Posted on 06/12/2007 1:32:21 PM PDT by madprof98
Judge says Genarlow Wilson has served enough time for consensual teen sex offense, but attorney general fights ruling.
Genarlow Wilson, sentenced to 10 years in prison for receiving consensual oral sex in 2003 from a 15-year-old girl when he was 17, was ready to walk out of prison Monday after a judge granted his appeal.
But he was told he must remain behind bars while authorities decide if he should be granted bond while the attorney general's office appeals the judge's ruling.
Wilson, 21, learned Monday that his more than two years in prison were apparently coming to an end with the order by Monroe County Superior Court Judge Thomas H. Wilson.
Within hours, however, state Attorney General Thurbert Baker filed notice that he would appeal the ruling to the Georgia Supreme Court, arguing the judge had overstepped his authority.
That set Wilson's attorneys scrambling to free him on bond from the Burruss Correctional Training Center in Forsyth. But a prosecutor in the case would not immediately agree to a bond arrangement, Wilson's attorneys said. State prison officials said they would not release Wilson until they receive guidance from Baker's office or the court where he was originally sentenced in Douglas County.
One of Wilson's attorneys described a telephone conversation she had with Wilson after the judge's ruling.
"I just got off the phone with him," B.J. Bernstein angrily told reporters as Wilson's grim-faced mother quietly sat nearby. "He has now heard about the judge's opinion. Literally, people at the prison were saying, 'You are going home today. Congratulations. I want to say goodbye to you.' And I just had to tell that child he is staying there, that we don't have a bond for him, that we can't get him out."
The twists and turns in the case sent Wilson's attorneys and family through several emotional highs and lows Monday. His mother, Juannessa Bennett, praised the judge's ruling, calling it a "miracle." But by afternoon she was too worn out to speak, said a spokeswoman for her son's attorneys.
Bernstein, in a hearing last week, asked Judge Wilson to free her client from prison, asserting that his 10-year prison sentence and inclusion on the state sex offender registry were grossly disproportionate and violated the Constitution. She pointed out that the Legislature changed the law last year to make such an offense a misdemeanor punishable by a maximum of one year in prison.
The judge granted the appeal, agreeing Wilson's 10-year prison sentence "would be viewed by society as 'cruel and unusual' in the constitutional sense of disproportionality." The judge also changed Wilson's felony conviction to a misdemeanor without the requirement that he register as a sex offender.
"The fact that Genarlow Wilson has spent two years in prison for what is now classified as a misdemeanor ... and will spend eight more years in prison is a grave miscarriage of justice," Judge Wilson wrote in his order. "If any case fits into the definitive limits of a miscarriage of justice, surely this case does."
The judge added, "If this court, or any court, cannot recognize the injustice of what has occurred here, then our court system has lost sight of the goal our judicial system has always strived to accomplish. ... Justice being served in a fair and equal matter."
Baker's office responded in a statement to reporters Monday afternoon, saying Judge Wilson has "absolutely no authority ... to reduce or modify the judgment of the trial court, in this case, the Superior Court of Douglas County."
Baker's decision angered civil rights activists, who held a news conference outside his office Monday and called on him to back off the appeal or resign.
"Go —- as our designated champion of law and justice —- and urge the courts to set this political prisoner free," the Rev. Joseph Lowery, a veteran civil rights activist, wrote Baker on Thursday. "You are expected to be more than some robot obeying the whims [and errors] of some heartless machine. ... Where is your conscience, that you would allow this travesty to occur on your watch?"
Wilson was originally charged with raping a 17-year-old at a party on New Year's Eve of 2003, but he was acquitted. He was found guilty of aggravated child molestation involving the 15-year-old girl, a crime that carried a minimum 10-year prison sentence under the law at the time. Four other male youths at the party pleaded guilty to child molestation of the 15-year-old and sexual battery of the 17-year-old. A fifth pleaded guilty to false imprisonment.
Their party was captured on a profanity-laden and sexually graphic video filmed by one of the males. The video shows Wilson having intercourse with the 17-year-old and receiving oral sex from the 15-year-old. Wilson's appeal was filed in Forsyth because he is being held in that city in the Burruss Correctional Training Center. The state attorney general's office is representing Burruss' warden in the appeal.
A problem of precedent
Matt Towery, a Republican state House member from 1993 to 1997, said Monday it was never his intent to lock up teenagers involved in consensual sex acts when he authored the law in 1995 that Wilson was convicted under —- the Child Protection Act. The bill was intended to crack down on child molesters, but it was amended in the Senate, Towery said, to raise the age of consent from 14 to 16 —- meaning consensual sex acts with a 15-year-old could result in prison terms usually reserved for serious felonies.
"Needless to say I think justice was done [by Wilson's ruling]," Towery said. "This has been just an absolute nightmare to see young people such as Genarlow go to jail —- compounded by prosecutors and people lobbying —- using videotapes and everything in the world —- to try to keep him in jail."
State Senate President Pro Tem Eric Johnson (R-Savannah) said he worries about the legal precedent the judge set Monday by ordering Wilson freed. Johnson fought a bill this year that would have let a judge modify Wilson's sentence along with those of many others convicted of certain felony consensual sex crimes between teenagers. The bill failed.
"We have all said that was a harsh sentence," Johnson said of Wilson's 10-year term. "The precedent of this is what I'm concerned about. ... The Georgia Supreme Court already ruled on the constitutionality of some of this. I think this was another ... [judge] enjoying his 15 minutes of fame."
Baker is right to be concerned about legal precedents, said Ron Carlson, a law professor at the University of Georgia, who has authored many books on criminal trial procedures and evidence.
"One issue that attorneys general have to worry about is the so-called floodgate problem," Carlson said. "Since dozens and dozens have been sentenced under the law as it previously existed ... the attorney general may well be worried about hundreds of prisoners banging on their cell doors and demanding the same treatment as Genarlow Wilson. That is a valid concern."
The actual facts of Genarlow's case include a rejected offer of a plea bargain before he was ever sentenced as well as a continued rejection of a plea bargain in order to get a reduced sentence now. The Georgia AG explained it in a tiny little article tucked away in today's paper. The thing is that this punk and his dumbass mama, along with all the "civil rights" crowd, figure that every kid does a videotaped orgy on New Year's Eve, so why single out one guy just because one of his party partners was only 15 years old? Naturally, the AJC editorialists and "news" writers share this viewpoint.
So you think that a 17 year old having consensual sex with a 15 year old should be a felony? And that a 10 year prison sentence is appropriate? Nobody’s saying that what he did was classy or particularly admirable, but ten years?
The AG offered the kid a deal, as did the prosecutor, so that the sentence would be more reasonable. “Nobody’s saying that what he did was classy or particularly admirable,” eh? He wants a MEDAL for it! His mama wants to put it on her trophy shelf.
The kid has already spent 2 years in prison for something that shouldn’t have been a felony in the first place. Why should he accept a plea deal in order to allow the AG to save face? Why was he even arrested, let alone charged, in the first place? What would you consider a “reasonable” sentence for this “crime”?
Was force used in this case? I think it said everything was totally consensual. So in that case, the only thing to consider is he should really have thought twice about how young this girl was.
Sorry, it isn't possible to explain that to (1) a libertine liberal or (2) a lunkhead libertarian. I assume you are one of those.
Also I’m having trouble following your argument. In what way is Mr. Wilson a punk? I thought he was an honor student and a star football player with zero criminal record. I don’t approve of his actions, but I just don’t see how anybody is better off with him in prison — whether for one day or for ten years. Also, what do you mean by the Civil Rights Crowd? Is that a euphemism for black people?
I'm a conservative with some (not many) libertarian tendencies. But I'm being sincere here. What do you think is an appropriate sentence for a 17 year old who has consensual sex with a 15 year old?
The age of consent is 16. Therefore, a 15 year old cannot consent to anything.
Genarlow and the rest of this crowd are animals. Including the one that knocked up a 13 year old.
By the way, to all you idiots out there. Videotaping a 15 year old girl performing a sex act is manufacturing child porn.
We will be reading about Ganarlow again.
The punk already raped one girl and had a head job with another at a party. Had himself videotaped doing it.Not very bright is he?
He will return and people will be wondering ,why when he rapes or forces himself on the next woman ,why he was released and why his name wasnt on the register of sexual offenders. I feel sure we will hear from him again.
Exactly. If my daughter had sex in high school and I found out, I'd ground her. If I found out that her boyfriend videotaped her I'd use every means in my power to keep him away from her. But I wouldn't press charges -- that seems completely ridiculous. Not every immoral act is or should be a crime.
Who did he rape? Source?
He will return and people will be wondering ,why when he rapes or forces himself on the next woman ,why he was released and why his name wasnt on the register of sexual offenders.
You're still not answering the question: for the crime of having consensual sex with someone nearly his own age, what do you think the sentence should have been? Why is this so hard to answer?
The State offered “...a plea deal that would have allowed Wilson to plead to first-offender treatment, which would mean he would not have a criminal record nor would be subject to registering on the sex offender registry once his sentence has been completed. The plea deal could also result in him receiving a sentence substantially shorter than the 10-year mandatory minimum sentence for which he was originally sentenced, possibly leading to his release based upon time already served. Wilson, through his attorneys, rejected all of those offers.”
I guess the authorities are all libertine liberals or lunkhead libertarians as well. I can’t speak for the kid or his lawyer, but obviously they figure a juvenile (in most states)doesn’t have the mature judgement to turn down a head job at the time.
Yeah this kid must be sacrificed for the greater good...don’t want no stinkin floodgates.
I'm having a bit of trouble with this "consensual" label. At age 15, the girl in question cannot legally give "consent", so it isn't "consensual". And having read the *entire* article I discover that others were convicted of sexual battery on the the other girl. That implies coercion rather than consent. All these facts indicate that whatever occurred in the incident in question, "consent", as I understand the term, is questionable at best, and may have been the product of intimidation...
the infowarrior
I'm aware that the law is (or was) written that way. In your book do you think it should be legal for two fifteen year olds to have sex with each other, but if one turns 16 and they continue to have sex, you want the older one sent to prison on a rape charge?
Videotaping a 15 year old girl performing a sex act is manufacturing child porn.
Maybe I'm nuts, but I see a difference between a 45 year old videotaping a 15 year old and a 16 or 17 year old doing the same. Do you?
Sorry, it isn’t possible to explain that to (1) a libertine liberal or (2) a lunkhead libertarian. I assume you are one of those.
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I also do not think it is possible to explain it to a red neck racist.
Read again... As part of the same incident, some of the defendants friends ended up with sexual battery convictions for their actions with another girl. Even giving this 15 year old girl a legal ability to consent that the law doesn't allow, these other goings on paint an atmosphere where the "consent" might well have been attained through intimidation...
the infowarrior
The law was changed because of this case. The legislature never forsaw ranging legalism would lead to the prosecution of a kid for this. The legilature should have made it retroactive. It is a terrible miscarriage of justice and should be rectified. Why should the boy go to jail only? Why are girls not help responsible for their behavior?
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