Supreme Court frees Genarlow Wilson

[DaemonSeid]

By SCOTT THURSTON
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 10/26/07

The Georgia Supreme Court on Friday ordered the release of Genarlow Wilson, the Douglas County
teenager who has been serving a controversial 10-year sentence for consensual oral sex.
The court's 4-3 decision upholds a Monroe County judge's ruling that the sentence constituted cruel and unusual punishment under both the Georgia and U.S. constitutions.

The majority opinion said the sentence appeared to be "grossly disproportionate" to the teenager's crime and noted that it was out of step with current law.
Wilson was convicted in 2005 of aggravated child molestation for having oral sex with a 15-year-old girl at a New Year's Eve party in a hotel room. He was 17 at the time.
At the time the law the crime carried a mandatory 10-year sentence with no parole. However, the law was changed in 2006 to make Wilson's crime a misdemeanor with a maximum 1-year sentence.
"Although society has a significant interest in protecting children from premature sexual activity, we must acknowledge that Wilson's crime does not rise to the level of culpability of adults who prey on children ..." wrote Supreme Court Justice Leah Ward Sears in the majority opinion.
She said that "for the law to punish Wilson as it would an adult, with the extraordinarily harsh punishment of 10 years in prison without the possibility of probation or parole, appears to be grossly disproportionate to his crime."
Justice George Carley, in the dissent, said the 2006 change in the law was specifically written so it would not be retroactive. The sentence is not cruel and unusual because "the General Assembly made the express decision that he cannot benefit from the subsequent legislative determination to reduce the sentence for commission of that crime from felony to misdemeanor status."

http://www.ajc.com/services/content/...svc=7&cxcat=13


About flipping time....heck...if they arrest a lot of us for some of the things we did as teens........we would be doing life sentences....glad to see someone came to thier senses.