Any news on the Genarlow Wilson case?

[bluestateguy]

That story sure fell down a rat hole.

[angstlessk]

1. it did partly because people like you mention a non household name

WITHOUT ANY CONTEXT!!!

[TheDebbieDee]

2. Is Genarlow Wilson the African-American Georgia teen

that got a 10-year prison sentence for getting a BJ from a 15-year old white girl?

[aikoaiko]

4. In the big scheme of things it doesn't matter, but the girl was Black.

[MikeNearMcChord]

8. But so is the AG. But I guess he wants to be the next Clarence Thomas

[aikoaiko]

9. I support Wilson being released now and having his charge reduced, but as a mattter of law...

...the Appeals judge may have been too creative. I think the AG is more concerned about legal precedence than Wilson. I'm no lawyer, but that's how I understand it.

But the AG may be being pressured the Big Dawgs in the GA legislature. The legislature explicitly made the new law non retroactive for Wilson and they are none to happy to have an Appeals Judge do the opposite of their wishes.


Hopefully th Supreme Court can find a way to make everyone happy, but at least get Wilson out.

[Cerridwen]

3. I googled this...From June

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/offbeat/2007/06/justice_served_the_genarlow_wi.html

Unlike the final episode of The Sopranos, the tragedy of Genarlow Wilson has, at last, come to a very satisfying conclusion. The 17-year-old sentenced to a decade in prison because he had consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old, today was granted his freedom after almost 28 months behind bars. A Georgia appeals court judge called it "a grave miscarriage of justice," and reduced his aggravated child molestation charge to "a 12-month misdemeanor sentence with credit for time already served." For those who haven't been following the story, here is the background of the case:

"In 2003, Wilson was a 17-year-old senior at Douglas County High with a 3.2 GPA and football skills that had caught the attention of a several Ivy League schools. He was popular among students and teachers and had been voted Homecoming King. That all changed after a New Year's Eve party during which he received oral sex from a 10th grader. She was 15 and by all accounts the initiator. At the time, Georgia law stipulated that it was "a misdemeanor for teenagers less than three years apart to have sexual intercourse," but a felony for them to have oral sex. Despite the inconsistency in severity of the two laws, Wilson was found guilty of aggravated child molestation, which carried a mandatory decade behind bars. Since then the law has been changed to include oral sex under the misdemeanor category, but the Legislature neglected to make the law retroactive, leaving Wilson stuck in prison for over 27 months."

Finally, after months of embarrassing pressure from the media, politicians and human rights groups, someone has stepped up and seen how ridiculous that sentence was. And although the state can appeal this ruling, more would be lost in terms of money, reputation and respect if Georgia didn't do everything in its power to let this one go.
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I hope the information is accurate

[aikoaiko]

5. Wilson is still in the jail -- the State AG appealed the sentence reduction

and I think the State Supreme Court of GA is now sitting on the case.

[Cerridwen]

7. Thanks for the update. Though, shit, damn, shit. Not at you.

At the fact this kid is still sitting in jail and they're having a freaking pissing contest over this.

[aikoaiko]

6. He's still in jail and awaiting a decision from the GA Supreme Court

The Supreme Court hearing was back in July so I guess they weren't sympathetic to his request for bail, but hopefully they can find a way to release him on time served (and hopefully reduce his felony to a misdemeanor).

I think you haven't heard much because local media (including CNN) don't want to pressure the Supreme Court.