For Immediate Release

Monday, July 2, 2018

Media Contact: John Guilfoil
Phone: 617-993-0003
Email: john@jgpr.net

Manchester Man Sentenced for Probation, Suspended Sentence Violations

BRENTWOOD — Rockingham County Attorney Patricia G. Conway reports that a Manchester man will serve prison time for imposition of a suspended sentence after he was charged with sexual assault while out of state last year.

JAMES BANKS, 24, OF MANCHESTER has been sentenced to 6 1/2 to 13 years in the New Hampshire State Prison for a probation violation and imposition of a suspended sentence.

Judge Marguerite Wageling issued her ruling on June 18 at Rockingham County Superior Court.

In March of 2016, BANKS pleaded guilty to two counts of second degree assault and one count of criminal threatening for three separate assaults committed against three different women in Portsmouth. He was sentenced to one to four years in prison, with additional sentences that were suspended, which were conditioned upon a number of factors, including good behavior.

In 2017, BANKS, who did not have permission from his Probation Officer to be travel outside of New Hampshire, was seen on surveillance video entering and exiting a New York apartment with a woman, who later reported he had sexually assaulted her. His car was confirmed to have passed through three different toll/checkpoints around the scene of the assault, and his DNA was found on the victim when she underwent an exam after being taken by ambulance to an area hospital.

Due to his probation violation, BANKS was arrested and returned to jail. In calls intercepted by the state, BANKS is heard directing others to find information about the victim, her contact information, and her family, ultimately directing them to reach out to her through social media in an effort to keep the victim from testifying.

During the June sentencing, Judge Wageling, in speaking about her findings, reflected back on the 2016 case, stating the facts of the New York assault were “chillingly similar” to those that BANKS admitted to perpetrating against the three Portsmouth victims and that the allegations from the New York victim culminated in rape. It is with that evidence that Judge Wageling imposed the maximum sentence on BANKS in an effort to protect the community.

“We are extremely pleased that the court recognized the defendant’s proven pattern of behavior and gave him the maximum prison sentence allowed by law,” County Attorney Conway said.

The outcome of this case was the result of collaboration between the Rockingham County Attorney’s Office, Portsmouth Police, Manchester Probation and Parole, the New York Special Victim’s Unit and the Forensic Laboratories in New Hampshire and New York. BANKS‘ conviction would not have been possible without the courageous assistance of the New York-based victim, who traveled to New Hampshire and testified about the violent assault that she endured.

###