Genarlow Wilson is Set Free
I wrote here about the ridiculous case of a 17 year old black kid, Genarlow Wilson, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for having oral sex with a 15 year old. For all the false grievances that black activists claimed about the Jena 6, six black kids who were briefly charged with attempted murder after they jumped and beat a white kid unconscious, the case of Genarlow Wilson was a genuine injustice. But I guess since it wasn’t a white vs. black thing, it didn’t get in the media much.
Anyhow, in the case of Genarlow Wilson, justice has prevailed:
ATLANTA (Reuters) - A Georgia man sentenced to 10 years in jail without parole for having consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old girl when he was 17 walked free on Friday after the state’s top court ordered his early release.
Genarlow Wilson was greeted by his family as he left the Burruss Correctional Training Facility in Monroe County, Georgia, after serving two years, eight months in jail in a case that sparked a national campaign on his behalf.
“I was pretty confused for the most part (in jail) not knowing what to expect with all the (legal) disappointments we dealt with early on but I am finally happy to see that we have got justice now,” Wilson told reporters.
He described what happened as a “learning experience” and said his first priority was to return to education.
October 27th, 2007 at 7:09 pm
The quirky thing about the court ruling is that it appears to apply only to Genarlow Wilson. It leaves other teenagers , both white and black, caught up by the old law’s mandatory 10-year sentence for consensual oral sex with other teenagers approximately the same age still in prison. The court also ordered Wilson’s name removed for the sexual offenders registry, event though he remains convicted of sexual molestation of a minor. Others who committed similar offenses remain on the registry even though they have served their jail time. (Atlanta Constitution Journal, 10/26/2007: “Also convicted of having at 17 for having oral sex at with a 15-year-old , Jeffery York, 23, of Polk County has resorted to sleeping in a camper van in the woods to comply with the registry. When she was 17, Wendy Whitaker, 28, of Harlem [Georgia] had oral sex with a teen about to turn 16; her sodomy conviction landed her on the registry and forced her and her husband to move twice already.”
Some activists do claim that Wilson was prosecuted only because he was black, but the case was pretty sordid, and since it included an allegation of rape, the prosecution could hardly had ignore the case. The Genarlow Wilson case involved six males and two girls. One of the two girls, a 17-year-old, claimed she was raped. The evidence included an amateur videotape showing Wilson engaging in sex with the 17-year-old and then being offered and receiving consensual oral sex from the 15-year-old girl. According to press reports, the 17-year-old looks sleepy or intoxicated (marijuana and alchohol were invoved) in the video, but never asks Wilson to stop. Waking up naked and disoriented the next morning, the 17-year-old claimed to have been raped.
Five of the six males involved admitted guilt and accepted plea bargains. Wilson was the only one who decided to take his chances in court. A jury acquitted Wilson of raping the older girl, but convicted him of aggravated child molestation against the 15-year-old. They had no other choice, since the 15-year-old girl was under the age of consent and the video clearly showed the two engaged in oral sex.
Videotaping 15-year-old girls engaged in sex, of course, violates child pornography laws. (Nebraska just convicted a 17-year-old for videotaping himself having consensual sex with his 16-year-old gir lfriend.) The prosecution in the Wilson case added insult to injury by distributing copies of the video to attorneys and the press. (The prosecutor says he had no choice because the vediotape had been entered as evidence.)
Wilson is scheduled to go on national television to tell about his quest for justice. Wonder if they will show the videotape? The 17-year-old girl might hold different views about how well justice was served, but they could edit her out of the videotape.