http://blog.washingtonpost.com/offbeat/2007/06/justice_served_the_genarlow_wi.htmlUnlike the final episode of The Sopranos, the tragedy of Genarlow Wilson has, at last, come to a very satisfying conclusion. The 17-year-old sentenced to a decade in prison because he had consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old, today was granted his freedom after almost 28 months behind bars. A Georgia appeals court judge called it "a grave miscarriage of justice," and reduced his aggravated child molestation charge to "a 12-month misdemeanor sentence with credit for time already served." For those who haven't been following the story, here is the background of the case:
"In 2003, Wilson was a 17-year-old senior at Douglas County High with a 3.2 GPA and football skills that had caught the attention of a several Ivy League schools. He was popular among students and teachers and had been voted Homecoming King. That all changed after a New Year's Eve party during which he received oral sex from a 10th grader. She was 15 and by all accounts the initiator. At the time, Georgia law stipulated that it was "a misdemeanor for teenagers less than three years apart to have sexual intercourse," but a felony for them to have oral sex. Despite the inconsistency in severity of the two laws, Wilson was found guilty of aggravated child molestation, which carried a mandatory decade behind bars. Since then the law has been changed to include oral sex under the misdemeanor category, but the Legislature neglected to make the law retroactive, leaving Wilson stuck in prison for over 27 months."
Finally, after months of embarrassing pressure from the media, politicians and human rights groups, someone has stepped up and seen how ridiculous that sentence was. And although the state can appeal this ruling, more would be lost in terms of money, reputation and respect if Georgia didn't do everything in its power to let this one go.
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I hope the information is accurate