Georgia judge voids 10 year sentence in conseunsual teen sex case.

Fox News ^

[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

[napscoordinator]

That is the South for ya. Man if I was on that jury, there is no way this young man would get 10 years for this unless there is something that we just don’t know. It is a shame that his life is ruined because of this.

[nyconse]

Having sex is not illegal. I am against it,but kids are getting drunk, high and having sex. It is not right to jail a black kid (no white kids having sex even though the exist were charged)for 10 years under a statue which has been repealed. It is not right. As for the earlier situation. It doesn’t look like rape to me. This girl went there,got drunk, high and had sex. The boys look wasted as well. I think it is sad that so many girls have no respect for themselves these days and behave that way. However, I do not think jailing the boys is fair or will stop it.

[nyconse]

They were all drunk including the boys...give me a break. These kids tape everything these days-sex, fights etc.

[muawiyah]

I was getting the distinct impression this kid was acting like one of those critters in Metal Hurlant ~ where people disintegrated into little more than sex organs.

An honor student really should be able to imagine himself as something a tad beyond that.

[riverdawg]

“Having sex is not illegal.”

In Georgia, with a 15 year old, it was and still is although under these circumstances it would now be a misdemeanor rather than a felony.

[blaquebyrd]

"I would venture to guess that if these had been the daughters of some Freepers now taking wilson's side, we might well be discussing murder charges and vigilante justice."

Well this FReeper's daughter wouldn't willingly pack an overnite bag and willingly go to a hotel room with 6 males and drink and do drugs. That's what you're missing here. This 15 year old bears some responsibility for her decisions. Just because she's 15 doesn't mean she is as pure as the driven snow. As my mom used to say there are some fast girls out here today.

[muawiyah]

It's like this, an adult goes out, gets drunk, kills somebody ~ he's a murderer. Same should apply to kids.

Right?

Being drunk or drugged doesn't mean you can commit a crime free of punishment.

[TKDietz]

This is typical of prosecutors. If you get charged with a crime, you are supposed to shut up and plead. If not, you should get hammered at trial. This is not so much about deterring others from engaging in similar criminal conduct, it’s about deterring others from taking their cases to trial. If the prosecutors are able to get a really long prison sentence for a defendant at trial, they don’t let attorneys with clients with similar charges forget about that. They make crappy offers and tell the defense attorneys to tell their clients that if they don't like the offers they just need to think about what happened to “so and so” when he took his case with similar facts to trial. Sex case like this are a dime a dozen. They happen all the time. A lot are worked down to non sex crime misdemeanors, and a lot of these kids end up with felony records and have to register as sex offenders the rest of their lives. Too many end up in prison. At least where I practice law it pretty much just comes down to whatever the “victim’s” family wants. If they want the guy to get hammered, he’s going to get a really bad offer.

[Abathar]

"Thank God-this case was an embarrassment to me as a Georgian. It probably was racist; I fail to see how such a verdict could have been rendered otherwise."

Actually his friends videotaped him of raping a 17 year old girl plus the minor girl's BJ. The charge is was convicted on was a plea bargained down charge, had he been charged with the original rape charge he could have been serving 15 to 20. This kid was not just some 17 year old that was discriminated against, in fact I think the DA will appeal the judges reduction of charges.

[nyconse]

I specifically said not drinking or speeding etc. Also, no I would not make a blanket statement like that. The girl packed a suitcase and for whatever twisted reason got plastered, drugged and engaged in consensual sex with drunk, drugged boys. I fail to see why this should be punished with years in prison for the boys.

[Millers Cave]

From the article: Judge Wilson agreed the 10-year prison sentence "would be viewed by society as 'cruel and unusual' in the Constitutional sense of disproportionality."

I don't think the judge was out of line at all.

[nyconse]

How was it rape? The girl was partying with them. She said yes...I think those other boys scared into accepting such lengthy sentences were mistreated as well.

[LexBaird]

If you take that away, as it advocated, it becomes impossible to judge the probability of any sort of outcome at all;

That is a straw man argument. That is not at all what is being advocated. There remains a "general" idea of outcome, without resorting to an absolute outcome. Allowing for exceptions to the rule is not the same as eliminating the rules; but a recognition that human rules cannot anticipate all human actions.

Even if they could, I would not want to live in a society where they were used. It would be a place where all that is not forbidden is mandatory.

[muawiyah]

Because getting drugged is a violation of the law. Just because the girl is violating another law is no reason to let any of the guys off the hook.

[Shimmer128]

Yeah they do tend to be like them, nevertheless there is no proof or allegation that he did that.

[nyconse]

Listen, are you from Georgia? For your information, the law has changed. I do not believe the DA will win. He is trying to hold this kid in jail using a law which was changed in the last year or so when GA legislators have clearly stated, it was not their intent to jail teen-age boys for consensual sex-sorry I’m betting/hoping he gets out.

[CJ Wolf]

“How can it be “statutory rape” if the perp was a minor too?”

Maybe he was tried as an adult. /s

[TKDietz]

“Let’s have amnesty for all sex offenders then. Everybody’s doing it, right?”

No one here is asking for anything like that. I think most people would just like to see punishments fit crimes. We want to think that our criminal justice system is a reasonable and fair system.

You always seem to enjoy taking the uber hard-ass stance in these threads on crime and punishment. I hope you really don’t believe all the things you say. I know you’d change your tune if your kid or someone you really care about was facing this sort of trouble.

[gogeo]

Before understanding law one must understand ethics and justice. The law is only a crude approximation of this. And this "rule of law" people keep going on about is nothing more than the arbitrary enforcement of the crude approximation of ethics and justice. Doesn't sound so pretty or noble in those terms does it?

You debate like a lib...that is, you misstate your opponent's argument, rather than addressing it. It's adolescent in nature...

I agree that "justice" and "ethics" are great ideals, except...we as a society haven't agreed upon what "justice" means, and "ethics" is used less and less as a basis in law.

You accuse me of "worshipping" the law...I think you are incredibly naive about judges. That's why I (with good company) worry more about arbitrary actions from judges than legislatures.

I recognize the law is at best an imperfect instrument for justice. That's why I support original intent, because I fear philosopher/king judges more than elected legislators. It's not perfect by definition, but IMO less flawed than judicial activism. Right or not, this ruling has gutted this law...the new law will be applied retroactively, though the state legislature pointedly did not do so.

Results based judicial rulings are lib ideals, not conservative.

BTW, I disagree with your viewpoint on the law itself...I believe it's a totally appropriate use of law, and I would support it. The lame rationalizations I've heard makes advocates sound like Clinton supporters, circa 1999-2000.

It appears Clinton has won the final victory, even among so-called conservatives.

[muawiyah]

He was the only one to get off. All the other guys were punished. Really hard to believe a guy whose history is arguably that of a serial rapist could be in the midst of a gang rape (of another underage girl) and manage to escape doing something.

There'll be a third, or maybe a fourth or fifth rape involving this fellow now that he's out of jail ~ might even be today ~ when he feels "justified" ~ and we'll hear about it.