Choctaw Three
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The Choctaw Three are three individuals in Choctaw County, Alabama who were convicted in 2000-2001 of killing a person that never existed. The three are Victoria Bell Banks, her husband Medell Banks Jr., and her sister, Dianne Bell Tucker.
In Feb. 1999, Victoria Banks was in the county jail and pretended to be pregnant as a ploy to get released. She had two doctors check on her, the second of which claimed to have heard a fetal heartbeat. Victoria was released on bond in May 1999, after she threatened to sue the jail for failing to provide prenatal care. In August, the sheriff, Donald Lolley, stopped Victoria and questioned her about the baby that was due in June. After Victoria told him she miscarried, the sheriff took her to the second doctor who examined her before, and he could find no evidence she had ever been pregnant. The sheriff then had officials with the Alabama Bureau of Investigation question her to find out where the missing baby was. Victoria could not have been pregnant because she had had her tubes tied in 1995.
After being questioned for extended periods of time, all of the Choctaw Three reportedly confessed to participating in the killing of the non-existent child. They were charged with capital murder in Sept. 1999. Rather than face the electric chair, Victoria pleaded guilty to manslaughter after her trial had begun in Nov 2000, and the other two did likewise six months later as their trial dates approached. All were sentenced to 15 years in prison. A nationally known fertility doctor examined Victoria and concluded she was sterile. The prosecutor filed perjury charges against Victoria for telling a judge she had not been pregnant. The charges were dismissed in Jan. 2003 when Victoria signed a statement that said, "I, Victoria Banks, hereby state that I lied when I said I didn't have a baby. I am sorry." Medell Banks faced retrial on capital murder charges in Jan 2003, but all charges were dropped after pretrial hearings established that Medell never admitted to killing a baby.
