ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) -- A teenager's 10-year prison sentence for having sex with a younger 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, who is black, has claimed he was targeted because he is black and had sex with a white girl. His case drew protests from the NAACP.
Dixon was acquitted on felony rape charges but found guilty of aggravated child molestation, which comes with a mandatory decade-long sentence, as well as statutory rape. Monday's ruling lets the statutory rape conviction, which carries a maximum sentence of one year and a $1,000 fine, stand.
In its 4-3 decision, the Georgia Supreme Court didn't rule on whether the 10-year sentence was cruel and unusual. It said only that Dixon shouldn't have been tried for aggravated child molestation because the statutory rape law would be more relevant.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/05/03/te....ap/index.html