Georgia's Teen Sex Law Faces Fight

In 2003, 17-year-old Genarlow Wilson was an honors student, standout athlete and homecoming king preparing for his SATs with an eye toward college. But that all changed after a New Year's Eve party involving alcohol, marijuana and sex.

Wilson, now 21, is serving 10 years without the possibility of parole after a jury found him guilty of aggravated child molestation for having consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old girl that night. He was charged with rape for being one of several male partygoers to have sex with a 17-year-old girl, but was acquitted.

Wilson's sentence has been widely criticized, even by members of the jury that convicted him and the author of the 1995 law that put him behind bars.

"The law was designed to protect kids against really, really bad people doing very bad things," said the sponsor, former state Rep. Matt Towery, a Republican. "It was never intended to put kids in jail for oral sex."

On Wednesday, Wilson's legal team will again try to free their client as a Monroe County Court hears a claim that Wilson's constitutional rights are being violated.

The lawyers will argue that his legal counsel during his 2005 trial was ineffective. Among other things, his lawyer did not subpoena the 15-year-old to testify. The petition also argues that the sentence was grossly disproportionate.

Wilson's appellate lawyer, B.J. Bernstein, compared the case to the recent rape case involving Duke University lacrosse players, saying prosecutors in both cases overreached.

Wilson has served more than 27 months in prison. His case has become something of a cause celebre, largely because of the legal loophole that ensnared him.

If Wilson had had sexual intercourse with the 15-year-old he would have fallen under Georgia's "Romeo and Juliet" exception. But under the law in 2003, oral sex between teens constituted aggravated child molestation and carried a mandatory sentence.

Wilson's case shows how a law designed to go after child sex predators can have unintended consequences and criminalize consensual sexual activity between teens, said Karen Worthington, director of the Barton Child Law and Policy Clinic at Emory Law School.

Georgia lawmakers in 2006 changed the law to make consensual oral sex between teens a misdemeanor punishable by a maximum of one year behind bars. Offenders do not have to register as sex offenders, as Wilson will be required to do.

But the state's top court ruled the 2006 change couldn't be applied retroactively to Wilson's case. An attempt earlier this year to pass a bill that would provide a remedy for Wilson has stalled.

The effort was complicated by a homemade videotape showing the New Year's Eve party. On it, a 15-year-old girl can be seen performing oral sex on Wilson. It also shows Wilson and other male partygoers having sexual intercourse with the 17-year-old.

Prosecutors argued that the 17-year-old was semiconscious and not capable of consent. But a jury that watched the tape disagreed and acquitted Wilson of the rape charges.

Despite that acquittal, Douglas County District David McDade told WXIA-TV in March that "six young men basically gang raped a 17-year-old." McDade did not return a phone call from The Associated Press seeking comment.

Wilson's most vocal critic has been Georgia's top Republican senator, Eric Johnson, of Savannah.

"This was not two star-crossed lovers on a date," Johnson wrote in an opinion piece opposing the bill written to help Wilson.

The five other male partygoers took plea deals. Wilson's case was the only one that went to trial.