Once, Brian Banks completed his time in Jail, he was contacted by his accuser on facebook. Originally, his accuser requested him as a friend, and naturally he refused. Later they would agree to meet each other, along with Brian Banks private investigator. Wanetta Gibson(the accuser) agreed to have the meeting recorded. During the meeting, Wanetta confessed that Brian Banks did not rape, or kidnap her. Through this meeting, Brian Banks was able to be acquitted for any wrong doing. He plans to receive payment for his time he served, by the state of California.
| Brian Banks crying after being acquitted. |
Banks claims that he has forgiven Wanetta Gibson. He is hoping to tryout for an NFL team at sometime. Had I been in Brian Banks shoes, I would have tried to sue the State of California for no less than ten million dollars. Because, Brian Banks very well could have signed lucrative contracts in the NFL, had he not went to jail. Looks like facebook has helped cleared Banks's name.
This is an interesting story, although I would have liked to have seen it end with a solid analytical point rather than an opinion about a dollar value to a future lawsuit. You might want to think about investigative activity and digital journalism and what both Banks and digital journalists might share as tasks. For example, what does it mean to "friend" a witness or source? How does using Facebook as a framework for investigation (in this case that lead to exoneration) raise interesting ethical questions?
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