This kids life is ruined...

[andromedaslove]

I am appalled. My DH was reading one of his College Football boards where this was posted, and he called me in to read it. I can not even begin to understand how something like this happens.

ESPN artical about Genarlow Wilson

Genarlow Wilson Petition

Dana

 

[1Prince2Princesses]

I'm not sure how to feel about this. On one hand, the law is the law. On the other hand, he was just a kid himself. Either way, you're right.... his life will never be the same.

 

[andromedaslove]

What gets me is that a teacher has a sexual relationship with a student and gets 90 days. This guy gets 10 years...I know he is guilty, but 10 years is a "cruel and unusual" punishment for this crime. Especially, to be charged with aggrated child molestation?! There are people who are sexual molesters that don't get time like that.

Dana

 

[Hercules10]

I'm not sure how to feel about this. On one hand, the law is the law. On the other hand, he was just a kid himself. Either way, you're right.... his life will never be the same.

I'm with you (hey, that's twice in one day!). They were involved in illegal drugs and under-aged drinking along with supplying drugs and alcohol to minors. Even though the 15 y/o girl initiated it she may have been buzzed out of her mind like the 17 y/o girl claimed to be.

However 10 years with no chance of parole? That ain't right.

 

[java]

I am feeling mixed on this one.. While I think he got an unbelievable amount of time for this, I do feel like maybe he did need to get some kind of punishment -um as should the girl.....But is it a crime? In some states you can get married at 15 right? So if he would have had sex with her it would be better than oral? Just a huge mess. And what will this prove to him- a career down the tubes. Let's hope he can turn his life back around. But why I am mixed is he was a 17 year old drinking and smoking pot in a hotel making porn........

 

[mickeyboat]

He broke the law. It's the state's job to enforce the law and punish people who break it. I am guessing there are sentencing guidelines for this kind of offense, and the judge had no choice in the length of the sentence.

If we don't like the laws, we need to work to change them.

I do have compassion for this person, but I don't see where anyone really had any other choice. It is really unfortunate he has had to pay such a high price.

Denae

 

[Hercules10]

the judge had no choice in the length of the sentence.

Actuallt yes they do. Some of the other offenders at the party got lighter sentences for "Taking their medicine". Kinda looks like they wanted to make an example out of him because he chose to fight it.

 

[mickeyboat]

Actuallt yes they do. Some of the other offenders at the party got lighter sentences for "Taking their medicine". Kinda looks like they wanted to make an example out of him because he chose to fight it.

I was under the impression that they plea bargained - which might have been to a lesser offense which carried a lesser punishment.

 

[java]

Oh no.. he had a chance at a plea? If that is the case I feel really bad for him for getting such terrible legal advice!

 

[Amity 3]

it would have been just a misdemeanor to have 'normal' sex with her. at the time, GA law made oral sex a felony.

the law since has been rewritten, but yet another GA law also says his case can't be factored in and reviewed after the law was changed.

what a backward state.

 

[mickeyboat]

Oh no.. he had a chance at a plea? If that is the case I feel really bad for him for getting such terrible legal advice!

The article said he wanted to take his chances with a jury because he if he pled to a lesser offense which required him to be placed on the sex offense registry, he could no longer live at home with his little sister. Tough choice.

Denae

 

[andromedaslove]

Yeah, he had a chance to a plea bargain, which would have left him labeled a "child molester" which would have prevented him from living at home with his family because he had a little sister. Immediately after he was sentenced a law was passed so that no one else would be convicted for 10 yrs for something like this, but they refused to make it retroactive to let him out. Although his case was the main reason the law was changed.

On top of that.... Here is what the prosecutor said ....

We can set aside his sentence," Barker says. "Legally, it's still possible for us to set aside his sentence and give him a new sentence to a lesser charge. But it's up to us. He has no control over it."

The position of Barker and the district attorney, McDade, who refused to comment, is that Wilson is guilty under the law and there is no room for mercy, though the facts seem to say they simply chose not to give it to Wilson. At the same time this trial was under way, a local high school teacher, a white female, was found guilty of having a sexual relationship with a student -- a true case of child molestation. The teacher received 90 days. Wilson received 3,650 days.

Now, if Wilson wants a shot at getting out, he must throw himself at the prosecutors' feet and ask for mercy, which he might or might not receive. Joseph Heller would love this. If Wilson would only admit to being a child molester, he could stop receiving the punishment of one. Maybe.

"Well," Barker says, "the one person who can change things at this point is Genarlow. The ball's in his court."

 

[Hercules10]

I was under the impression that they plea bargained - which might have been to a lesser offense which carried a lesser punishment.

Not totally sure about this state. But judges typically have discretion in sentencing. They don't have to go with a sentence if they feel it is unwarranted under the circumstances.

 

[Free4Life11]

That's just ridiculous and I'm glad I don't live in a state like that. 10 years in jail for receiving a BJ...unbelievable! And I just don't see how the teacher could only get 90 days? That is REAL molestation!

 

[mickeyboat]

Not totally sure about this state. But judges typically have discretion in sentencing. They don't have to go with a sentence if they feel it is unwarranted under the circumstances.

Many states, and I don't know if GA is one of them, have minimum sentencing requirements and guidelines for certain offenses. I live in VT, and there was a nationwide uproar last year when an offender was given a very light sentence for a fairly hairy offense - people were outraged, and more strict sentencing guidelines have been proposed since then (I don't know whether they have been adopted).

However, andromeda's post makes the situation a little muddier. I suppose the prosecution does not want to have every inmate begging for retroactive sentencing. And there is still the issue of being labeled a sexual offender.

Denae

 

[lovemygoofy]

Wow, what a situation. You got a kid that broke the law for having oral sex but not for having regular sex. I'm thinking that DA is just a real cocky guy who is trying to put this kid "in his place" because he didn't take his medicine like the other kids.

From reading the article, I understand that the only person that can have the sentence reduced or have the kid paroled is the DA. I understood that it was a flat sentence that couldn't be changed by the judge. Apparently the jury was very outraged to hear the sentence not knowing that would happen.

I hope that kid has some kind of good luck this year and possibly has a shot at college and a great future.

 

[Amity 3]

That's just ridiculous and I'm glad I don't live in a state like that. 10 years in jail for receiving a BJ...unbelievable!

and if you live in GA, make sure no one whips out a camcorder or a cell phone with video at a party.

when I was in high school in the 80's, you could engage in the above acts with no fear of evidence coming back to haunt you. you just pulled the film out of the camera.

 

[jaycns]

This is disgusting...as the mom of three boys I am disgusted by the legal system. A 17 year old boy let a girl TWO years younger then him (she was 15!!) "do something" (this is a family board) that SHE WANTED TO DO (and even testified that she started). DO I WANT MY BOYS DOING THAT? HECK NO. But if my seventeen year old was fooling around with a fellow student (who was within two years of his age) and she plainly said SHE initiated the contact and they sent my son to prison for 10 years???!!! OMFlipin'Word!! I would be in prison myself because I would go ballistic.

"It's the law" is the DUMBEST thing I have ever heard (not insulting any DISers if that is your opinion...but I am citing the article itself). THE STATE LEG. CHANGED THE LAW cause they saw this was stupid. A high schooler and another high schooler (2 years his junior) fooled around but didn't even "you know" (again, trying to keep it clean on a family board). They changed the law because of the injustice of this case and then they leave him to rot anyways??!! What sort of whacked out world do we live in?

This CHILD did make mistakes in judgement. BUT...according to recent data a VERY high percentage of high school age children do not make it out of high school without "getting to home base" (and stopping at every base along the way). So he did NOTHING different then the MAJORITY of teens (he was just unlucky enough to be on tape doing it) in the US. The whole drinking and pot smoking thing is also wide spread. Should kids be doing it? NO...but they are.

I usually do not get mad at articles. I usually have NO sympathy for those labeled "child molesters"...heck, if someone asked if they could put them on a sinking ship...I would consider that. BUT this poor KID is being given the run around. "Take your medicine". That medicine would have included not being allowed to live with his younger sister. Think about that. How many teens should then be removed from their homes if having consensual "escapades" with a peer within two years of your age is a crime that bears protecting children??!!! I bet that DA had some "escapades" in high school and yet he sits on his high horse "It's the law". UGH. MY FOOT. It's wrong. And everybody knows it but nobody is doing anything. It's really disturbing. On so many levels.

The sickest thing? That a TEACHER had relations with a student in that area and was given THREE MONTHS as punishment. THAT is a pedophile. AN ADULT WHO TAKES ADVANTAGE OF A CHILD. A teacher who abuses the trust of a student (I don't care what the situation was...you are an adult, they are a child. You are a teacher, they are a student. PERIOD.) That ADULT woman (and no, I don't care that the state said he was an adult at 17 in that regard...common sense people...17 year olds and 15 year olds are "peers" not adult/child) did something SO much worse. She paid with three months. He is paying with TEN YEARS.

I am sorry. I don't usually post "strongly" about much. But this really gets me. I imagine one of my own children could make a mistake. I know many of the people I went to high school with had these same lapses in judgement. I KNOW that if this is really the intent of the law and they must follow it to the letter that the DA should have gone after at least half of the teen population in his area. It's just SICK. It's WRONG. It belittles what a horrible crime being a pedophile is. Worst off...a young man's life full of promise was taken away. Did he do something wrong? YES...underage drinking and ever smoking pot is WRONG...but those are not the reason he is in jail. He is in jail today because he let a 15 year old "do something" to himself when he was 17. Had he forced himself on her or even been the one suggesting it after doping her up on purpose...I could see it. But he wasn't. She said he didn't. She spoke up on his behalf. But nobody cared. TWO YEARS seperates those teens (I get the whole 17 was legal age in that state). It was not an adult molesting a child. It was two teens fooling around. Using HORRID judgement.

SORRY. And again, I do not mean any of my comments aimed at anyone here. I aim my anger and my disbelief soley at the DA, the idiots who changed the law because of his case but then said but we won't fix his case, the judges who have ruled on this. The community that lets this happen (those in elected positions involved in this debacle should be removed from office so fast their heads spin). And the sick and wrong adult teacher who did have relations with an underage student who got off free and clean.

 

[mickeyboat]

and if you live in GA, make sure no one whips out a camcorder or a cell phone with video at a party.

when I was in high school in the 80's, you could engage in the above acts with no fear of evidence coming back to haunt you. you just pulled the film out of the camera.

Life for teens these days is sure different than it was for us, isn't it?

Denae

 

[mickeyboat]

jaycns - there is a lot of injustice in our justice system.
Denae