Posted on 10/26/2007 11:18:25 AM PDT by Publius Valerius
ATLANTA -- Georgia's Supreme Court on Friday ordered the release of a young man who has been imprisoned for more than two years for having consensual oral sex with another teenager.
The court ruled 4-3 that the 10-year sentence Genarlow Wilson received was cruel and unusual punishment, and it directed a lower court to reverse the conviction and release him. He has been in prison since Feb. 25, 2005.
Wilson's lawyer, B.J. Bernstein, said she expected Wilson would be released Friday afternoon from the Al Burruss Correctional Training Center in Forsyth, Ga.
"His mother is just thrilled. We're all in a little bit of shock," Bernstein said.
Wilson, 21, was convicted of aggravated child molestation following a 2003 New Year's Eve party at a Douglas County hotel room where he was videotaped having oral sex with a 15-year-old girl. He was 17 at the time.
Wilson was acquitted of raping another 17-year-old girl at the party.
The 1995 law Wilson violated was changed in 2006 to make oral sex between teens close in age a misdemeanor, similar to the law regarding teen sexual intercourse. But the state Supreme Court later upheld a lower court"s ruling which said that the 2006 law could not be applied retroactively.
Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears wrote in the majority opinion that the changes in the law "represent a seismic shift in the legislature"s view of the gravity of oral sex between two willing teenage participants."
Sears wrote that the severe punishment makes "no measurable contribution to acceptable goals of punishment" and that Wilson's crime did not rise to the "level of adults who prey on children."
State Attorney General Thurbert Baker said he accepts Friday's ruling.
Baker said he hopes the ruling will "put an end to this issue as a matter of contention in the hearts and minds of concerned Georgians and others across the country who have taken such a strong interest in this case."
The man who prosecuted Wilson, Douglas County District Attorney David McDade, said that while he disagrees with the court's decision, "I also must respect their authority as the final arbiter in this case."
Wilson"s supporters were jubilant.
"It's been a long time coming," said U.S. Rep. John Lewis, an Atlanta Democrat. "Each day that this young man spent in prison was a day too long."
Civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, who is visiting Georgia this week, called for an end to mandatory minimum prison sentences.
State lawmakers announced they had raised $4,000 toward a scholarship fund for Wilson, and Jackson promised another $5,000 from the Rainbow/PUSH organization.
The state Supreme Court had turned down Wilson's appeal of his conviction and sentence, but the justices agreed to hear the state"s appeal of a Monroe County judge's decision to reduce Wilson"s sentence to 12 months and free him. That judge had called the 10-year sentence a "grave miscarriage of justice."
Dissenting justices wrote that the state Legislature expressly stated that the 2006 change in the law was not intended to affect any crime prior to that date.
They said Wilson's sentence could not be cruel and unusual because the state Legislature decided that Wilson could not benefit from subsequent laws reducing the severity of the crime from a felony to a misdemeanor.
They called the decision an "unprecedented disregard for the General Assembly's constitutional authority."
Anyhow, I didn't see this posted and I thought it would be of interest.
Here's the opinion: http://assets.espn.go.com/media/pdf/071026/genarlowruling.pdf
Why is this on ESPN??? Is there some sort of sports angle I missed when I skimmed the story?
Which kid, the boy or the girl?
And do you really think it was 10 years' worth of "something wrong"?
So he had sex with 2 different teens at the same party? Sounds more like an orgy.
Videotaping the act with a 15 year old was okay in your book?
not to worry...he’ll be back in jail pretty qucik I imagine....this was not just one isolated incident....he apparently was on the edge of criminality for years....IMO....
He committed a crime and deserved to be punished, but not locked up for ten years.
Sympathy for the kid is irrelevant. The idea that you can change a law, decriminilizing something, and not alter convictions obtained under the earlier law strikes me as barbaric.
It brings out the urge to nullify in me.
He didn’t videotape it, someone else did.
He claimed he didn’t know her age.
BTW, I don’t know who put it on the headline, but this was NOT SODOMY.
“Wilson’s lawyer, B.J. Bernstein, said. . . “
Ironic.
He played HS football....
A few kids did something wrong as did the parents for not teaching them some responsibility.
I put it in the headline, because it is sodomy. Here is how it is defined in the Ga. Code: “[a] person commits the offense of sodomy when he or she performs or submits to any sexual act involving the sex organs of one person and the mouth or anus of another.” OCGA § 16-6-2 (a)(1).
Just wondering. If it was consensual, should the girl not have been punished as well? Just a question. I harbor no good thoughs towards a 17 year old who has relations with some less than his age. I just think that the juvinle courts would have something to say about the females in these situations where they are consenting to the activities.
I guess I don’t think it’s picky when the legislature speaks in a loud and clear voice and the court utterly ignores it.
So when Rob Lowe picked up a minor in a bar and had sex with her and a friend videotaped it, there should’ve been no charge either?
At least in that instance he was in a place where he expected to find ADULTS.
This whole thing was excessive, not to mention stupid. Who here can claim they did nothing remotely sexual in nature when they were a teenager?
Throw the first stone.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.