Blindsided: The exoneration of Brian Banks — Transcript

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1. 0:00now james brown of cbs sports on
2. 0:03assignment for 60 minutes
3. 0:07a little more than a decade ago brian
4. 0:09banks was a star linebacker at polytech
5. 0:11high school in long beach california a
6. 0:14well-known football powerhouse that sent
7. 0:16dozens of players to the national
8. 0:17football league
9. 0:18he was being recruited by the best
10. 0:20college teams in the nation dreaming of
11. 0:23an nfl career of his own
12. 0:25but then in the course of a single
13. 0:27afternoon his life changed forever
14. 0:30and eventually the 17 year old landed in
15. 0:32chino state penitentiary for raping and
16. 0:35kidnapping a female classmate
17. 0:37however even though he pled no contest
18. 0:40we now know that brian was innocent
19. 0:43it's a story that 60 minutes has been
20. 0:45following for close to a year
21. 0:47and as you're about to hear almost
22. 0:49nothing about brian banks's story
23. 0:51beginning middle or end is what you'd
24. 0:54expect
25. 0:56the story will continue in a moment
26. 1:06last may like every other team in the
27. 1:08national football league the seattle
28. 1:10seahawks held a spring mini training
29. 1:12camp for players with hopes of making
30. 1:14the roster in the fall
31. 1:18amid the many long shots one player in
32. 1:21the number 43 jersey stood out
33. 1:23because brian banks had not played
34. 1:25organized football in 10 years
35. 1:29to have my name on the back of this
36. 1:31jersey
37. 1:32to be a part of this team for a day is
38. 1:34more than i could ever imagine the last
39. 1:36time brian played football he was in
40. 1:38high school and he was so good that as a
41. 1:41sophomore scouts from usc had spotted
42. 1:44him at a camp and soon the team's head
43. 1:46coach pete carroll got in touch
44. 1:49i received a phone call from coach
45. 1:51carroll
46. 1:52and you know we're offering you a chance
47. 1:54to come play for us and i gave him a
48. 1:56verbal agreements and i'd love to
49. 1:58everything seemed to be lining up for
50. 2:00brian
51. 2:01until one day at school he was hanging
52. 2:03out with a girl he'd known for years
53. 2:06her name was juanetta gibson
54. 2:08what happened next changed the course of
55. 2:10brian banks's life forever we made our
56. 2:13way to this area
57. 2:14and
58. 2:17pretty much began making out
59. 2:19we kissed we touched but we never had
60. 2:21sex no argument no no argument we
61. 2:25actually ended on a good note where you
62. 2:26know i was making jokes and
63. 2:29you know she smiled and everything just
64. 2:31seemed
65. 2:31normal everything seemed okay
66. 2:34but it wasn't by the end of the day
67. 2:36brian banks was sitting in jail charged
68. 2:39with two counts of forcible rape and
69. 2:41kidnapping juanetta gibson
70. 2:43he was kicked off the football team and
71. 2:45expelled from school
72. 2:47with all hope of a scholarship and nfl
73. 2:50career suddenly vanished
74. 2:53the only thing he could do was fight for
75. 2:55his innocence
76. 2:56and the only person who was in his
77. 2:58corner was his mother leomie myers who
78. 3:01sold her house and car to pay for a
79. 3:03lawyer i consider it doing what a mother
80. 3:05should do
81. 3:06initially brian's prospects appeared to
82. 3:09be looking up
83. 3:10dna samples from the l.a county
84. 3:12sheriff's office came back negative as
85. 3:15he insisted they would
86. 3:17unable to make a million dollar bail
87. 3:19brian waited for a trial for a year
88. 3:22behind bars
89. 3:23as his day in court approached brian
90. 3:25says that his lawyer feared that he
91. 3:27wouldn't get a fair trial based on his
92. 3:29age size and race so she an
93. 3:33african-american herself convinced brian
94. 3:35to plead no contest to a crime he
95. 3:37insisted he didn't commit
96. 3:39his plea meant he'd avoid a possible 41
97. 3:42years in prison
98. 3:43but he was agreeing to a deal that
99. 3:45included a sentence of anywhere from 18
100. 3:48months to five years
101. 3:50and brian received the maximum
102. 3:52i remember leaving that courtroom
103. 3:54and going back into a holding cell and
104. 3:56just being angry at the world
105. 3:58in addition to the criminal prosecution
106. 4:00of the case juanetta gibson sued the
107. 4:03school system for a lack of security
108. 4:05winning a 1.5 million dollar settlement
109. 4:08in 2007 after five years at chino state
110. 4:12prison brian finally got out of jail at
111. 4:14age 22 after serving 85 percent of his
112. 4:18sentence
113. 4:19but he was still required to wear an
114. 4:21electronic monitoring bracelet
115. 4:23and for the rest of his life register as
116. 4:26a sex offender wherever he lived
117. 4:28then last year came a turn he never
118. 4:31could have expected
119. 4:33when one day searching for work online
120. 4:36he got a friend request on his facebook
121. 4:38page
122. 4:39it was juanetta gibson the same woman
123. 4:41who had accused him of raping her
124. 4:44i immediately just i froze
125. 4:46and i didn't accept the request
126. 4:49instead i sent a
127. 4:51message to her
128. 4:53and my message asked her why would you
129. 4:55why would your friend request me
130. 4:57and
131. 4:58she replied back that she was hoping
132. 5:01that we could allow bygones to be
133. 5:03bygones
134. 5:05she was really adamant about wanting to
135. 5:08see me and wanting to hang out
136. 5:11it wasn't about wanting to help it was
137. 5:13more of
138. 5:14wanting to reconnect hang out you know
139. 5:18what you been up to what are you doing
140. 5:21tonight what are you doing tomorrow
141. 5:22let's hang out brian was in disbelief
142. 5:26but he also knew instantly what kind of
143. 5:28opportunity this might be
144. 5:31and with the help of a friend's father a
145. 5:33private investigator they set up a
146. 5:35meeting with hidden cameras you were
147. 5:37surprised that she showed up
148. 5:39very much surprised my house was 23-15
149. 5:43with the cameras rolling brian asked her
150. 5:45for help in getting exonerated and
151. 5:48here's how she responded
152. 5:49i mean i would go through what help you
153. 5:51but
154. 5:52it's like at the same time all that
155. 5:54money they gave us i mean gave me i
156. 5:56don't wanna have to pay back all that
157. 5:58because that will take
158. 6:00a long time
159. 6:01though juanetta admitted to not wanting
160. 6:03to give back the money she won in her
161. 6:05civil lawsuit against the school
162. 6:07she was willing to meet a second time
163. 6:09and it was then that brian and the
164. 6:11investigator worked to get the ultimate
165. 6:13admission on tape these kids are raped
166. 6:16he's accused of
167. 6:18kidnapping yeah and i need to just hear
168. 6:22it from you that those things and i'll
169. 6:23put it all on a piece of paper and then
170. 6:25i'll meet up with you and we can go from
171. 6:27there
172. 6:29so you want me to say it now yeah that's
173. 6:31all i could
174. 6:32do
175. 6:39got it
176. 6:41the truth is out
177. 6:43the truth is out
178. 6:46i honestly wanted to just stand up and
179. 6:47walk out of there there was nothing else
180. 6:49to talk about
181. 6:53and with the help of the california
182. 6:55innocence project brian took the taped
183. 6:57confession to the district attorney's
184. 6:59office who viewed the new evidence met
185. 7:02with juanetta gibson and then agreed to
186. 7:04recommend to the judge that brian be
187. 7:06exonerated people's motions have
188. 7:08dismissed this case pursuant to section
189. 7:101385
190. 7:14at that moment a 10-year nightmare was
191. 7:16over
192. 7:17for both brian and his mother
193. 7:20i wanted to scream and shout for joy
194. 7:24i just slouched in my chair and cried
195. 7:26i was just so happy
196. 7:28so happy he was free because he wasn't
197. 7:31free before
198. 7:33you're not free when you have an ankle
199. 7:34bracelet
200. 7:36on your ankle
201. 7:37like your shackle
202. 7:39you're not free when you can't go to a
203. 7:42park or you can't go to your niece's
204. 7:44birthday party
205. 7:46because of other kids are around you're
206. 7:48not free
207. 7:50just to see him
208. 7:52in the courtroom
209. 7:54and the way he responded
210. 7:58the best news i've ever had
211. 8:00the best news that i
212. 8:03that i've ever had and i'm just so
213. 8:05thankful to god that he's free
214. 8:08outside the courtroom brian and his
215. 8:10defense team celebrated
216. 8:12and deputy district attorney daniel
217. 8:14ferreira explained the court's decision
218. 8:16we believed the recantations of the
219. 8:18witness we do not believe mr banks did
220. 8:21the crime that he pled guilty to and
221. 8:23therefore
222. 8:24justice has been served
223. 8:27banks went straight home that night
224. 8:29where as this cell phone video shows he
225. 8:31wasted no time in getting rid of the
226. 8:33device that he'd been wearing for five
227. 8:35straight years we are
228. 8:38free out yes
229. 8:40brian banks's original defense attorney
230. 8:42elizabeth harris declined to talk to 60
231. 8:45minutes as did juanetta gibson who has
232. 8:48not returned the money she won in her
233. 8:50lawsuit
234. 8:51for its part the school district has not
235. 8:53reached out to get it back you still
236. 8:56have no hopes or desires that she be
237. 8:59gone after aggressively no none
238. 9:01whatsoever why not
239. 9:03my main focus has just been on me
240. 9:08and from day one that focus meant
241. 9:10football
242. 9:11even if now playing in the nfl was more
243. 9:14of a long shot than ever
244. 9:17but the next turn his story took was
245. 9:19another dose of the improbable a few
246. 9:22days after i was exonerated i got a
247. 9:25phone call from a 213 number and
248. 9:27i'm like hello
249. 9:29and
250. 9:30the voice on the other end goes
251. 9:32yeah i'm looking for a linebacker you
252. 9:34know where i could find one i said yeah
253. 9:36you got the right number who is this
254. 9:39it's coach carroll
255. 9:42the same coach carol who'd been
256. 9:44interested in banks 10 years earlier as
257. 9:46head coach at usc
258. 9:48now pete carroll was coaching the
259. 9:50seattle seahawks
260. 9:52and he had a crazy idea
261. 9:54extend an invitation to brian who hadn't
262. 9:56played football since his junior year of
263. 9:58high school to try out for his nfl team
264. 10:02well i told him how
265. 10:03you know what a
266. 10:04shot in the dark this was for him you
267. 10:06know it's such a long shot
268. 10:08you know the our guys have prepared
269. 10:09their whole lives and never missed a
270. 10:11beat and he missed 10 years it's
271. 10:12probably changed since the last helmet
272. 10:14that you wore
273. 10:15but carol felt banks deserved a chance
274. 10:18which is how just 14 days after leaving
275. 10:21the california courtroom he found
276. 10:23himself in seattle this past june
277. 10:26alongside dozens of other seahawk
278. 10:28hopefuls under the watchful eye of pete
279. 10:30carroll and his staff appreciate it
280. 10:34which included former nfl all-pro ken
281. 10:37norton jr
282. 10:42the hurdles weren't just physically
283. 10:46you cheated the offset back really good
284. 10:48there was also the matter of making up
285. 10:49for lost time in the film room it's all
286. 10:52about the eyes once a running back sees
287. 10:53you running seattle was one of six nfl
288. 10:55teams that gave banks a tryout
289. 10:58but ultimately he didn't make it onto
290. 11:00any nfl rosters i was hoping i was
291. 11:02really hopeful that something good was
292. 11:03going to happen but in the workout you
293. 11:05could see that he just couldn't he
294. 11:06couldn't make up the ground and
295. 11:09those 10 years i don't know who could
296. 11:11have
297. 11:12he may not have been able to get past an
298. 11:14nfl practice field
299. 11:16but that wasn't the end of brian banks
300. 11:18football season
301. 11:21because there was another pro team
302. 11:23interested in giving him a
303. 11:27the shot vegas locos part of the
304. 11:29fledgling united football league
305. 11:32and that's how in september there was
306. 11:35brian banks on the locos opening kickoff
307. 11:37of the season
308. 11:38i ran down the field and
309. 11:41got blindsided and i got up and i was
310. 11:44like yeah
311. 11:46i'm playing football
312. 11:51the united football league ended up
313. 11:53folding in october
314. 11:54in brian banks still hasn't gotten a
315. 11:56paycheck
316. 11:58but that didn't put too much of a damper
317. 12:00on the experience of being a
318. 12:01professional football player
319. 12:06today at 27 brian banks hasn't given up
320. 12:09on his hope to play someday in the
321. 12:11national football league
322. 12:13at this moment banks is in negotiations
323. 12:15with several nfl teams for this upcoming
324. 12:17season if it doesn't happen
325. 12:19it doesn't define me if it does happen
326. 12:22it doesn't define me regardless of how
327. 12:24things end
328. 12:26i'm good i've already won