as a judge threw out the charge that sent him to prison for more than five years.

Brian Banks, now 26, had pleaded no contest 10 years ago on the advice of his lawyer after a childhood friend falsely accused him of attacking her on their high school campus.

The district attorney offered Banks a deal — plead guilty to rape and spend another 18 months in prison, or go to trial and face 41 years to life, CBS Los Angeles reports.

Banks said his defense attorney told him, "'When you go into that courtroom the jury is going to see a big black teenager and you're automatically going to be assumed guilty.' Those are her exact words."

In a strange turn of events, the woman, Wanetta Gibson, friended him on Facebook when he got out of prison.

In an initial meeting with him, she said she had lied; there had been no kidnap and no rape and she offered to help him clear his record, court records state.

But she refused to repeat the story to prosecutors because she feared she would have to return a $1.5 million payment from a civil suit brought by her mother against Long Beach schools.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

article

That woman has put a serious crimp in the life of Brian Banks, and should be prosecuted fully for what she has done to him.

[indago]

Plea Bargaining

From Frontline/The Plea 17 June 2004:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
When Charles Gampero, Jr. was arrested and charged with murder in the second degree in 1994, the 20-year-old insisted he was innocent. While admitting to having hit the victim while trying to break up a fight outside a bowling alley on the night in question, Gampero said the victim was very much alive when he left him.

Given numerous unanswered questions in the case — including statements by the victim's family, who said the man had been the target of harassment and vandalism by unknown parties in the weeks before his death — Gampero was convinced that a jury would believe his story and acquit him of the charges.

But a jury would never hear his case. After jury selection had begun, Gampero and his family say the judge pressured the young man to accept a plea bargain that would send him to prison for seven to 21 years.

"[The judge] told me point blank — he said, 'I will give your son 25 to life, so you better take the plea, or if you don't take the plea, he's getting it,'" says Charles Gampero, Sr., whose son is now entering his ninth year in prison. "We took the plea agreement thinking that the judge knew what he was talking about and my son would be home by the time he's 27," Gampero Sr. says. "It didn't work out."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Frontline

[formerlurker]

Plea Bargaining

From Frontline/The Plea 17 June 2004:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
When Charles Gampero, Jr. was arrested and charged with murder in the second degree in 1994, the 20-year-old insisted he was innocent. While admitting to having hit the victim while trying to break up a fight outside a bowling alley on the night in question, Gampero said the victim was very much alive when he left him.

Given numerous unanswered questions in the case — including statements by the victim's family, who said the man had been the target of harassment and vandalism by unknown parties in the weeks before his death — Gampero was convinced that a jury would believe his story and acquit him of the charges.

But a jury would never hear his case. After jury selection had begun, Gampero and his family say the judge pressured the young man to accept a plea bargain that would send him to prison for seven to 21 years.

"[The judge] told me point blank — he said, 'I will give your son 25 to life, so you better take the plea, or if you don't take the plea, he's getting it,'" says Charles Gampero, Sr., whose son is now entering his ninth year in prison. "We took the plea agreement thinking that the judge knew what he was talking about and my son would be home by the time he's 27," Gampero Sr. says. "It didn't work out."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Frontline

...uh, and their counsel went along with that?   


 

[formerlurker]

From CBS News 24 May 2012:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
A former high school football star whose dreams of a pro career were shattered by a rape conviction burst into tears Thursday as a judge threw out the charge that sent him to prison for more than five years.

Brian Banks, now 26, had pleaded no contest 10 years ago on the advice of his lawyer after a childhood friend falsely accused him of attacking her on their high school campus.

The district attorney offered Banks a deal — plead guilty to rape and spend another 18 months in prison, or go to trial and face 41 years to life, CBS Los Angeles reports.

Banks said his defense attorney told him, "'When you go into that courtroom the jury is going to see a big black teenager and you're automatically going to be assumed guilty.' Those are her exact words."

In a strange turn of events, the woman, Wanetta Gibson, friended him on Facebook when he got out of prison.

In an initial meeting with him, she said she had lied; there had been no kidnap and no rape and she offered to help him clear his record, court records state.

But she refused to repeat the story to prosecutors because she feared she would have to return a $1.5 million payment from a civil suit brought by her mother against Long Beach schools.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

article

That woman has put a serious crimp in the life of Brian Banks, and should be prosecuted fully for what she has done to him.

Nads, is that you?   Crunchy news for a Sunday morning.   

[indago]

...uh, and their counsel went along with that?   


 

Gampero's family hired a lawyer and on Nov. 2, 1995, they all arrived at the courthouse ready to go to trial. What the Gampero family didn't know was that a few weeks before, the prosecutor had called the father of the victim to tell him that there were problems with the case and asked him how he felt about a plea bargain. The victim's father agreed to a plea that Gampero would be sentenced for a minimum of seven to 21 years instead of going to trial.

Ignorant of all that, the family met the judge, Francis Egitto, who had served on the bench 30 years and went by the nickname "Maximum Frank." That day, the family was told the prosecution was offering a deal of eight and a third to 25 years if their son pleaded guilty to manslaughter. The judge told the family that he would try to get a better deal of seven to 21 years (which was in fact the same deal which was already agreed upon by the victim's father and the prosecutor).

The judge warned that if Gampero didn't take the plea and the jury found him guilty, he would give him the maximum sentence of 25 to life.

The judge gave the family one night to think it over. That night, Gampero decided he would not take the plea, he would go to trial.

The next day, a Friday, two jurors had been selected when the judge asked the family to come into the courtroom to hear the verdict of another young man with charges similar to their son's. That defendant was found guilty and Judge Egitto sentenced him to 25 years to life to prison. The Gampero family was terrified. Gampero's attorney asked the judge for the weekend to consider their options with Charles Gampero, Jr.'s siblings, who were arriving from out of town. The judge said no. He gave them 15 minutes to think it over. Feeling defeated, Gampero agreed to take a plea of a seven- to 21-year prison term.

But after taking the plea, Gampero learned he then had to confess to every detail of the crime he had pled to. According to Gampero, when he tried to tell his version of what happened the night of the murder, Judge Egitto was not satisfied and demanded he tell him more. Gampero says that he ended up saying what the judge wanted to hear, "... it wasn't my story anymore," he told FRONTLINE. "[The judge] basically went down and said everything that happened. I just yes and no'ed."

[txradioguy]

That woman has put a serious crimp in the life of Brian Banks, and should be prosecuted fully for what she has done to him.

WOn't ever happen.  Your Liberal friends in NOW will circle the wagons around her and still proclaim her the victim.

[formerlurker]

Sorry, but his counsel was incompetent.

[Zeus]

WOn't ever happen.  Your Liberal friends in NOW will circle the wagons around her and still proclaim her the victim.

Something is going to happen. The school district is going to want their 1.5 million back.

[Kyle Ricky]

WOn't ever happen.  Your Liberal friends in NOW will circle the wagons around her and still proclaim her the victim.

The liberals might, but NOW is still too busy trying to get Rush off the air.

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

I'm not a fan of plea bargaining because it allows criminals to get off easier than they should.

Either you've earned 20 years or you haven't.

[Gina]

In a strange turn of events, the woman, Wanetta Gibson, friended him on Facebook when he got out of prison.

In an initial meeting with him, she said she had lied; there had been no kidnap and no rape and she offered to help him clear his record, court records state.

But she refused to repeat the story to prosecutors because she feared she would have to return a $1.5 million payment from a civil suit brought by her mother against Long Beach schools.

Pretty DAMN sure FB could be subpeonaed to get these messages or if he was this serious about his innocence he would have copied and pasted them for use. 

[obumazombie]

I'm not a fan of plea bargaining because it allows criminals to get off easier than they should.

Either you've earned 20 years or you haven't.

I'm not a big fan of it either, but it's a good load reducer.

[NHSparky]

I'm not a fan of plea bargaining because it allows criminals to get off easier than they should.

Either you've earned 20 years or you haven't.

Unfortunately this is what happens in states where the criminal courts are so overwhelmed and the DA's will do anything to pad their conviction stats.

I don't know how many times I had to explain to a kid with a pled-out case that he couldn't join because while he PLEADED guilty to a misdemeanor, he was CHARGED with a felony.

[rich_t]

Unfortunately this is what happens in states where the criminal courts are so overwhelmed and the DA's will do anything to pad their conviction stats.

I don't know how many times I had to explain to a kid with a pled-out case that he couldn't join because while he PLEADED guilty to a misdemeanor, he was CHARGED with a felony.

Huh?  I thought it only mattered what one pled to or was convicted of.  Am I correct in understanding you to say, that for enlistment purposes it was the charge that mattered and not the plea?

[NHSparky]

Huh?  I thought it only mattered what one pled to or was convicted of.  Am I correct in understanding you to say, that for enlistment purposes it was the charge that mattered and not the plea?

That's EXACTLY what it means. 

[rich_t]

That's EXACTLY what it means. 

Ok...  What if a person was charged with a felony, but found not guilty or the case was dismissed?

[NHSparky]

Ok...  What if a person was charged with a felony, but found not guilty or the case was dismissed?

Then it probably wouldn't count.  What they're really looking for is felony or non-minor misdemeanor convictions, and as far as they're concerned (or at least how they treated it back in my day, pleading to a lesser charge was no different than being found guilty of the original charge.)

COMNAVCRUITCOMINST 1130.8F

Under Chapter 2, Basic Enlistment Eligibility Requirements (BEERS)

Not be under civil restraint, a substance abuser nor have a pattern of minor
convictions or any non-minor misdemeanor or felony convictions (waivers are
granted depending on number and severity). Applicants with lawsuits
pending by or against them must not be enlisted without prior approval by the
Special Assistant for Legal Affairs (CNRC Code 017).

But I can tell you that in this day and age, CNRC ain't about to approve any felony waivers.

And further down:

In determining the classification of an offense (traffic, Misdemeanor, or
felony), refer to the court documents to determine how the state adjudicated
the offense. State classification takes precedence