Ten Years For Consensual Sex
The verdict might have been different if jurors had known Wilson was facing a minimum sentence of 11 years, 10 to be served without parole. Wilson is also required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
As a result of the publicity surrounding Wilson's case, Georgia changed its law, but the Georgia Supreme Court declined to hear Wilson's appeal. The Court's justification is, to put it politely, hogwash.
Justice Hunstein, claiming to be "very sympathetic to Wilson's argument regarding the injustice of sentencing this promising young man with good grades and no criminal history to 10 years in prison without parole and a lifetime registration as a sex offender," nonetheless considered the court bound by the legislature's earlier decision to classify oral sex with a minor as a felony. Perhaps the court should have considered whether that determination was rational, given the legislature's treatment of sexual intercourse under similar circumstances.
Even more confounding, at the time of Mr. Wilson’s offense, a so-called “Romeo and Juliet” exception had already been made for sexual intercourse between teenagers. “Had Genarlow had intercourse with this girl, had he gotten her pregnant, he could only have been charged with a misdemeanor and punished up to 12 months,” said Brenda Joy Bernstein, Mr. Wilson’s lawyer.
How can such an irrational classification of offenses comport with due process? If the court wanted to correct this injustice, it certainly had the ability to do so.
Many of the laws that "protect" minors were written in an era when sexual activity among minors was uncommon, or at least hidden. Today, a large percentage of kids are sexually active before they turn 16. It's one thing to protect immature children from adult predators, but quite another to prosecute minors who have consensual sex with other minors. A 10 year mandatory minimum might be appropriate for a child molestor, but that description doesn't fit Wilson.
If Wilson is to obtain justice, he'll probably need to secure a pardon. Wilson has already served two years. His release is long overdue.
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