Man found innocent 10 years after false rape allegation

[MadMullah]

http://youtu.be/QLTqym2Zjpo

LA Times said:

Brian Banks spent more than five years in prison for a rape and kidnapping that, as the courts now find, he did not commit; the repercussions of how the case sorts itself out in the justice system will take a lot longer than that.

There are several threads to follow and figure out in the story of the promising teenaged Long Beach football star who, on his lawyer’s advice, pleaded no contest to the rape charge rather than chance a jury trial and a 40-years-to-life sentence. He was exonerated by a judge last week after his accuser contacted him on Facebook to let bygones be bygones, and admitted that he had not raped her after all.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-justice-brian-banks-case-20120530,0,2731726.story
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18266118

Quite shocking that the woman doesnt have to pay back the $1.5m and no charges are being bought against her or her mother.

[Hoofy]

"Do I get a free go, then?"

[tank slapper]

A massive flaw in the US justice system would appear to be the reliance on plea bargains coupled with very draconian sentencing. It means people are effectively bullied to opt for the 'safe' option of a shorter sentence as even if innocent the risk of losing at trial might mean spending the rest of their life in prison. How might that case have turned out had they both been cross examined on the stand?

[grumbledoak]

tank slapper said:

A massive flaw in the US justice system would appear to be the reliance on plea bargains coupled with very draconian sentencing.

No. The massive flaw in the US (and UK) justice system is the reliance on a jury of twelve people too stupid to get out of jury service. It can be a lottery.