It was a stroke of permanence in the ink of justice as Maurice Banks, aged 57, a man once found guilty of a brutal attack on a student, faced denial for parole on Wednesday. Banks, who back in December 2010, broke into a Redwood City motel room and subjected his victim to a violent ordeal, has been serving a sentence of 12 years to life. His bid for freedom was stifled after a parole hearing that included attendance by an assistant DA from San Mateo County, as reported by the San Mateo County District Attorney's Office.
Maurice Banks (57) denied parole following a hearing attended by one of our assistant DA's. Dec of 2010, Banks forcibly broke into a hotel room, violently beat and strangled a woman, & tried to sexually assault her but she was able to escape. He was sentenced to 12 yrs to life. pic.twitter.com/ueHiJ6SyIW
— San Mateo County District Attorney (@SanMateoCoDA) January 11, 2024
A jury had previously taken less than an hour to convict Banks, emphasizing the overwhelming evidence against him. The conviction, happening in San Mateo County Superior Court, included assault with intent to commit rape and burglary. Banks' face was sealed with a sentence of 14 years to life at sentencings set for September 20, years back, according to the East Bay Times. While the defense sought to sow seeds of doubt, the odds spoken of by the prosecution, a staggering 9.3 billion to one, argued that the DNA found at the crime scene belonged to no one but Banks.
At the heart of the 2010 incident, Banks illicitly entered the victim's space, violence following as she attempted to focus on her studies. Desperately fighting to regain consciousness after being strangled, the woman awoke to grim realizations and an immediate threat to her bodily autonomy. It was only a fleeting distraction that allowed her to escape and subsequent call for help, leading to Banks' arrest mere hours after the crime. The perpetrator, claiming a mix of alcohol and crack cocaine had led to his blackout during the attack, could not sway the course of justice with his defence of substance-induced amnesia.
With Banks behind bars, unable to meet the $250,000 bail, the harrowing odyssey suffered by the victim in that Redwood City motel remains an unshakable narrative. It’s a reminder that the ebb and flow of the legal system can sometimes arrive at a place of resolve, leaving assailants like Banks to confront the full stretch of their sentences, a reminder echoed by the San Mateo County District Attorney's Office in their reinforcement that Banks' parole is denied. With DNA evidence as the linchpin, Banks must continue to serve his time, his past efforts to evade accountability unequivocally quashed.
