|
| Injustice. August, 2007 |
 |
| Senator Obama makes a point. |
Just what did Genarlow Wilson do that was so wrong?
Barack Obama and the Convicted Sex Offender
From the Yahoo News service comes the little known story of Genarlow Wilson, a high school honors student serving a mandatory ten-year prison sentence for child molestation. Presidential Candidate Barack Obama referred to Wilson’s strange case during the NAACP Presidential debates on June 28th:
“Obama derided President Bush's commutation of former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's prison term, noting black men routinely serve time.
‘We know we have more work to do when Scooter Libby gets no prison time and a 21-year-old honor student, who hadn't even committed a felony, gets 10 years in prison,’ Obama said.
Aides said Obama was referring to Genarlow Wilson, a Georgia man serving a 10-year prison sentence for having consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old girl when he was 17. A judge last month [June 13, 2007] ordered Wilson to be freed, but prosecutors are blocking the order.”
Clearly Genarlow Wilson made some bad choices. Now he is serving a mandatory 10-year prison sentence and prosecutors are determined to keep him there.
His crime? When he was 17 he had consensual sex with a 15-year old girl at a New Year's Eve party in a hotel room. There was no adult supervision. The party was filmed. The girl willingly provided oral sex to Genarlow. She was neither drunk nor coerced.
He also had sex with a 17-year old girl who was drunk and who later claimed that she had been raped. Genarlow was one of six boys charged with the rape. The other boys pleaded out allegedly at the behest of the prosecutor. But Genarlow stubbornly did not take a plea and instead took his case to court and won.
The prosecutor then used the film as evidence to charge Genarlow with an antiquated law on Georgia's books, “Aggravated Child Molestation”. The public was outraged. The high school athlete would be considered a child molester for the rest of his life.
Because of the negative publicity, the law in Georgia has been changed but not retroactively. The new law does not affect Genarlow Wilson’s case.
So far, Genarlow has served more than 2 years behind bars.
On July 13th DA David McDade released the video sextape of the party to key individuals in the media. Outraged critics of the DA want to charge him with disseminating child pornography.
Genarlow’s lawyer, B. J. Bernstein, says on the website, wilsonappeal.com, “Please keep Genarlow and his mother in your prayers.
Remember, this case, in the end, is about Genarlow Wilson. Many people have spoken out with lots of different opinions, but the issue is one about the fairness of the justice system for all people. The issue is of concern to any parent about what can happen with their own teenagers.”
As of this writing, the Georgia State Supreme Court is to rule on an appeal by Attorney General Thurbert Baker who wants to overturn the June ruling of Monroe County Judge Thomas Wilson who said the whole affair was a travesty of justice and ordered Wilson to be freed. Baker argued that the ruling could help free some 1,300 child molesters from Georgia's prisons.
Recommended Listening: NPR's Michele Martin did an excellent interview with Genarlow's lawyer, teenagers from Genarlow's old high school and a professional teen-sex counselor;
Go to:www.npr.org/blogs/tellmemore/2007/02/teens_sex_and_the_law_1.html
| Related links:
For more information on Genarlow Wilson's case check out these websites:
www.wilsonappeal.com/update.html
news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070713/ap_on_re_us/teen_sex_video
www.cnn.com/2007/US/06/11/teen.sex.case/index.html
www.cbs46.com/news/13719679/detail.html
|
| Support these Organizations. |
 |
|
 |
|
|
