This is a Kafka-esque story.
If you haven’t followed this, a 17-year-old boy had sex on New Year’s Eve. Twice. Once with a 17-year-old girl. She claimed she was raped. Another with a 15-year-old girl.
He rejected a plea deal.
He was acquitted on the rape charge.
But they nailed him on “child molestation” for the 15-year-old, despite her vehement protestations that it was consensual. Under GA law, she could not consent.
The strange part was sentencing guidelines.
NYT background here
He should have gotten 12 months — if they had intercourse. But in a bizarre flaw in the law, he got 10 years b/c it was ORAL sex.
The Atlanta paper:
Tonight he’ll be set free. After 32 months.
The (GA) Supreme Court on Friday morning ordered Wilson’s release, voiding the controversial 10-year sentence he was serving for having consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old girl when he was 17. He is now 21.
The court’s 4-3 decision upheld a Monroe County judge’s ruling that the sentence constituted cruel and unusual punishment under both the Georgia and U.S. constitutions.
The majority opinion said the sentence appeared to be “grossly disproportionate” to the crime and noted that it was out of step with current law.
Um, yeah.
Subplot: Family teams up with good attorneys, gets sustained media covereage, uses web well….”wins” in the end.
laurel says
the GA legislature amended their laws in 2006 so that consensual sex between minors was no longer a felony, but a misdemeanor. sadly for this guy, they didn’t make it retroactive.
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i find it odd that consensual sex between minors should be considered against the law to any degree, but this is a needed improvement.
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note: your nyt link is to a must-pay page.