Why is he still in Jail?
I remember reading the story of Genarlow Wilson a while back. A 17-year-old high school student at the time of his “crime”, Genarlow was convicted of aggravated child molestation for consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old girl.
This case is eerily reminiscent of the case of Marcus Dixon, a black, 18-year-old high school senior who had consensual sex with a 15-year-old classmate. He spent a year in jail before his conviction was overturned. Like Genarlow Wilson, both of their “crimes” occurred in the state of Georgia.
This has resulted in a 10-year mandatory prison sentence for Genarlow, which he has been serving since February 2005. Upon his release, he will have to register as a sex offender. There are a couple of legal ironies with the case. The first is that, under Georgia law, the penalty for oral sex is greater than the penalty for sexual contact involving penetration. If he had had sex involving penetration, instead, it would have been a misdemeanor with a maximum of one year in jail.
The second irony is that the law that convicted him is now off the books and a more sane law, called the “Romeo and Juliet” law, is in effect to deal with consensual sexual contact between teenagers. Sadly, this is too late to help Genarlow.
Even more sad is that the Supreme Court of Georgia has refused to reconsider this case. Therefore, barring a U.S. Supreme Court decision in his favor or a pardon, Genarlow Wilson would be looking at another 8 years in prison.
To say Georgia law is screwed up is an understatement. But, to say that it is applied evenly would be naive. I refuse to believe that if Genarlow Wilson where white, it would have been considered anything more than a boy “sowing his wild oats.” But, Genarlow does not benefit from skin privilege so, conveniently, the law applies to him.
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What you and everyone else seems to be ignoring is the fact that this scumbag and his scumbag friends GANG RAPED a drugged 17 year old girl during this event. It is all on video. The poor girl went to the police and files rape charges immidiately.
Somehow the rape charge got dealt in favor of this one. Anyone seeing the tape can see clearly that they are GANG RAPING a drugged girl who cant even participate as they pass here around like a rag doll.
The level of immorality and ignornace is astounding.
February 27th, 2007 at 2:46 amWhat are you talking about? Obviously, you are the one who has no clue about this cases.
1) Genarlow Wilson was a 17 year old who engaged in consensual oral sex with a 15 year old. Even the girl’s mother now says the sex was consensual.
2)According to the girl’s friend, she had been drinking Hennessey all afternoon and packed a bag to go to the party, presumably to stay there all night. She drank and smoked marijuana at the party. Another friend, who did not drink, was also having sex with multiple guys. This friend says that the girl in question was a willing participant in the sexual encounters of that night.
3)In the video you talk about, the girl is seen propping herself up with her hands and is later helped up. After seeing the video, even the prosecutor knew he couldn’t get a rape conviction because of the consensual nature of the sex. So, instead, he convicted a minor for aggravated child molestation for oral sex. Also, despite what the prosecutor says, it was not mandatory to charge Genarlow under this law.
So, before you comment on something like this, you might actually want to research it first.
February 27th, 2007 at 7:57 am