Thomas Klocke
Thomas Klocke was a student at the University of Texas Arlington that was falsely accused of "physical abuse or threat thereof and a non-specific violation of the school’s anti-harassment policy." The alleged event occurred during one of his college courses in which Thomas was discussing the topic about privilege. According to the accuse Thomas then typed "All gays should die," into his web browser. The accuser, who is gay, claimed that he typed "I'm gay," into his web browser in response at which point Thomas kicked him and said "You should kill yourself."
Thomas' account of the story was completely different. Thomas claimed that while sitting in class the accuser typed "You're beautiful," to Thomas. Thomas in turn, replied "Stop - I'm straight," which resulted in the accuser saying "I'm gay." After Thomas felt like he was being stared at objectively and the accuser was distracting him by laughing and being on his phone Thomas got up and moved seats about 30-45min into the lesson.
The accuser was only able to find one other witness who would state he heard someone say "You should leave," but no one else would come forward. After the accuser told the professor, the professor instead of trying to find out if it was true reported it up and both sides of the story were analyzed by a Miss. Heather Snow. Heather Snow who was the Assiosiate Vice President of Studen Affairs had a close friendship with the accuser and acted as his advocate during the process (Conflict of interest maybe?). After the alleged event was reported Thomas was banned from attending class until an investigation was conducted. However, instead of assigning Thomas a hearing and alerting the Title IX coordinator Associate VP Snow and Associate Director of Academic Integrity Daniel Moore agreed there was not enough evidence to reprimand Thomas from attending class. Nevertheless, Moore said he would look for another way to keep Klocke out of the class, and Snow told him to see if the class would be offered later in the summer…
Moore sent Klocke a letter the next day, on May 25, stating that Klocke had been found responsible for harassment (even though Moore and Snow acknowledged there was no evidence to support this claim). Klocke was placed on disciplinary probation for the remainder of his time at UTA, and would have this on his disciplinary record. A few days later Thomas Klocke killed himself in May 2016, with no history of mental illness and by all accounts was happy and looking forward to the future after graduation," notes Watchdog.
Brian Banks
Arguably the most famous is the case of Brian Banks. At the mere age of 16 Brian Banks was a NFL prospect that seemed to have everything going for him. Unfortunately, Wanetta Gibson dashed those hopes when she falsely accused him of rape in 2002.
The case of Brian Banks has racial undertones combined with a perverted justice system. Banks, who was by all accounts a kind law abiding citizen was accused and sent to prison for five years until his verdict was reversed. What reversed it was not some loophole that Banks' lawyer was able to utilize, but an actual Facebook message from the accuser herself stating "I’m sorry for sending you to prison after falsely accusing you of kidnap and rape."
What can only be described as a social injustice Banks was persuaded by prosecution to accept a plea deal rather than being an African American facing an all white jury. "Banks originally faced 41 years to life in prison and first turned down plea deals for 25, 18 and nine years. Why? He didn't do it. After speaking with an overworked public defender Banks was persuaded to agree to undergo 90 days of observation in Chico State Prison with assurances from his attorney that he would then get probation. However, at the hearing the judge gave him six years in prison. With a maximum of 14 years Banks claims the reason he was given six is because he was a vulnerable kid from a good home that wouldn't have survived prison. He accurately then questions, "What about the kids from low income families, with no food, who experience what I did? What hope do they have?
Mark Weiner
The story of Mark Weiner is a sad story that unfortunately isn't known by most. Mark was a manager at food lion and saw a woman walking on the street and offered to give her a ride home. Unbeknown to Mark, the female, named Steiniger, had other intentions. What she claimed was in a span of 28 minutes Mark tried to get in her pants, didn't let her get out of the car, and then sent a text to her boyfriend saying "[S]hes [sic] in my house she said she was cold so IMMa [sic] warm her up." She later testified Mark drove by her mother's house and incapacitated her with a rag in 15 seconds and took her to a rural property to rape her. She claims she jumped off the two story balcony and ran two miles in the woods to escape. She never called the police, her boyfriend Mills did after he was sent the text. After Steiniger checked her voicemail and heard from the police she shut off her phone. Police went to Steiniger mother's house where she answered the door in full clothes and not a mark or scrape on her. Certainly not someone who looked like they just jumped off a balcony and ran two miles through the woods late at night. Despite this, Mark was arrested and prosecuted.
The prosecution, who must show all evidence, even evidence that might be exculpatory for the prosecution. Furthermore, the two cops she spoke to regarding the case stated that Mark's phone never pinged close to her mother's house. In addition, the prosecution denied the police from testifying and did not submit the evidence to the matchbook for the case. Furthermore, Mark's way of speaking via other messages and how he spoke it could be inferred he is not the type of person to say "iMMa take her home." Defense also spoke with an anesthesiologist who claimed there was no drug that could be applied to a rag and make her unconscious in 15 seconds. In addition, Steiniger claimed she had never been to the abandoned property, but her friends who smoked marijuana told the defense that the property was used before by Steiniger. Furthermore, Steiniger's ex-husband signed an affidavit stating Steiniger confessed to making up the story to make some guy named Mike Jealous, but the recording was destroyed. Steiniger's boyfriend sent her a text asking "why did you lie," about the encounter with Mark.
Despite all of this evidence and the appeals, Mark was sentenced to eight years in Prison. It was only when Steinigers was caught selling cocaine to two undercover cops that reversed Mark's sentenced. The prosecution, with this new evidence said this was the straw that broke the camel's back suggesting she knew the case was loaded for a long time.
Two years Mark rotted in prison for giving a woman a ride home. He lost all of his savings, his job, two years with his wife and son. The system is supposed to have checks and balances, but in Mark's case through an entire legal process and innocent man was found guilty. What can we hope for regarding kids in college, or lower economic status who won't have the resources to defend themselves?
Vandyke Perry and Gregory Counts
Imagine a woman, dirty, chaotic, covered in tears as she runs over to a patrol car seeking helped. She claimed she had been kidnapped at knife point and raped by three African American men. Before the end of that month the police arrested Gregory Counts, who was 19 at the time and VanDyke Perry, 21. They were charged with rape, sodomy, kidnapping and criminal possession of a weapon. They were never able to locate the third assaulter.
Investigators had no physical evidence other than semen that was recovered from the woman, which didn't match VanDyke or Greogory's DNA. She later stated it was from her boyfriend the morning of the attack. The prosecution focused heavily on her testimony, which at some points was inconsistent. Still, despite the lack of physical evidence the two were found guilty on all counts except weapons charges. VanDyke Perry ended up serving 11 years in prison and Gregory Counts 26 years.
Counts contacted the innocence project, which began to look into the case. in 2011 new FBI DNA testing linked the DNA to a man who died in 2011, which wasn't the woman's boyfriend. Furthermore, after they asked for a statement the woman admitted to lying about the rape because her boyfriend pressured her to falsely accuse Counts and Perry. Due to the statutes of limitations the woman is unable to receive criminal charges.
Seema Saifee, a senior staff attorney that works with the Innocence Project correctly stated, "Like so many other cases that have come to light in recent years, these young black men were aggressively prosecuted and given a lengthy prison sentences with very little care for finding the truth."
Jason Zadrozny
Liam Allen
