Posted on 06/11/2007 11:05:28 AM PDT by John Cena
ATLANTA — A Georgia judge on Monday voided a 10-year sentence given to a man who was convicted while a teenager of having consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old girl.
Monroe County Superior Court Judge Thomas Wilson voided Genarlow Wilson's sentence and dropped it to misdemeanor aggravated child molestation with a 12-month sentence, plus credit for time served. Under the new ruling, he will not be required to register as a sex offender
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
This is what I’m thinking. If the kid was white, he wouldn’t be sitting in jail now.
see #239. I did see this line of twisted reasoning in one of the pro wilson articles. Why did she immediately call her mother, go to the authorities and say she was raped? Maybe because she was?
If the kid was white, not so many on this thread would be advocating putting him away for 10 years. Or convicting him o future rapes he hasn’t even committed.
So you’d take it out on the boy? What about the girl? What if it were your daughter?
Sounded more like wishing he’d commit more crimes so they’d somehow be vindicated. Somehow I missed the outrage when the cute blond was unleashed (without serving a day in jail), on the public to rape again.
Actually, I didn’t engage in any name calling. I did evaluate actions.
Why no outcry for the 5 thugs who pled guilty?
Why is race an issue here?
If we step out of the legal mumbo jumbo for a second, do I believe a normal 15 year old girl is capable of consenting to sex with a 17 year old boy? Heck yeah. She’s as capable of giving consent as he is. Shoot, most 15 year old girls are more mature than 17 year old boys.
In your mind, if a 15 year old girl has sex with a 17 year old boy, she must have just been awed by this older fellow and he’s completely taking advantage of her. That may be the case sometimes, but often it’s not going to be like that at all. I was 17 when I lost my virginity. The girl I was with was barely 16 and she was way more experienced than I was. She was hot too. I was in awe of her. She’s the one who initiated it. She had the condoms. I was a little in shock. I wasn’t upset about it mind you but I think what was really happening there was she was taking advantage of me, not the other way around. I think it is a two way street. A couple of years difference doesn’t matter that much. Girls can take advantage of boys just like boys can take advantage of girls, and probably more often than not no one is really taking advantage of the other person. It’s just two people doing what comes naturally.
Actually, it was consensual, and at the time statutory rape. The law has been changed since to create the 'close-in'age' exception that most other states have. The problem is that AG Baker is a pissant messiah running on autopilot, even keeping Wilson in prison while he appeals on the basis of a law that no longer exists.
I don’t know. Ask the others why it is. I wish it was not!
Two characteristics rarely found in the judicial system. Do we really want automatons who merely process the law without thought? I don't. I think it better to show a little too much leniency than to be overly harsh.
>>No one here is asking for anything like that.
The feeling among FReepers is that a teacher isn't guilty of molestation if she is cute.
That is the only hard and fast rule around here.
Just because the hedonists among here WANTED to have sex when they were underage doesn't make it RIGHT. Same with underage drinking, drinking and driving, doping, etc.
I say dump the law if it is bad law. If the legislature cannot retroactively release him because it is against the state constitution then the judge's actions would be in contradiction to the state constitution.
Change the laws and judges and attorneys are out of the picture.
I agree that our legal system is an unjust and costly system. People who advocate for appeals, jury nullification, activist judges, and a hope and a prayer do nothing to HELP bad laws get changed. CHANGE THE LAWS if there are problems.
Can a 15 year old boy consent to sex with a 17 year old boy. What about with an 18 year old man?
It isn’t like statutory rape laws were drawn up over night. They’ve been on the books a long time and are slowly being whittled away.
So if they are going to be “whittled”, what standard do you propose? Is there a limit at which you can be firm?
While the age of consent laws may make it "ok" to have sex with her, he'd better get the hell out if a camera appears because the law says it is criminal to film that act with a minor (no matter how "right" it is under law to do the act).
Then again, Rob Lowe walked...
Was his sentence cruel? I'd say so.
Was it unusual? Yes--given that nobody else received the same sentence in the past or will do so in future, it was unique.
The fact that a particular sentence has not been used previously should not, in and of itself, cause it to be considered "unusual". After all, the first prosecution for any crime would fail that test. But when the sentence is demonstrably unique (it has been imposed once, and won't be imposed any more) that would seem to generally qualify as "unusual".
Whether or not the jury should have acquitted him, it did so. To my mind, it looks as though the prosecutor and original sentencing judge didn't like that acquittal. In sentencing, they thus sought to punish the defendant for the rape they continued to believe he committed (despite the juror's acquittal).
The defendant was acquitted of the rape. Whether the jury was wise or foolish in that decision doesn't matter. What the prosecutor and judge seem to have done, and what you seek to do, is punish the defendant for a crime of which he was acquitted.
Guy still did both of them ~ your friend, not mine!
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