Genarlow Wilson freed by GA Supreme Court

just saw the story in LBN :)

I hope he makes millions on the book/tv rights. His story should be told.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5248128.html


Court orders release of teen imprisoned for having oral sex

By DANIEL YEE
Associated Press

ATLANTA — Georgia's Supreme Court today 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 Genarlow Wilson's 10-year sentence was cruel and unusual punishment. Wilson's lawyer, B.J. Bernstein, said she expected Wilson would be released this 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."

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.

He got that sentence in the first place because the authoritarian fuckwad voters made it the law.

edit to change 'be' to 'bet' in the post title.

What a cute kid. How many of our own children have done the same thing?

Not necessarily just our children.

The Georgia Supreme court :)

I'm glad he was released.

Jesus Christ. That's so fucking ridiculous I can't even believe it. Guy got a blowjob from a sophomore when he was a senior. Half the teen movies in American could be considered child pornography on this basis.

What the fuck is wrong with those people down there!

Then I will trust that it's true.

My trust factor is in the red.

but what I meant, was to see proof that he had/has been released.

I've read five articles in Google news and they all say the same thing. He will be released, not he has been released.

This young man has been insanely f'd over. And I do not trust that someone will not pull some late moment bs.

he's out.

Published 10/26/07 at The Times-Herald Online

By The
ASSOCIATED PRESS



FORSYTH, Ga. (AP) — Genarlow Wilson has been released from prison after serving two years for consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old girl.

The Georgia Supreme Court ruled Friday that his 10-year sentence for committing a consensual sex act as a teen amounted to cruel and unusual punishment.

Wilson was convicted of a felony charge of aggravated child molestation in 2005 for receiving oral sex from a 15-year-old girl while he was 17.

The Legislature has since changed that law so that situation now would be considered a misdemeanor.

Wilson's case received national attention as he fought for the sentence to be reversed.

:applause: :applause: :applause:

About time.

...especially the blocking by the AG....what DICK!!

woulda been on the street a hella lot sooner.

...it would have been brushed off as "boys will be boys." The most you would have seen would have been someone blaming the girl for being a "slut."

:eyes:

If her folks were politically connected though the cops just woulda scared the shit outta him and fucked up his sexual relations for the next twenty years.For all the progress made there is still a lot of primitive thought in the deep south.

on MSNBC NOW!!!!!

That coverage made me smile.

Free at last.

"It looks like we may be near the end for Genarlow, but let me emphasize there are a thousand -- ten thousand -- Genarlows," said state Sen. Vincent Fort (D-Atlanta)."

...but I'm really, really surprised.

This struck me as an open-and-shut case for a "strict constructionist" court. Did the legislature have the right to enact such a law with such penalties in the first place? Yes. Was the case against Wilson properly conducted? Yes. Did the legislature then have the right to change the law without making it retroactive? Definitely yes. Therefore, I saw little that the court could do except uphold the sentence.

The fact that it didn't, and made the decision invoking the "cruel and unusual" provision, is an amazing burst of activism. And it raises the question, which may echo in other courts in other states -- if 10 years for having underage sex is cruel and unusual, what else is? Perhaps life without parole for three "strikes" of shoplifting?

If you read the courts opinion you will see they used a good methodology for determining cruel and unusual punishment. It would not apply to reams of other cases as one of the dissenting judges believed.

:thumbsup: