Ga. Supreme Court Hears Teen Sex Appeal

Attorney General Fights Release Of Young Man Sentenced To 10 Years For Oral Sex

(CBS/AP)  The courtroom was packed with supporters and cameras Friday as Georgia's top justices heard arguments over whether a young man serving a 10-year prison term for consensual oral sex with a fellow teenager should be freed.

The long punishment spurred angry protests and led the state to change the sentencing law. A state judge in June ordered the young man freed, but because of an appeal by the state attorney general, Genarlow Wilson remains behind bars.

"The Georgia Supreme Court is deciding two issues right now," said CBS News correspondent Peter Combs. "First of all, should a judge who ordered Wilson freed actually have standing in this case, and second, should Genarlow Wilson be allowed to go free on bond while the state continues to appeal that order?"

Wilson's lawyer, B.J. Bernstein, told the court's seven justices that Wilson's decade-long mandatory sentence violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

"Every day that a defendant spends in jail is a precious day in their life," Bernstein said.

Attorney General Thurbert Baker argues that the order to free Wilson, if upheld, could be used to help free some 1,300 child molesters from Georgia prison.

Wilson was convicted of aggravated child molestation following a 2003 New Year's Eve Party at a hotel room where he was shown on videotape having oral sex with a 15-year-old girl. Wilson was 17 at the time.

The 1995 law Wilson violated was changed in 2006 to make oral sex between teens close in age a misdemeanor, similar to the law regarding teen sexual intercourse. But the Supreme Court later ruled the 2006 law could not be applied retroactively.

The state Supreme Court had declined Wilson's appeal of his conviction and sentence, but the justices agreed to hear the state's appeal of a Monroe County judge's decision to reduce Wilson's sentence to 12 months and free him. The Monroe County judge had called the 10-year sentence a "grave miscarriage of justice."

Former state Rep. Matthew Towery, the author of the 1995 law, submitted a friend of the court brief supporting Wilson's release.

"The General Assembly never intended for the Child Protection Act's harsh felony sentences designed to punish adults who prey on children to be used to punish consensual sexual acts between teenagers close in age," Towery's brief said.

Bernstein argued that the law's changes in 2006 marked a "tectonic shift" in how Georgia views voluntary consensual teen sex. She also noted the rarity of legislation that softens punishment.

"The new reality is that teen sexual experimentation is commonplace in an era where the media bombards teens with sexual imagery," she wrote.

Baker countered that it is well established that criminals are subject to the penalty in place when the law is violated. To apply changes after the fact would invite chaos, he argued.

"It potentially affects countless others who may be in the prison system or on probation or who have completed their sentences," Baker wrote.

Outside court, satellite trucks and Georgia State Patrol cars lined the streets, reflecting the attention the case has drawn. A New York-based hedge fund manager volunteered to help post $1 million bond for Wilson, and hundreds of supporters, including civil rights leader the Rev. Al Sharpton, held a rally earlier this month demanding Wilson's release.

Wilson rejected plea offers, including one that prosecutors said would have allowed him to avoid being listed on Georgia's sex offender registry.

[tbweb]

Posted by Keithle1 at 12:20 PM : Jul 21, 2007,,,

The worst racist in the U.S. are not even Blacks or Whites, but those from India as quiet as its kept!

[keithle1]

I don't care about whites mixing with blacks or latinas or asians or none of that stuff. It's stupid teens having unprotected vaginal ***. Baby mamas. Oral & anal *** doesn't bother me. Can't get pregnant that way. Baby mamas have babies who grow up to be baby mamas. It's a neverending cycle.

[tbweb]

Every American culture has its group of racist and extreme racist. These racist try to impose and export their racist hatred on others and in most cases are successful. The worst thing these racist do is make non-racist feel uncomfortable and like they are doing something wrong by exchanging with other cultures and will exile them and stop communicating and including them in cultural exchanges if they don't stop. In extreme cases non-racist are forced to make a choice, continue freedom of expression by exchanging with whomever they please no matter the culture and being shut out and excluded by their own. What most actually end up doing is exchanging with other cultures in private out of view of the racist and appease the racist by acting like them when they are with their cultural group. I know a lot of Americans that are not racist in private but act like racist when they are with their cultural groups to fit in, some won't even speak to you or acknowledge you when they are with their cultural groups! TRUE!!!

[mcvet]

He should get time for his stupid first name but not for oral *** with a 15-year-old girl. Unless he put a gun to her head. God knows black girls start young to say the least. So do latinas.
Posted by Keithle1 at 09:20 PM : Jul 20, 2007
+ report abuse

I believe the Girl was WHITE and thus the crime in that state. Sieg Heil Y'all.

[mcvet]

If we had a Justice Department worth anything and a Civil Rights Division that wasn't being run by the Religious Reigh, they'd be investigating this matter. These people aren't babes in the woods folks, they have a long and dark history of some of the worst crimes against humanity. Ignoring the Criminal Past of this State and this region is turning a blind eye to the obvious!! Just because we passed a Law does not mean they just went away. If this isn't racism I don't know what is. Sieg Heil Bush

[slim1h2o]

Lawyers & Politicians: the OTHER cheap meat.
Posted by knyghtwolf at 08:44 AM : Jul 21, 2007

Well said,.... You can put Doctors in there as well. After all, they want meat too!! LOL

[knyghtwolf]

My daughter is 17 & will be 18 in September, & her boyfriend is 15, soon to be 16. I wonder if I should have any documentation for her or from his parents stating its okay for them to date. He is fairly mature for his age, while she is as well. They kiss and hug, just like other teens, but I see nothing wrong in her choice of a bf. I wonder if law makers are just getting hard up for things to prosecute or pass laws about since nothing seems to work right these days anyway. Lawyers & Politicians: the OTHER cheap meat.

[newton221]

I dont understand why if they were both minors, both werent charged. What if he was also 15 then would he have still been charged? Am i missing something? Wasnt the little *** actually the one committing a sexual act? This case makes no sense to me. They said the law was meant to keep adults from preying on children. OK. But 17 is not an adult. Is it? ***!!

[barleyhops07]

First of all (Keithle1), he didn't choose his name. Secondly, while I opted out of watching the video, from what I understand they were unsupervised teens, acting like unsupervised teens. Why doesn't the young girl have any publicized punishment? Anyone/everyone over 20 (?) should really look back on their lives and remember what it was like to be a kid. Good grief.

[keithle1]

He should get time for his stupid first name but not for oral *** with a 15-year-old girl. Unless he put a gun to her head. God knows black girls start young to say the least. So do latinas.