So I guess I'm late to come to this but the Georgia Supreme Court has finally decided to free Genarlow Wilson. Wilson was a standout football star in Georgia know for playing Calvin Johnson straight up while in high school.
On New Year's Eve in 2003, Wilson and some buddies had a party at an Atlanta hotel room. Some girls came and the boys decided to tape their encounters with the females. Wilson, who was 17 at the time is on the tape receiving consenual oral sex from one of the girls who was 15 at the time. When another one of the girls claimed she was raped, the tape came forth as evidence that she was not, however, Wilson is seen on the tape performing his act and was convicted of aggravated child molestation which carried a mandatory 10 year sentence. If the two had conventional sex no crime would have been committted but because of what they did the charges were filed.
The law was changed in 2006 to make his crime a misdemeanor but Wilson was not retroactively freed. After spending more than two years in prison, Wilson was finally freed.
I feel that Wilson shouldn't have been punished at all. I just think he was doing what many 17 year-old football stars or any other sports stars do at that age. I'm not condoning breaking the law but I thought he got a bad deal.
But anyway, I promise that the college football talk is coming really soon.
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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 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 charged with raping the 17-year-old admitted their guilt, accepted plea bargains and never went to court. 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. If Wilson had engaged in regular sex rather than oral sex with the 15-year-old, he still would have been charged and convicted, but the mandatory sentence would have been lighter. (The reason the gay community supports Wilson.)
The parents of the 17-year-old probably view Wilson's acquital on the rape charge as an injustice (everyone but Wilson admitted guilt), but he was acquitted. Therefore, the 10-year sentence for consensual oral sex does seem overly harsh. However, a 17-year-old in Nebraska recently received a similar sentence on child pronography charges for videotaping himself engaged in sex with his 16-year-old girlfriend, who was over the age of sexual consent. The police seized the videotape in the Wilson case, so at least it's not being distributed around the schoolyard, showing up on U-Tube or on pronographic websites.
The quirkly thing about the court ruling that freed Wilson is that other teenagers, including white onesw, remain in Georgia prisons for engaging in consenual oral sex with underage girls. Only Wilson gets a get out of jail free card.
Wilson is scheduled to go on CNN to tell about his quest for justice. Wonder if they will show the video? Making videotape of 15-year-old girls engaged in sex violates child pornography laws, but these laws, it seems, are based on outdated moral values. CNN could just edit out the raped 17-year-old, but would probably have to get permission from the 15-year-old parents. This shouldn't be a problem. What modern-thinking parents would object to a group of males getting their 15-year-old daughter drunk and videotaping her performing oral sex? Isn't this normal teenage behaviour?
I understand what you're saying but the second you go to Nebraska with your argument you lose. This case happened in GA not NE. The Wilson case happened in GA not NE but its stupid either way to tell high school kids to act different.
I will say 17-year-olds and 15-year-olds acting like that is normal behavior and you know what, its not wrong. If you can't teach your daughter not to be a whore then that is your problem.
Wilson didn't get a get out of jail free card. He fought the system that some people work so hard for and it worked for him. Did he get screwed? Yes. Is everyone else screwed for getting a bargain? Yes. If you can't fight for what you didn't do then you should sit in jail.
I know that guys I played with dealt with dumb ass girls who don't know how to act but it doesn't mean they should be convicted. You can play the law all you want but if a fight isn't gonna be taken up then I won't worry about it and no one else should either.
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