Judge throws out 10 year prison term for teen consensual sex

[terry78]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070611/ap_on_re_us/teen_sex_case

Dude shouldn't have been tried in the first place.

 

[fangrl06]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070611/ap_on_re_us/teen_sex_case

Dude shouldn't have been tried in the first place.

I know, he was under 18. How could that be statutory rape?

 

[Crook]

Wow, 10 years for a damn *******. I'm sure he's glad he was acquitted, but I sure hope that bj was worth all the drama.

 

[AllThingsComic]

I just finished reading that article not 2 minutes ago, it's a shame the courts wasted 2 years of his young life on this B.S. . It's messed up he has to remain in jail until all the precedings are done.

 

[ScottyBBadd]

I know, he was under 18. How could that be statutory rape?

It is not. In some states there has to be more than a 5 year difference in age. In others one has to be over 18. Not the case in either case.

 

[Spider-Bite]

This was so unfair. He never should have been locked up.

 

[Vic Von Doom]

The kid was 17 and the girl was 15. Not that it would have been anymore unjustified if the kid was a street punk, but Genarlow Wilson is an honor student fielding many football scholarships. He didn't have any criminal record.

It's great that he's out, because it was a horrible perversion of the justice system, but the kid had the whole world in front of him and it was snatched away. That girl's parents didn't just take two years of his life, they took his future. I'm sure that he will be able to attend college eventually, but it just sickens me that this happens.

 

[terry78]

I'll be honest...most football players do this all the time. The most popular jock with the excellent grades and friends will get rowdy on weekends with random chicks who are hot for the athletes. So long as they're consenting, I don't see what the issue was. Just because a parent was pissed their baby girl was smoking pole...that seems like more of a parental problem to me.

 

[Mister J]

The issue was that the girl was under the legal age of consent (16). The problem was that he got charged with a crime that was designed to go after full-blown predators and not teen offenders (though it wasn't specified that way in the statute) and it carried a mandatory sentence of 10 years. What he did was a crime, but the balance between the act and the punishment was ridiculous. It should have been classified as a misdemeanor long ago.

 

[Gonking]

wow this is medieval

 

[The Kid]

heh, smoking pole. good one.

 

[The Lizard]

See, there are a few rational thinkers in Georgia after all.

 

[Vic Von Doom]

See, there are a few rational thinkers in Georgia after all.

You have no idea how much it blows living here. The weather is great, but it's not worth all the bible-thumping harry potter-banning whack jobs.

 

[The Lizard]

You have no idea how much it blows living here. The weather is great, but it's not worth all the bible-thumping harry potter-banning whack jobs.

Move to midtown Atlanta. There's nothing of any value outside the 285 perimeter anyway.

 

[Ben Urich]

FREE GENARLOW!

The weird thing is they changed the law to allow for that situation to happen, but they didn't retroactively apply it to Wilson, even though it was his imprisonment that inspired the change.

Georgia.

 

[Vic Von Doom]

Move to midtown Atlanta. There's nothing of any value outside the 285 perimeter anyway.

lol, you live in the Atl! I just noticed. I live in Alpharetta, actually.

 

[Mister J]

FREE GENARLOW!

The weird thing is they changed the law to allow for that situation to happen, but they didn't retroactively apply it to Wilson, even though it was his imprisonment that inspired the change.

I imagine it depends on the jurisdiction, but I don't believe they can retroactively apply laws. The best thing they can do is knock down the original conviction and/or end the imprisonment.

Georgia.

'fire is gonna kill you ...when he gets back from his camping trip ...which actually has nothing to do with camping, seeing as how he's going to be a hotel or something.

 

[Majik1387]

Poor teen. Good he was let out.So now the consenting age is 16? Wow, even when I was 17 I wouldn't go that young.

 

[Vic Von Doom]

I imagine it depends on the jurisdiction, but I don't believe they can retroactively apply laws. The best thing they can do is knock down the original conviction and/or end the imprisonment.

they can't do that. They appealed for his release on the basis of cruel and unusual punishment, which they can in fact do since he served 2 1/2 years for a crime which would get you 1 year max now.

 

[Lighthouse]

Interesting. The article never mentions the race of the girl. If she was white, there might be some racially motivated reasons behind the sentence.

 

[blind_fury]

It's a shame it took 2 years to get it overthrown.

That guy should sue everyone who fought to keep him in prison.

 

[Vic Von Doom]

Interesting. The article never mentions the race of the girl. If she was white, there might be some racially motivated reasons behind the sentence.

Just the fact that it's in the South and he was black to begin with probably means it was racially motivated. If he had been 47 instead of 17, he'd have gotten the same sentence. Rapists don't spend 10 years in jail, much less 17 year olds getting consensual oral sex from 15 year olds.

 

[Ben Urich]

I'm pretty sure she was white. I don't know where I read it, but I'm reasonably sure she was.

If it were a white boy and a black girl, would the outcome of this case been the same?

 

[Mister J]

they can't do that. They appealed for his release on the basis of cruel and unusual punishment, which they can in fact do since he served 2 1/2 years for a crime which would get you 1 year max now.

They can't do what? The judge threw out the original sentence and amended the conviction to a misdemeanor.

 

[Vic Von Doom]

I'm pretty sure she was white. I don't know where I read it, but I'm reasonably sure she was.

If it were a white boy and a black girl, would the outcome of this case been the same?

Who knows? People were pretty damn quick to crucify those evil white Duke lacrosse kids for "raping" that poor, unfortunate black hooker/angel. Oops, they were totally innocent!

We'll never know. But the racial divide in this country is still pretty strong, that's for sure.