# Wanetta Gibson Courageously Comes Forward; Admits Her Rape Accusation Was False (Not) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 7, 2012, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanetta-gibson-courageously-comes-forward-admits-her-rape-accusation-was-false-not/624446 "2012-06-07T23:47:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanetta-gibson-courageously-comes-forward-admits-her-rape-accusation-was-false-not/624446/141 "2013-06-30T04:50:01Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Perhaps clairobscur could provide thoughts about how this problem is less common in France. Perhaps the backlog of, and/or cost of, trials there is less severe, so there is less reason for the prosecution to offer plea deals where the potential time to serve in jail is so starkly contrasted (between guilty plea and risked finding of guilt)? At the contrary, the backlog in France is notoriously awful. But plea bargains simply don’t exist (well…for some years, they’ve been allowed in cases where the sentence is shorter than one year, in fact). In fact, there’s no plea at all. You can admit to your guilt in court and be acquitted, or the “prosecutor” can argue that you’re innocent and you can be nevertheless sentenced (admittedly, it’s very rare, but it happens). The prosecution isn’t much involved in the case before the trial and during it, its job is to argue on behalf of society which doesn’t _necessarily_ mean arguing for guilt. I get the point of plea bargains to reduce cost/backlog, but as I wrote above, when you end up having to choose between the certainty of 5 years behind bars and tossing a coin with the risk of getting life, that’s just wrong (again because those 5 years are necessarily unjust, guilty or not) The “deals” offered should be more reasonable and fitting. Backlog issues could often be solved by throwing money at them (especially true in France which has amongst the lowest spending rates on justice in developed nations, and it shows). It’s not like our societies are so poor that we can’t afford some more judges. And justice is truly of massive importance for anybody involved with it for any reason (be it a case as dramatic as this one or a “simple” child custody issue, be it for the accused or for the victim). So, it’s money well spent, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanetta-gibson-courageously-comes-forward-admits-her-rape-accusation-was-false-not/624446/142 "2013-06-30T04:58:58Z")
If you want to know how his plea deal came about you can hear the whole story [here](http://richeisen.nfl.com/2013/06/25/rich-eisen-podcast-brian-banks/) in Brian Banks’s own words. It’s worse than what you already know. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanetta-gibson-courageously-comes-forward-admits-her-rape-accusation-was-false-not/624446/143 "2013-06-30T05:51:52Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > If you want to know how his plea deal came about you can hear the whole story [here](http://richeisen.nfl.com/2013/06/25/rich-eisen-podcast-brian-banks/) in Brian Banks’s own words. It’s worse than what you already know. Well…He seems to put most of the blame on his attorney. He doesn’t even mention the prosecutor, or the police, and only once the judge. Although he wonders how comes nobody saw through a 15 yo lies (especially since, from the interview, she doesn’t seem that good at lying). Oh, and apparently, she wanted to meet him again because she was still into him?? 😕 Or did I misunderstand this part of the interview??? ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2013, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanetta-gibson-courageously-comes-forward-admits-her-rape-accusation-was-false-not/624446/144 "2013-07-07T02:15:11Z")
Am I the only one who thinks the girls mother might be the biggest asshole in this story? ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2013, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanetta-gibson-courageously-comes-forward-admits-her-rape-accusation-was-false-not/624446/145 "2013-07-07T14:18:10Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > It seems important to me, because if we make examples like this public, maybe women will think twice about trying to get away with shit like this, and the system can focus on prosecuting actual rape cases instead of made up ones. > > Maybe. I’d prefer examples like that be made during the actual case/prosecution. When an old case like this becomes the example, I worry that women who’ve successfully gotten away with this might become even less willing to recant, publicly or privately. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2013, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanetta-gibson-courageously-comes-forward-admits-her-rape-accusation-was-false-not/624446/146 "2013-07-07T16:56:52Z")
> [@outlierrn](#): > > Am I the only one who thinks the girls mother might be the biggest asshole in this story? Why? What did she do apart from believing and supporting her daughter? (That’s a real, not rhetorical, question) ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2013, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanetta-gibson-courageously-comes-forward-admits-her-rape-accusation-was-false-not/624446/147 "2013-07-07T17:14:40Z")
> [@hotflungwok](#): > > Threads have been raised from the dead for far less. > > On a more topical note, she should get locked up for a long time. She can’t pay the $ back, I hope they garnish her wages for the rest of her life. She tried to ruin his life, now she needs to pay the price. True on all counts! I post on a board that’s about 90% female, and a lot of them are saying things like, “Even if he didn’t do this, he’s probably guilty of something” and also believed that “60 Minutes” doing the piece at the same time that the Steubenville story was in the news was simply a ploy to drum up sympathy for the Steubenville boys, because they got caught. :smack: As for Steubenville, that kind of thing went on at my high school more than 30 years ago, and while we didn’t have social media, there were Polaroids, and trust me, these rapes could have happened in full view of the city’s entire police department and nothing would have been done. I asked some of the posters on that other board how they would feel if this happened to their sons, husbands, brothers, etc. and got crickets in response. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2013, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanetta-gibson-courageously-comes-forward-admits-her-rape-accusation-was-false-not/624446/148 "2013-07-08T18:51:45Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > Why? What did she do apart from believing and supporting her daughter? (That’s a real, not rhetorical, question) When this thread was new, I read something that suggested the mother was the driving force in the accusation and lawsuit, possibly even the sex. I had thought it was a reliable source, but now all I can find is this > **[Wanetta Gibson's Mom Wanda Rhodes Plotted Brian Banks' False Rape Accusation...](https://blacksportsonline.com/2012/05/wanetta-gibsons-mom-wanda-rhodes-plotted-brian-banks-false-rape-accusation-for-money/)** > > Photos: Wanetta Gibson's Mom Wanda Rhodes Plotted Brian Banks' False Rape Accusation for Money While I don’t consider that reliable, it hardly stretches the imagination. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wanetta-gibson-courageously-comes-forward-admits-her-rape-accusation-was-false-not/624446.md?page=7)