Those crazy, crazy Georgia lawmakers...

[Johannes_Paulsen]

Hey -- he didn't even get her flowers! Give him the gas chamber!

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,278523,00.html

Lawyers Unsuccessful in Try to Free Georgia Man Imprisoned for Having Consensual Oral Sex with Minor

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

ATLANTA —
A man sentenced to 10 years in prison for having consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old girl when he was 17 should have to serve out the widely criticized mandatory term, a prosecutor told a judge Wednesday.

A lawyer for Genarlow Wilson, now 21, asked the appellate judge to throw out the aggravated child molestation sentence on the grounds it is grossly disproportionate to the crime. Defense attorney B.J. Bernstein noted that state lawmakers passed a law to close the loophole that led to Wilson's sentence.


"It gets back to common sense," Bernstein said. "This very act is only a misdemeanor with no sex offender registration today."
But prosecutor Paula Smith argued that the new law cannot be applied retroactively.


"The General Assembly did not make it retroactive," Smith said. "They had the prerogative to do so; they did not."


Wilson, clad in a white prison uniform, watched as his legal team again tried to free him while they pursue a claim that his constitutional rights are being violated. Monroe County Superior Court Judge Thomas Wilson said he expects to issue a decision on Wilson's appeal by noon Monday.


Wilson's sentence has been denounced even by members of the jury that convicted him and the author of the 1995 law that put him behind bars.
"The law was designed to protect kids against really, really bad people doing very bad things," said the sponsor, former state Rep. Matt Towery, a Republican. "It was never intended to put kids in jail for oral sex."


In 2003, Wilson was an honors student, standout athlete and homecoming king preparing for his SATs with an eye toward college. At a New Year's Eve party involving alcohol, marijuana and sex, someone videotaped the girl performing oral sex on Wilson.


The tape also shows Wilson and other male partygoers having sexual intercourse with a 17-year-old girl. Prosecutors sought a rape conviction against him, arguing that the 17-year-old was semiconscious and not capable of consent. But a jury that watched the tape disagreed.
Bernstein compared the case to the recent rape case involving Duke University lacrosse players, saying prosecutors in both cases overreached.


Wilson has served more than 27 months in prison. His case has become something of a cause celebre, largely because of the legal loophole that ensnared him.


If Wilson had had sexual intercourse with the 15-year-old he would have fallen under Georgia's "Romeo and Juliet" exception. But under the law in 2003, oral sex between teens constituted aggravated child molestation and carried a mandatory sentence.


Georgia lawmakers changed the law in 2006 to make consensual oral sex between teens a misdemeanor punishable by a maximum of one year behind bars. Offenders do not have to register as sex offenders, as Wilson will be required to do.


But the state's top court ruled the 2006 change couldn't be applied retroactively to Wilson's case. An attempt earlier this year to pass a bill that would provide a remedy for Wilson has stalled.


Wilson's most vocal critic has been Georgia's top Republican senator, Eric Johnson, of Savannah.


"This was not two star-crossed lovers on a date," Johnson wrote in an opinion piece opposing the bill written to help Wilson.


The five other male partygoers took plea deals. Wilson's case was the only one that went to trial.


Wilson's mother, Juannessa Bennett, said outside the courthouse Wednesday that he has rejected plea deals from prosecutors because he would still need to register as a sex offender.


"A sex offender registry is lifetime," Bennett said.

[axmdr40]

This is one of the more ridiculous things I have ever read...absolutely and positively ruined this young man's life because some 15 yr. old slutbag decided to slob his knob.

[mauser]

How ironic, did you see his lawyer's name?

Defense attorney B.J. Bernstein noted that......

[Emptymag]

How ironic, did you see his lawyer's name?

ROTFLMAO!!!

[Johannes_Paulsen]

How ironic, did you see his lawyer's name?

Nice! I missed that, too!

[KeithPA]

They've had this on T.V. alot. One of the announcers pronounced his name General - Oh

Apparantly if they had had sex it would have been a misdemeanor but because this bus stop ho played with genarlow shifter he got 10 years. Doesn't make much sense to me.

[axmdr40]

What urks me is this kid is now a marked man as a registered sex offender for the rest of his life...in the name of "protecting" the people. Meanwhile this female, who CONSENTUALLY sucked this guy off, and who was most likely (I say this because he was the older high school heart-throb, she the sluttly little freshman...I'm telling you, young girls these days are throwing themselves at guys, especially older ones, in the name of popularity) the aggressor, is turned into the victim. I'm disgusted at the double standard that exists today. Women are infallible and everything is always the man's fault. Unless it is statutory, in which case this isn't, since when have they prosecuted for consentual sexual intercourse? I'm not sure if its still on the books, but it at least used to be illegal to commit fellatio in PA...but since the Quakers has this ever been enforced? Its utterly ridiculous that this is even an issue...they take the word of drug addicts and whores over innocent individuals as long as the perp is male and the accuser is female.

[Johannes_Paulsen]

What was even more ridiculous was that in the new law that was passed after Generalow was convicted, this offense now has a maximum one-year prison sentence.

Huh???!? They couldn't bring themselves to actually take an idiotic law off the books entirely?

[bubba23]

I am appalled.

Sincerely,

Kraven Morehead

[NineseveN]

I've been following this case for a bit, it's a disgusting perversion of justice. Just remember, this kind of garbage can happen to any of us, minor or not, sexual or not (guns, taxes, domestic abuse laws etc...). The fact that the system dispenses the law more than it does justice these days is a sign that things might need a little tweaking or a reset IMHO.

Seriously, how many of us would be in jail for things we did in High School? They'd have given me life for my Freshman year alone.