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 ...
B.J. Bernstein, Wilson's lawyerInteresting choice of mouthpieces.
You think that 10 years of jail is justified here?
(I hardly think we have excess space in our prisons for “criminals” like this.)
Good, a judge with common sense.
This prosecutor’s statements clearly describe exactly what I am worried about by those who worship the law. They always think they are doing the right thing no matter how many people they hurt.
Good, this was a sad oversight in the legislative process in Georgia. That it spilled over into the judicial system and put this young man, and his family and girlfriend, through hell is unacceptable.
Hmmm.
Thank God-this case was an embarressment to me as a Georgian. It probably was racist; I fail to see how such a verdict could have been rendered otherwise.
Is he still going to have to register as a sex offender? That’s really sad if he does.
They only prosecuted this guy because he is black and the girl is white. He was 17 at the time and she was 15. As we all know, kids of this age having oral sex with each other NEVER happens anywhere else. If they had prosecuted guys for having oral sex with younger girls at my high school, half of the guys would have been arrested and sent to jail. He got a longer sentence than many 40 year old ADULT men who have had sex with 15 year old girls have received, and that is just not right. I am glad he is being released from jail.
Never mind I need to learn how to read.
What better alternative is there? The law is there for all to see and know. Do you seriously advocate for a system that is case-by-case, in which no person will or can know whether or not he will be (or how he will be) punished for an action?
The moral of this story is that if you have group sex with a fifteen year-old, if you have a good PR machine, you can get off with a slap on the wrist.
Do you think ages of consent should be judicially abolished? Apparently, the Georgia legislature thought that it would be a good idea to prevent older, more mature people from coercing younger, more naive people, into to consenting to sexual acts. Why should the judge--acting on his own--overturn the will of the people of the state of Georgia, who spoke through their legislature?
Second, the notion that the decision to exercise one’s Sixth Amendment right to a trial - rather than waive that right by pleading guilty - is a deliberate choice of “martyrdom,” is positively offensive.Your whole post is excellent. I just wanted to highlight this.
It reminds me of those cases where DNA is used to free somebody who has been in prison for one or more decades and it turns out that at various times the prisoner (an innocent man) was asked to "show remorse" by confessing that he committed a crime he didn't commit and when he didn't, the "authorities" all clicked their tongues at his "failure to show remorse".
What the hell is a 20 year old minor? I was in the Marines when I was 17.
...the law was changed last year....so he is NOT an activist judge....and the law was old style flawed...if he had had intercourse with her he would have only gotten one year misdemeanor.....but for oral sex got 10 years....now that does NOT make sense at all....
"The fact that Genarlow Wilson has spent two years in prison for what is now classified as a misdemeanor, and without assistance from this Court, will spend eight more years in prison, is a grave miscarriage of justice," the judge wrote.Human law is written, altered, changed, and amended by humans. All the time. It didn't come from a burning bush. It wasn't delivered by Moses. It was a stupid Georgia Law that even the State of Georgia decided had to go. But you want them to keep this kid locked up for 8 more years? To honor a law that doesn't even exist anymore? All in the name of The Law?
Good reason and judgment. The prosecutor did not have to bring this case--he had the option of using his judgment. The judge could have dismissed this case. The jury could have not convicted--except that juries today are trained to believe that they don't have the right to make decisions based on their own reasoning. The governor could have given a pardon. The legislature could have rewritten the law. Each one of these is a group that is hell bent on worshiping the law, even if the law gives them the option of good reason and judgment. But why would you use your reasoning when you can instead revert and follow the letter of the law like a computer, no matter how many it hurts?
Crazy stuff for GA not to make the new law retroactive.
I am just thankful I wasn’t faced with laws like this when I was 17. Wonder if the attorney general or DA ever did anything like this at that age?
There is no “honor” in raping a 15 year old girl —even though it was consensual, it was statutory rape.
15 will get you 20.
So you’d be okay wrecking his life with the “sex offender” designation? Where’s her punishment for her consent?
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