Georgia Court Orders Man Freed in Sex Case

In 2003, a 17-year-old boy, honor student, star athlete, was convicted of aggravated child molestation for having consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old girl. He was sentenced to ten years in prison. Adult prison. Convicted of rape at 17 for having sex with another teenager, and sent to adult prison.

Does this sound as insane to you as it does to me?

It sounded insane to the Georgia Supreme Court, too; who last Friday, even though it took them four years to address the issue, finally overturned the conviction and sentence as "cruel and unusual."

Genarlow Wilson is a free young man, whose life was destroyed by an overzealous prosecutor.

I pray that Wilson will be able to continue his education and rebuild a life.

October 26, 2007
Georgia Court Orders Man Freed in Sex Case

By BRENDA GOODMAN

ATLANTA, Oct. 26 — The Georgia Supreme Court today ended the 10-year prison sentence of a man who was convicted in 2003 of having consensual oral sex with another teenager. The court said the harsh sentence violated the Constitution’s protection against cruel and unusual punishment.

In a 4-to-3 ruling, the court’s majority said the sentence was "grossly disproportionate" to the crime, which the justices said "did not rise to the level of culpability of adults who prey on children."

The inmate, Genarlow Wilson, who is now 21, was 17 when he was caught on videotape having oral sex with a 15-year-old girl at a drug- and alcohol-fueled New Year’s Eve party in 2003. He is expected to be released this afternoon.

Mr. Wilson, who is black, was convicted of aggravated child molestation for the act, a charge which carried a mandatory minimum prison term so harsh it shocked his jury and prompted an international outcry from critics who charged that prosecutors had been overzealous and racially motivated. The law, critics said, was meant to keep child molesters behind bars, not to curb teenage sexual activity. More . . .

The crazy law in the center of this miscarriage of justice has been re-written to hopefully prevent this from happening again. But, considering that it is Georgia, I hold no hope for anyone. If you live in Georgia, vote for liberals if you hope to have any chance of living in a civilized state.

Now is the time for Georgians to look at the Green Party and any other liberal-leaning option available to them. Even, God forbid, Democrats. Decent people throughout the South must work to remove conservatives from power, in hopes of avoiding further laws like this. It's really time to move into the Twentieth Century (I know I am asking too much to ask you to move into the 21st Century).



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