Genarlow Wilson's Sentence Overturned

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 10/27/07 at 2:17pm

It's about effin' time.

High school homecoming king Genarlow Wilson walked out of prison a free man on Friday, thanks to an extraordinary intervention by the Georgia Supreme Court. In ordering his immediate release, the court ruled that his 10-year prison term - which allowed no parole and included lifetime registration as a sex offender — was "cruel and unusual."

The decision is a stunning rebuke for prosecutors and the state Legislature. Wilson, now 21, was convicted of aggravated child molestation for having oral sex with a 15-year-old classmate in 2003. Howard J. Bashman, author of the widely-regarded How Appealing legal blog and one of America's leading appellate lawyers, told TIME the order for Wilson's release was "very, very unusual." But Bashman added that Wilson's sentence was so outrageous that the most surprising thing about the 4-3 ruling was that it was so close.

Wilson was seventeen, a football star and honor student when he was arrested in 2003. At the time of his trial, sexual intercourse between minors less than four years apart was a misdemeanor, even if one of them was younger than 16, Georgia's age of consent. But oral sex — legally considered sodomy in Georgia — carried no so-called Romeo and Juliet provision, and remained a felony in all cases if either party was under 16.

That changed in 2006, when lawmakers dropped the distinction between oral sex and intercourse. But they refused to apply that change retroactively in order to set Wilson free...



Wilson's Sentence Overturned Updated On: 10/27/07 at 02:17 PM

[DG]

Posted: 10/27/07 at 3:13pm

FINALLY! This has been a disgraceful embarrassment from the beginning.

Now I hope he can sue the hell out of them. I'm a vociferous opponent of our overly litigious society, but this young man is owed - big time.

[wexy]

Posted: 10/27/07 at 3:40pm

And the vote was 4-3. Thankfully he is free.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 10/28/07 at 2:56pm

Magnificent news...makes you wonder how many folks out there who aren't lucky enough to have national reportage.

[Liverpool]

Posted: 10/28/07 at 3:00pm

wow, im suprised. the entire country below the mason dixon line is like braindead. But they got this one right, eventually.