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10-Year Sentence for Teen Sex
Thrown Out June 11, 2007
By Shannon McCaffrey
Associated Press Writer
ATLANTA - A former high school
football star who became a national symbol for the extremes of
getting tough on sex offenders was ordered released from prison
Monday by a judge who called his mandatory 10-year sentence for
consensual teen sex "a grave miscarriage of justice."
But the joy felt by Genarlow
Wilson's family rapidly turned to disappointment as Georgia's
attorney general announced he would appeal, a move that will keep
the honor student behind bars for now.
Wilson's sentence was widely
criticized as being too severe, even by members of the jury that
convicted him and the author of the 1995 law that put him behind
bars.
His case became a cause celebre
that grew from local blogs and TV stations to national news shows
and editorial pages. Some supporters, including former President
Jimmy Carter, have said it raised questions about race and the
criminal justice system. Wilson and five other males charged in the
case are black, as are the two teenage girls involved.
"As far as I'm concerned, this case
is a throwback to Southern justice," said state Sen. Vincent Fort,
an Atlanta Democrat.
Wilson, homecoming king of his
school, has served more than two years of a mandatory 10-year
sentence for aggravated child molestation. He was captured on
videotape having consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old girl in 2003
when he was 17.
If the sentence stands, he would
also be placed on Georgia's sex offender registry.
At the time of his crime, Wilson
would have faced just one year in prison if he had sexual
intercourse with the girl. The "Romeo and Juliet" exception in
Georgia law also would have allowed him to avoid the sex offender
registry.
Lawmakers last year voted to close
that loophole. But the state's top court said the new law could not
be applied retroactively to Wilson, now 21.
Opponents of Wilson's release said
it could open a floodgate for other cases. Georgia prisons currently
hold 189 inmates who were sentenced for aggravated child molestation
when they were 21 or younger.
Of those, 56 percent were white and
44 percent black, state figures show.
Black community leaders planned a
protest outside Attorney General Thurbert Baker's office late
Monday. Baker, who is black, is now pushing to keep Wilson in
prison, arguing that his sentence is valid.
In his notice of appeal, Baker
argued that Georgia law does not give a judge authority to reduce or
modify the sentence imposed by the trial court. He said he would
seek an expedited ruling from the Georgia Supreme Court. And he
noted that a plea deal is on the table that would release Wilson in
a maximum of five years and also remove him from the sex offender
registry.
Not good enough, said Wilson's
lawyer, B.J. Bernstein.
"It is really ridiculous when you
consider that we had a judge that just said it is a misdemeanor that
carries no sex offender registration," she said.
"It is extremely, extremely
disturbing that the attorney general would take this action now."
Bernstein said her office was
seeking bond for Wilson, which would allow him to leave prison while
the appeal is pending.
The judge's ruling Monday threw out
Wilson's 10-year sentence and amended it to misdemeanor aggravated
child molestation with a 12-month term, plus credit for time served,
and he would not be required to 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 without assistance from this court, will spend
eight more years in prison, is a grave miscarriage of justice,"
wrote Judge Thomas H. Wilson, who is no relation to Genarlow Wilson.
"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
manner," the judge wrote.
When the judge's order arrived
Monday morning, Wilson's lawyers applauded and hugged his mother,
Juannessa Bennett, who wiped away tears.
"I just feel like a miracle
happened," Bennett said.
After the notice of appeal she
looked stricken.
"It's heartbreaking," Bennett said.
Wilson's prominent supporters
included Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who declared he would
boycott Georgia until Wilson was free, and Carter, who wrote a
letter in support of Wilson to the state attorney general.
The court battle over Wilson's fate
also drew comparisons to the rape charges leveled against Duke
University lacrosse players last year, with critics saying
prosecutors in both cases overreached.
Wilson was also charged with rape
for being one of several male partygoers at a hotel to have sex with
another 17-year-old girl, but was acquitted. The party was captured
on a videotape that was played for the jury.
The five other male partygoers took
plea deals in the case. One of them has been released from prison
and is now in college.
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