Save Marcus?
 

What do you guys think of this? I live in GA and remember hearing about it on the news.....I'm not sure what to think and wanted your opinions.



http://www.act4justice.com/marcus_with_family1.jpg

The following is a story that is both shocking and outrageous and should never happen in America. This situation so infuriates us that we are doing everything we can to change the outcome.

There is an 18 year old African American honor student -- Marcus Dixon -- in Rome, Georgia who is spending ten years in prison for having consensual sex with a white classmate who was just three months shy of 16 yrs old at the time they had sex. Although a jury acquitted Marcus of rape and three other counts of violent acts, the prosecutor also charged him with "aggravated child molestation." Consensual sex with a virgin fits into the technical reading of this Georgia statute. The statute has never been applied to consensual sex between two teenagers with less than three years age difference, until now. I believe the result is a horrible injustice, especially because Marcus overcame a troubled childhood to excel in academics and athletics. What follows are the general details.

In February 2003, Marcus Dixon, was a senior in high school. Marcus is not your typical senior. He had a 3.96 grade point average, a 1200 on his SATs, and was all state in football. He was offered scholarships to every major school in the South but chose Vanderbilt University because he felt they were the best academically. In essence, this alone, made Marcus a star. Think about it, how many all-State football players carry a 3.96 grade point average? How many high school kids at all have a 3.96 and a 1200 on their SATs? Statistically speaking, not many. This alone set Marcus apart from the other seniors in his class.
But there is more.

Marcus was born in Rome, Georgia a rural town about 70 miles outside of Atlanta that still carries much of the prejudices and complications of the deep South. Marcus' biological mother is a drug addicted career criminal who has been in and out of prison since Marcus was a baby. His biological father never had anything to do with him. Most kids born into this situation have little or no chance of succeeding. Yet Marcus defied the odds. When Marcus was ten years old, a local white family became his legal guardians. Why is this relevant? In a town where many still believe that blacks and whites should not mix, this family took Marcus in and raised him as their own.



Again, most children born into Marcus' situation barely survive. Marcus is the exception. Beyond all the odds and probabilities he is a star. So what happened? How did this star come crashing down?




It started in February 2003. Marcus had sex with a girl just shy of sixteen. She was a virgin. She is also white. Two days later, she accused Marcus of rape. Some speculate she made the accusation because she was afraid of her admittedly racist father. Regardless of the reasons, a jury of nine white jurors and three African Americans took only 15-20 minutes to determine, after hearing all the evidence, that Marcus did nothing wrong. The jury decided that the incident was no more than two teenagers having consensual sex. Based on the girl's own testimony, it is amazing they ever brought charges against Marcus. And yet, in the rural town of Rome, Georgia, where there is still some KKK rumblings, 9 white and 3 African American jurors found her story to have absolutely no basis in fact. So why is Marcus in prison? How is it possible that a high school boy who had consensual sex with a classmate is in prison for ten years?

Marcus was indicted under six different statutes under Georgia law. Four of the statutes include use of force. He was acquitted on all charges that included force. The jury was very specific. It was not even close. It is not that they had reasonable doubt...they had no doubt - the sex was consensual. The girl was not there against her will.

The prosecutor, in what can only be perceived as an act of complete disregard for the law, facts and justice in general, included a charge of "aggravated child molestation". Under Georgia law, if anyone (age of the perpetrator is irrelevant - he could be 15) has sex with a minor (under 16) that results in an "any injury", he is guilty of "child molestation". The jury deliberated for hours on this charge. In the end, technically, this situation fell under the purview of the statute as written. Marcus, admittedly had sex with the girl, she was under 16 (by three months), and, again admittedly, she was a virgin. It was the fact that she was a virgin that resulted in the Guilty verdict. You see, she sustained an "injury" as a result of intercourse. Technically, he is guilty.

The absurdity of charging a high school boy with child molestation for consensual sex with a high school girl is beyond description. In essence, every girl in Georgia that loses her virginity before 16 can charge the boy with aggravated child molestation. By definition, he is guilty, even if he is younger than the girl. Taken to further extremes, if a teenager gives another teen a hickey (technically an "injury"), he or she is guilty of aggravated child molestation the way this statute was drafted. Clearly, this was not the legislative intent. In fact, no high school boy or girl has EVER been charged with child molestation of a classmate less than three years his or her junior, until Marcus. Never. In the history of Georgia, Marcus is the only one in prison for consensual sex with a girl less than three years younger.




While the jury found him guilty, they had no idea of the consequences. They assumed Marcus would be released immediately. In the jurors own words, the look of horror across their faces when the judge sentenced Marcus to ten years minimum could be seen by everyone. They never knew the consequences. They could not fathom that a boy could go to jail for consensual sex, and certainly not for 10 years with no possibility of parole. And yet he has.

Why the prosecutor charged him under a statute that was clearly designed to apply to adult sexual predators of minors is beyond understanding. How the judge could allow the charge to stand is unconscionable. What their motives or rationalizations, one can only speculate. This is the kind of injustice that we Americans like to think is reserved for third world countries.






So what can you do to help?


At a minimum,

1) Sign the petition.

2) Forward this website to everyone you know.

3) Go to the website Helpmarcus.com and read more.

4) Write to Marcus so that he knows there are people out there who care.



If inspired,

1) There is a fund set up for the family. They are seriously in debt from the original legal costs of Marcus defense and upkeep of the costs of Marcus' incarceration. Click here for donation address.

2) Contact us directly if you are interested in helping.


There are moments in life where the injustice is just too great for people of conscience to sit idly by. We believe this is one of those situations. We are committed. We hope you join us.




http://www.act4justice.com

shaking my head....
 

this is so sad and pathetic!

This is unfortunate. When I saw this story profiled on RealSports (I love that show!!), I cried.

The spin is however, he was accused earlier of sexual harassment. I cannot recall specifically what happened.

my heart truly went out to marcus. i hope they can rectify this situation, but who knows with so much institutitional racism going on :(

This is so sad :(...I wonder though about the "sexual harassment accusation" :confused:

Help Marcus Dixon February 25th, 2004

Hello all,

There have been big days in the fight to free Marcus Dixon from prison. But few may be bigger than this Thursday, February 26th, when Oprah Winfrey dedicates a show to the case.

Check Oprah's site for your local listing for air times.

I know several teachers from this school. They say that Marcus has had several--I don't know what to call this--"sexual" incidents at school over the years, including indecent exposure. I don't remember all the details. One teacher's husband has been telling me about this kid for years and I never even knew he was black until he went to trial and the picture was in the paper. I don't know what race the girl is in the case since she hasn't been pictured.

Anyway, the media is trying to make it out like he's this poor mistreated guy but there's so much that hasn't even come to light.

I'm watching Oprah now and the girl seems like she's lying. Some of the things she's saying just don't add up and she "can't remember" a lot of specific details. Her story just seems like it has a lot of holes in it.

Ashame
 

I wish the best for him b/c it does seem like he is so talented and have come through so much to just end up in jail. My heart goes out to him and his family. Lord only knows what is to come for the girls family I personally do not believe them.

Go visit one of the websites for Marcus Dixon
http://www.act4justice.com/

You can send him or his family things to show your support.

Free Marcus Dixon

I'm watching it now...:rolleyes:.:mad:

I feel for Marcus and his family and pray that his conviction/jail sentence is overturned.

The young ladies attorney brought up past accusations of sexual harrasment. Maybe a lawyer can address this, but I thought that past incidences could not be a factor in trials.

Even if it's true, I didn't feel that the young lady was telling the truth. She will stick to her story probably to avoid having her father tell the truth.

I don't believe that it had nothing to do with race, as the police officer stated. If you ask most white people, it never has anything to do with race.

History shows that white people are more willing to believe that a black person did "it."

They did a special on this issue on Nightline, and I have to agree with Nightline that the media seems to be a bit biased towards Marcus. Now that is a rarity for the media to be biased in the favor of a black male, but he also has a history of exposing himself and other lewd sexual bahavior. Now, even if he is guilty, he did not deserve the time he got, but I think he should be punished for having sex on school gounds...something like community service and probation.
Just my thoughts.

Guys, if you knew some of the stuff he did in high school, you wouldn't be supporting him. Let me just say that he went to a high school where the jocks had free reign...teachers said that jocks would be reported for sexual harassment and the administrators would ignore the reports or try to embarrass the girls who tried to report them. Athletes didn't have to take finals. Teachers were pressured to give athletes high grades, I'm told. I'm surprised that he managed to get away with some stuff he did as long as he did but then all I have to do is consider the high school.:mad:

1. were the alleged assaults reported to the police?
2. was he ever counseled for these alleged incidents?
3. if the alleged assaults were ignored by administration, the next stop would be the school board AND the police AND the local TV station.

I dont think anyone is arguing about his guilt b/c sex did occur. My issue is the ambigiuity (sp?) of the law, and the excessive amount of time he received.

I don't know what all happened regarding the police and the school board. When this case became public, the principal who was behind all the coverups suddenly "retired" and all the incidents of indecent exposure, etc., came to light. The board freaked out...several students and teachers were talking about what they'd been told would happen to them if they pursued trying to report him.

I wish I could remember more details but this has been happening over a period of several years and my kids don't attend that school so I don't spend much time thinking about it.

As a woman, I am very sensitive to sexual assault cases. Please note, he was acquitted of rape. The aggravated molestation and statutory rape charges are ridiculous. It was a witch hunt. They were classmates! I'm just upset that R.Kelly is walking around and this boy is in jail. Statutory rape should not have been applied in this instance.

I'm sorry, but I am watching Oprah right now and I am INFURIATED! I really believe this girl is not telling the truth. My money is on the dad. Somehow pops found out and threatened her or something and this was the story she came up with in the heat of the moment. This smacks of the white women who claimed the black man raped her a few years ago and it utlimately came out the she lied, oh heck this has happened so many times its rediculous!

I am so mad right now.

With this case, I think that "our" youth have to reconnect themselves with the times of the 50s and 60s. Just recently as the late 90s that young man in Mississippi was found hanging from a tree IN FRONT of his yard. It was supposedly a suicide....YEAH RIGHT! He had ties to a nonAA female. Then he comes up DEAD.

Man, these kids need to wake up and realize that history repeats itself and crying RAPE after you have had concentual sex isn't new and part of that history. :rolleyes: When will WE learn?

Watch where you put it!

WAKE UP YOUNG PEOPLE!

my sentiments exactly!!!! Be cordial to nonAAs but be careful!!!! ALWAYS!!!

I'll cosign on that:(

Really good point about being cordial but careful
 

One suspects that Kobe Bryant should also have taken this advice.:mad:

NAACP RALLIES FOR JUSTICE AND MERCY IN MARCUS DIXON CASE
CANDLELIGHT VIGIL AT STATE CAPITOL SEEKS SENTENCE
REDUCTION, AND REPEAL BY GEORGIA SUPREME COURT
TEENAGER SERVING A MANDATORY 10-YEAR SENTENCE

NAACP, President & CEO, Kweisi Mfume will lead the Georgia State Conference of NAACP, branches and student leaders in a rally and candlelight vigil for teenager Marcus Dixon, who is currently serving a 10-year sentence and who's case is before the Georgia Supreme Court on appeal. The vigil will be held at 6 p.m. at the Georgia State Capital in downtown Atlanta.

Last February, Dixon who was 18 at the time was accused of having of sex with a 15-year, 9-month-old female schoolmate. Dixon says the relations were consensual, but through what has been termed as a misapplication of Georgia law was convicted of misdemeanor statutory rape and aggravated child molestation, which carry a mandatory 10-year sentence with no hope of parole. Dixon is black and his female schoolmate is white.

Mfume said: "The conviction of young Marcus Dixon is an extremely unfortunate example of what can happen to young blacks, Latinos and poor whites when punishments for offenses are unfairly and unevenly applied. Some of the jurors in the original trial believe Marcus did nothing more than have consensual sex with a classmate. These jurors said the prosecution's presentation caused them to convict Marcus of what they thought were much lesser crimes that would result in Marcus going home rather than to jail. We recognize that this could be anybody's son or daughter and that teenagers don't always make the right decisions when it comes to sex, but we appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court Justices to show mercy in this case and order Marcus's release from prison."

Dixon has been locked up since last year. His lawyers argue the conviction is indeed a misapplication of the Georgia aggravated child molestation law. Currently, the case is before the Georgia Supreme Court, which is due to render a decision this spring. The Court has the power to overturn the mandatory sentence and send the case back for further review.


The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization. Its half-million adult and youth members throughout the United States and the world are front line advocates for civil rights, social justice and equal opportunity under law.

Dixon case distortions color justice

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 03/16/2004

Dixon case distortions color justice
Jim Wooten










A few words about the Deep South, race, Marcus Dixon -- and public relations justice.

The Dixon case -- he being the promising Rome athlete serving 10 years in prison for sexually violating a 15-year-old -- is an example. But it's not, as Dixon supporters portray it, an example of "Deep South justice," a prejudicial characterization framed to elicit images of night riders, lynch mobs and institutional racism because he is black and the victim is white.

It is, rather, an example of the distortion that triumphs when justice is defined after the fact by sports and entertainment figures, stereotypers and a public relations machine determined to undo a verdict and sentence.

The victim, who was a virgin prior to the encounter, still denies she consented to sex with Dixon, a fellow student whom she barely knew. At the time of the offense she was working an after-school job as a custodian, cleaning a classroom trailer. The victim, according to Floyd County District Attorney Leigh E. Patterson, "sustained physical injuries which included bruising on her arms where she testified the defendant grabbed her" as well as vaginal injuries, and "her lip was bleeding from where she bit it during the attack."

The jury found Dixon guilty of statutory rape and aggravated child molestation. It found him not guilty of rape, sexual battery, aggravated assault and false imprisonment. "The jury's verdict of not guilty on those charges does not include any affirmative finding that the victim consented to the defendant," says Patterson. Whether any of them thought the mandatory 10-year sentence inappropriate is, she argues, beside the point. The jury's job is to decide guilt or innocence.

While some actual jurors have expressed reservations to sports and entertainment jurists, Bobby Bolinger, the foreman of the jury that consisted of five white males, four white females, one black female and two black males, told the Rome News-Tribune after the verdict: "I wouldn't change it [the decision] at all. We didn't ruin that man's life; he ruined his own life."

Some jurors did have misgivings -- especially after discovering that Dixon would be required by Georgia law to serve 10 years in prison. Nobody was present when the crime occurred except Dixon and the victim.

Dixon did not testify. As is often the case with post-conviction publicity campaigns, the victim ceases to be real. It is routinely recounted as gospel that she consented. She vehemently denies that.

Largely ignored, too, are previous examples of Dixon's inappropriate sexual behavior.

At trial, one female student, a classroom acquaintance who had no outside friendship with Dixon, testified that without warning he exposed himself to her in the classroom three years ago.

A second female, a 14-year-old sports acquaintance who had no outside friendship with Dixon, testified that after practice in April 2002, he put his hand down the front of her cheerleader shorts, inside her underwear, and attempted to "finger me against my will." She did not scream, but pushed him away. "He got mad and ran off, calling me a chicken," she testified. In neither case did the girl report the offense to teachers. In both, though, teachers subsequently found out. Dixon was suspended, but was not required to undergo therapy.

When asked by Detective Gary Conway about the two episodes, Dixon acknowledged that in his sophomore year he had been suspended for exposing himself. "Uh, just stupid, . . . girl ask me to just, you know." In his junior year, he acknowledged, a girl "said that I touched her." Where? he was asked. "Chest, I think, or something like that."

In that interview, he first denied knowing the third victim. Then he admitted he did, but only by her first name. He eventually admitted having sex with her, but insisted that it was voluntary and in his bedroom.He never acknowledged being in the trailer.

In that encounter, there was but one victim. It was not Marcus Dixon.

Hello Ladies of Delta Sigma Theta,

Pardon me, but I just had to add in on this thread. There has been a vast amount of incorrect assumptions in this case. In reference to the article placed above my post, the "incidents" cited have been disputed by numerous members of Marcus's school. The young lady who said Marcus "fingered" her did not report this "molestation" until after the case became public. Also, it hasn't been metioned that after the charges were brought several detectives went to the high school and basically "coached" girls into giving statements against Marcus. I'm not saying he's innocent, I don't know and that really doesn't matter because the jury said he wasn't. All states have the ability to enforce "harsh" punishments for those who have sex with a minor, but TEN YEARS? Seeing as GA is the SAME state that a few months prior to this gave a White male 18 months for molesting a 4 yr old child, something seems fishy. Also, the detective who many of you saw on Orpah has been cited as a "racialist" and was dropped from a case several years ago due to his "choice of words."
This is a very sad, sad, case. As someone stated previously, when will people learn? Just because it's 2004 doesn't mean people have changed, they've only gotten older.

Ga. Court Overturns Black Teen's Sentence
55 minutes ago Add U.S. National - AP to My Yahoo!


By MARK NIESSE, Associated Press Writer

ATLANTA - A black teenager's 10-year prison sentence for having sex with a younger, white schoolmate was thrown out Monday by the Georgia Supreme Court.



The state's highest court ruled 18-year-old Marcus Dixon should have been prosecuted just on the lesser charge of misdemeanor statutory rape rather than aggravated child molestation for having sex with a 15-year-old in February 2003.


Dixon has claimed he was targeted because he is black and had sex with a white girl. His case drew protests from the NAACP.



http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...n_sex_charge_1

LTWMFAAFOYDL!

Interesting....

I was wondering what had happened to this case. I am glad to hear this. Unfortunatley, I think his life is still ruined.

Does anyone know if he has served a year already? Will he be released immeadiately for time served?

I think if he goes out of state he may be able to get away from the stigma (unless the media follows him as he applies to school etc or if he has to register as a sex offender). I hope he learned his lesson about dealing with the others...otherwise he'll end up right back in this with Kobe and won't be given the benefit of the doubt since they'll claim he has a "pattern" of this behavior.

True. He will have to deal with people who feel his was guilty for the rest of his life. However, he has the support of a lot of people. So, he may not confront the same hardships that other people who were accused of rape face due to the notoriety of his case.

has anyone gotten any updates? i signed the petition.

The sentence was overthrown today and article stating such was posted here in this thread today.

Sorry...my comp was acting stupid...i couldn't see any of these post on the second or third page. glad to know that he finally got justice, but its sad that this happened to him. it makes us think about the world we live in

I don't think there are that many people who feel he is guilty of anything except having sex with the PWT. Really. I am sad because Vanderbilt took his scholarship and perhaps he won't be able to use it for college/football but is the stigma going to follow him because he did what every other man with any privilege is guilty of? I don't think so. He can come to LA. I am sure no one here gives a darn.

I heard it this morning on the radio, I hear it was a close vote 4-3 to over turn, but regardless it has been done. It was reported on the TJMS that he is already out of jail.

He's on Oprah today.

A new one or a repeat?

New One. On the promo Oprah mentioned that he was incarerated, but he is free. Then she says he's doing his first interview. You know it's May Sweeps...RATINGS! LOL

This story saddens me so much. To see, who seems to be a good, black, young man go down in such turmoil, is so frustrating. Especially when it's in the south--where EVERYTHING started. I believe that had this case been brought to the north somewhere, Marcus would have had the chance of being found not guilty. Who knows, though?

OK, so I just finished watching Oprah. I'm glad Marcus is heading to school somewhere soon.

Now, about Soror Lena Horne's granddaughter: when they were showing her apartment I saw a few elephants and a little figurine in a red dress...does anyone know if she's a soror???

Yeah I saw it and it hurt my heart that he had 2 spend 18 months in jail for nothing. I think that the girl lied, she couldn't even work up some real tears. And just like Oprah said, he wouldn't have been in jail if he would have been white.