Genarlow Wilson, the Georgia man who has spent two year in prison since being convicted to a 10 years sentence for having consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old when he was 17, is officially out of jail. The Georgia Supreme Court agreed 4-3 that his sentence amounted to cruel and unusual punishment.
[CNN]
Genarlow Wilson, the Georgia man incarcerated for having consensual oral sex with a high school classmate when he was 17, caught a break yesterday. Relatively speaking, of course. The state supreme court moved up the attorney general’s appeal hearing from August 5 to July 20th, a move that will have Wilson out of jail sooner, if all goes as planned.
Attorney General Thurbert Baker is appealing a Monroe County Superior Court judge’s decision to reduce Wilson’s felony conviction to a misdemeanor and free him from prison. Baker said the judge overstepped his authority when he granted Wilson’s habeas corpus last month. Wilson’s attorney is arguing his 10-year prison sentence is cruel and unusual punishment.
When Wilson gets out of jail, something I and most rationale people would like to happen, I wonder if he will be able to get back to any sort of normalcy. The cynic in me says that no matter how innocent you are when you go to jail, the company you keep while you’re there can’t be a great influence.
[AJC]
Genarlow Wilson, the young (black) man who was given 10 years for child molestation for having oral sex with a (white) 15-year-old when he was in high school, finally had his sentence voided by a judge today.
Wilson, now 21, has already served more than 27 months. An honors student, homecoming king and highly recruited defensive back from Douglas County High, Wilson is expected to remain behind bars while the appeal proceeds.
A jury found the honor student guilty in 2005 of aggravated child molestation for having oral sex with a 15-year-old girl during a 2003 New Year’s Eve party involving alcohol and marijuana. Although the sex act was consensual it was illegal under Georgia law.
Wilson was also charged with rape for being one of several male partygoers at the Douglas County hotel to have sex with a 17-year-old girl, but was acquitted.
Even though lawmakers recently changed he law that allowed for Wilson’s ridiculous sentence, the state of Georgia will still likely appeal the judge’s decision, and Wilson has to stay behind bars until that process is over. I can’t see how the state would persist with something that has been such a publicity disaster. Even Jimmy Carter spoke out in favor of the kid. Let the him go home and try to live the life that has been put on hold for two years. You really have to wonder about the justice system when Genarlow Wilson is in prison for a consensual sex act with one of his peers, and Michael Jackson still roams the streets.
[ESPN]
- Hillary Clinton’s getting criticized for occasionally lapsing into the voice of a “black female preacher,” all of whom apparently have the same exact accent. [CT]
- Black people are not so interested in becoming dentists these days. I wonder what the stats are on grill-makers? [CPD]
- Leimert Park, LA’s “black bohemia,” is about to just be plain old bohemia. []
- Not bloody shocking: blacks and Asians in the UK are twice as likely to live in poverty than whites. []
- Georgia politicians continue to try to come to grips with the fact that it’s no longer the Reconstruction. [SMN]
Clarence Thomas is conflicted. The resident African American justice on the U.S. Supreme Court is torn between a Georgia family that doesn’t understand him and his responsibilities to United States citizens, who, uh, don’t understand him. Instead of just being a Supreme Court Justice, like his colleagues, he has to be a black Supreme Court Justice. Boo hoo? The writers of his latest biography, Supreme Discomfort: The Divided Soul Of Clarence Thomas, explain Thomas’s complex situation in the Washington Post.
CONTINUED »
- This weekend, students at a Georgia high school attended their first integrated prom. They danced all night to Motown hits, and the girls made sure not to mess their beehives as they did the pony and the mashed potato. [CSM]
- No, you really do have Indian in your family. [DMN]
- Blacks will have an estimated spending power of $1 trillion by 2010. I expect we won’t only see commercials geared toward us on BET anymore. []
- A-Rod and Mims: partners in hotness/flyness. [NYT]
- Detroit’s moping because Black Enterprise left it off the Top 10 Best Cities For Blacks list. Damn those pesky quality of life factors! [DFP]
- Alabama’s ready to apologize for slavery. Georgia’s still not sure it’s sorry. [WVEC]
