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| Brian Banks (Center) |
Brian Banks, 26, plans to file a claim against the state requesting money for his six years spent in prison, his attorney told the Los Angeles Times.
According to his lawyers, Banks is entitled to $100 a day for every day he spent behind bars under state law.
Banks was exonerated this week after his accuser, Wanetta Gibson, admitted she had made up the whole story of sexual assault and had been reluctant to come forward because of a settlement she received from the school district.
She also, according to the newspaper, had been worried it would affect her relationship with her two children now aged 4 and 5.
The one-time linebacker was 16 when Gibson, then a high school sophomore, accused him.
At the time, he was a star middle linebacker at Long Beach Polytechnic High School and had verbally committed to a full scholarship to USC and a dream of playing in the NFL.
But that was all crushed when he took a plea deal on the suggestion of his attorney who Banks said warned him the jury was likely to convict him.
A break in his case came when Gibson friended him on Facebook after he was released on parole saying she wanted to make “bygones be bygones”. Eventually her confession was recorded and with the help of the California Innocent Project, Banks was exonerated.
"It's been a struggle. But I'm unbroken, and I'm still here today," he told reporters this week.
Lawyers for Banks told the Times he doesn’t plan on taking legal action against Gibson.
“I know it’s best for me to try and move forward in a positive manner for the betterment of me, it hurts no one but myself to hang on to the type of negative energy,” Banks said Friday in an appearance on the “Today” show.
Prosecutors told the Times they have no immediate plans to take on the now 24-year-old woman either.
But according to a spokeswoman, police in Long Beach are “reviewing the matter”.
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