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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.
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