Brian Banks, who was on his way to a big future in football when he was wrongfully convicted of rape in 2002, signed with the Atlanta Falcons today.

Banks was a star football player at Long Beach Poly High School in 2002 and had already secured a scholarship to the University of Southern California when he was falsely accused of rape. He served five years in prison and was forced to wear a GPS tracking monitor after he was released.

Banks was exonerated in May 2012 with the help of the California Innocence Project, and since then has been training and working to become a professional football player. With today’s signing, Banks’ NFL dream has become reality.

Read more here.

www.ncip.scu.edu