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 ...
Age of consent laws must be enforced or abandoned.
The Sex Positive agenda has already got our schools pushing teen sexual activity. They oppose abstinence not because it doesn’t work, but because they see sexual pleasure as a birthright to be enjoyed by everyone at every age.
If you believe that “arbitrary” legal (as in established law) barriers between two “consenting” partners are worth removing, then fight it in the legislature, not the bench.
Same as the laws against homosexuality should’ve been repealed. In Congress, not court rooms.
Your argument begs the question (circular logic fallacy). I was saying that the statutory rape law was unjust and the sentence was unjust. Your response was that it was a just sentence because it was statutory rape (which you implied was a just law). You are going to have to do more that repeat definitions at me to convince me that oral sex with someone 2 years younger means that one should spend 10 years in prison.
How can it be "statutory rape" if the perp was a minor too?
Minor in possession
What is minor in possession?
When a person age 13–17 signs a diversion agreement or is convicted of possession of alcohol. (Age is determined by the incident date.)
When a person age 13–20 signs a diversion agreement or is convicted of a drug offense. (Age is determined by incident date.)
When a person under age 18 pleads guilty or is found guilty of illegal possession of a firearm while in a vehicle.
When a person under age 18 commits any offense while armed with a firearm in which a motor vehicle served an integral function.
When a person age 13–17 is convicted of any offense involving a firearm, whether or not it is related to using a motor vehicle.
http://www.dol.wa.gov/driverslicense/minor.html
If you have problems with the term minor, you need to take it up with the legislature.
Agreed. This is a judge who understands justice.
Let’s have amnesty for all sex offenders then. Everybody’s doing it, right? < /s >
Why NOT ask the legislature why they did not make it retroactive?
This is good but it’s sort of sad isn’t it? IIRC this kid had a bright future as a college athlete
I was objecting to the use of the word “honor” in describing this punk! I don’t care what his grades were. It doesn’t matter. Honor has no part of this.
He broke the law. He should be punished; she should be locked up somewhere if it was truly consensual. If the law is “unfair” then the law should be changed and his sentance commuted.
I’d say the same thing to this kid and to all of his defenders as I would say to Bill Clinton: Keep it zipped.
Even if the law changed, I don’t see why his sentence should change. The law was what it was when he committed his crime. Most of our laws (and even judicial decisions) are proactive. I’m not seeing why this should be an exception.
I think it has something to do with the GA Constitution, but don’t remember the details. This is Georgia too. They don’t generally like changing old, ridiculous sex laws to begin with.
There needs to be a name change for the “Romeo and Juliet” clauses across this nation.
As soon as the Supreme Court ruled on Lawrence v. Texas, pending Romeo and Romeo exceptions were sought to (and they did) end the “double standard” where homosexual activity was limited to the consenting ADULTS that the activists had always claimed that they were fighting for.
No matter how many it hurts, right? This was exactly my point in that many people, yourself included, worship the law and that any evil committed by the law is alright as long as it is in the name of the law. I can see by how you brushed off my idea of using good reason and judgment, that that is simply craziness! The idea that a judge or a jury could show mercy in a case like this is insane!
I would recommend that you think about the definition of justice. No part of it says that the legal system cannot use reasoning and judgment. And only the most warped and twisted viewing of it would think that a 17 year old getting a BJ from a 15 year old deserves 10 years in prison and sex offender status.
I assume that if kids didn't have any clue that it was dishonorable, they'd do it in front of their parents, wouldn't they?
I think the law in GA defines a “minor” in sex crimes as someone under 16.
Frankly, I’m not seeing what is altogether unreasonable about the sentence in the first place, but leaving that aside, you didn’t answer my question.
How is an arbitrary system better? Seriously: how does that make for better policies? If there is no fundamental law (other than arbitrary whims of judges and prosecutors), how does one make decisions about his actions?
“Each one of these is a group that is hell bent on worshiping the law,...”
The sad part to me is that each one of these groups, excluding the jury, makes a living off of being hell bent on worshipping the law. They are highly motivated to ensure as many people are criminals as possible. Add to that the fact that many jurors are hell bent on ending their service as fast as possible, without consideration of the effects of their decisions, and you have a recipe for disaster.
I say change the law if you believe it should be. Or is every “exception” worth fighting in the singular, even when it is thousands of cases?
Sounds like someone who loves the legal profession and likes to see appeals lawyers fighting the same case one at a time for thousands of clients rather than getting them all off the books at once.
I see. Interesting. Is there state board in Georgia capable of granting pardons (akin to the Louisiana Board of Pardons)?
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