Aww I feel so sorry for this little animal. He is where he deserves to be, should have gotten 25 years.
ATLANTA - In the winter of 2003, Genarlow Wilson's future seemed bright.
An honor student, standout athlete and homecoming king, the 17-year-old was preparing for the SAT he hoped would pave the way to college. A New Year's Eve party fueled by alcohol, marijuana and sex at a Douglas County hotel changed all that.
Mr. Wilson, now 21, is serving 10 years without the possibility of parole after a jury found him guilty of aggravated child molestation for having consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old girl that night.
The tough sentence has sparked protest, even from members of the jury that convicted him and the author of the 1995 law that put him behind bars.
"The law was designed to protect kids against really, really bad people doing very bad things," said the sponsor, former state Rep. Matt Towery, a Republican. "It was never intended to put kids in jail for oral sex."
Today, Mr. Wilson's legal team will again try to free him as a Monroe County Court hears a claim that Mr. Wilson's constitutional rights are being violated.
"This is a good kid who doesn't belong in prison," said Mr. Wilson's appellate lawyer B.J. Bernstein, of Atlanta.
Mr. Bernstein compared the case to the recent rape case involving Duke University lacrosse players. Prosecutors in both cases overreached, Mr. Bernstein said.
Mr. Wilson has now served more than 27 months in prison and his plight has become something of a cause clebr. That's largely because of the odd legal loophole that ensnared him.
If Mr. Wilson had had sexual intercourse with a teen, he would have fallen under Georgia's "Romeo and Juliet" exception. But under the law in 2003, oral sex for teens still constituted aggravated child molestation and carried a mandatory sentence.
Mr. Wilson's case shows how a law designed to go after child sex predators can have unintended consequences and criminalize consensual sexual activity between teens, said Karen Worthington, the director of the Barton Child Law and Policy Clinic at Emory Law School.
Georgia lawmakers in 2006 changed the law to make consensual oral sex between teens a misdemeanor, punishable by a maximum of one year behind bars. Offenders also would not have to register as a sex offender, as Mr. Wilson will be required to.
But the state's top court ruled that change couldn't be applied retroactively to Mr. Wilson's case. An attempt earlier this year to pass a bill that would provide Mr. Wilson a remedy stalled.
The effort was complicated by a homemade videotape showing the New Year's Eve party. On the tape, a 15-year-old girl can be seen performing oral sex on Mr. Wilson. It also shows Mr. Wilson and other male partygoers having sexual intercourse with a 17-year-old girl.
Prosecutors argued the 17-year-old was semiconscious and not capable of consent. A jury that watched the tape disagreed and acquitted Mr. Wilson of the rape charges.
The five other male partygoers took plea deals. Mr. Wilson's case was the only one that went to trial.
Comments
Aww I feel so sorry for this little animal. He is where he deserves to be, should have gotten 25 years.
Greenhulk how can you call this young man an animal when you don't even know anything about him. This young man is locked up for what many men do. It just so happens that he let the wrong young lady give him oral sex. First of all he had no idea she was 15. Secondly, it was consenual! She was the one giving the oral sex to him. She could of stopped at anytime. I will go further and say that i'm pretty sure this was not her first time giving oral sex so learn the facts befor you start to judge someone. There is nothing wrong with expressing different views but to judge a person before you know the facts is just ignorant!
greenhulk1980 you are a prude. Change that number to 1950 and go back to living in your fantasy world.
it must just be the mentally of todays young people-whatever happened to just keeping your zipper zipped.
maybe he will learn how to control himself while he's locked up!!!!
If the law was intended to stop the nasty old men from harming innocent "kids", why is this guy in prison? Makes no sense. It's the latest craze in witch hunts. I'm all for getting the creeps off the street, but these were teens who agreed to this behavior. Is the girl in jail too?
I don't see how anyone can say this guy is a "good kid." First of all what is he doing partying with minors! I personally don't care if he had intercourse or got oral sex. He was not a minor, she was a minor. What he did was against the law. Hello! He molested a 15 year old girl. So she consented, so what!!!! The bottom line is that he molested a 15 year old girl, and it probably wasn't the first time.
Would you want your 15 year daughter around this guy, I wouldn't. In my opinion he isn't a sex offender he is a sexual predator and belongs right where he is.
this is not fair to him, any way what was the 15 year old doing at party.
THis was consensual sex between two teenagers. The fact that this guy is being compared to a rapist, completely dilutes the horrors of rape. If this is the new standard then we are going to have to start locking up a lot of teenage boys who have consensual sex with their girlfriends. Am I condoning sex among teens, no, but I aslo don't think it should be a criminal offense that ruins young lives and overcrowds our prisons with people who shouldn't be there in the first place.
I think that Greenhulk1980 and BOBCAT are insensitive, illinformed uncaring prudes... Grown up ! I will also step out on a limb and say I hope this has nothing to do with his skin color as well !
I usually don't reply to these posts, but I had to. That law is for older dirty men, messing with younger girls. Here is situation if the kid was white he would have not done a day in jail. Also in the same county a white teacher was messing with his student, who was 16 & all he got was 90 days in jail. Once again this kid should not be in jail or any other kid that would fall under this dinosaur law!!! It is just like the Greenbier incident, but Judge Wheale did the right thing b/c that kid was going to go prison for at least 20 years!!!
Has anyone stopped to consider that this young man is the actual victim. As I understand the case, the 15 year-old performed oral sex on him. How does that make her a victim. I also understand that the young man was only 17 at the time this incident happened. At 17, this kid couldn't buy or cigarettes, alcohol or even enter into a contract, but because the wrong 15 year-*old gave him a blow, he's now a sex offender.
This reminds me of a case about 2 years ago in Georgia involoving the football players and the 2 young girls. The Boys were black and the girls were white, and there was a 16 year old white boy involved. The black boys were the only one charged. I do not agree with the sentencing because he is not a predator nor molestor. What he is and all the teens involved are misguided and teens who use very poor judgment. People are extremely judgemental, but I can guarantee that these types of parties are not unusual. Frankly, if anything they should be in jail for stupidity for filming the "event." In the old days the parents would be putting a foot up someone's [filtered word], but of course this cannot happen. I graduated in the early 80's and heard of such parties at motels. Parents need to teach their children to be more sexually responsible. Listen your boys aren't allowed to be boys! Those days are gone! They have to behave or they will go to jail.I m sorry for this young man, but it appears from the amount of stories that they don't learn. I will of course never give there type of stories any credence because the only ones ever arrested are black young men. White boys do the same thang!!
people need to wake up and realize that this os not the only time something like this happens. This type of behavior goes on all the time. Do anyone really believe that all these teenagers are waiting to have sex until they are adults. Be for real. America needs to wake up and stop trying to cover it up. It is to late for prevention. I think that the more you tell them not to in this generation, the more they want to do it. Times change and the people in AMERICA are just afraid of change. I truly believe that todays teens need to be taught a REAL (not a 1970 version) sex education class in school which needs to be mandatory. We have to face the facts that todays youth are sexually active. Parents need to get involved and educate their children. Thats the REAL problem. I feel sorry for this young fella. Unfortunately, the law is the law whether we like it or not. I believe he should be released. Im sure that he has learned his lesson after 27 months. Let the boy (no MAN) out. And I hope he can keep his head up. Even if he does do the whole 10 years, he still has a life. DONT LET ANYONE GET THE BEST OF YOU. IF IT DONT KILL YOU IT WILL ONLY MAKE YOU STRONGER.
The way this stupid law is written.. he could have had vaginal intercourse with her and he would not have gone to jail. But since it was oral sex.. the law considered it child molestation. That was the loophole. Even the author of the law has said he never intended for it to send people like hime to jail under these kinds of circumstances. The law was intended to target child predators.
greenhulk1980: I'm glad they showed a picture so you could draw that conclusion. You have some issues you need to deal with. Yours must be a pretty miserable life to have that much hate.
CTP I agreed with you to start with, until you brung race into it where it doesn't need to be.. I happen to know a white boy who had the same thing happen to him when he was newly 17 and with his 15 year old girlfriend. She cried rape because they broke up and almost ruined this guys life... fortunately.. the mistake was corrected at a later date. But to bring race in where it doesn't belong is pathetic... when are people like you ever going to stop using it for nonsense????????
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