Genarlow Wilson
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''Wilson v. State'', 652 S.E. 2d 501, 282 Ga. 520 (2007) was a
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
court case brought about to appeal the aggravated child molestation
conviction In law, a conviction is the determination by a court of law that a defendant is Guilty (law), guilty of a crime. A conviction may follow a guilty plea that is accepted by the court, a jury trial in which a verdict of guilty is delivered, or a ...
of Genarlow Wilson (born April 8, 1986, to Juanessa Bennett and Marlow Wilson). Wilson was convicted of aggravated child molestation in 2005, after, at the age of 17, he had engaged in
oral sex Oral sex, sometimes referred to as oral intercourse, is sexual activity involving the stimulation of the genitalia of a person by another person using the mouth (including the lips, tongue, or teeth). Cunnilingus is oral sex performed on the vu ...
with a 15-year-old at a New Year's Eve party, an offense carrying a mandatory penalty of 10 years' imprisonment. At the time of his conviction, provisions for similarity in age that allowed underage consent to be taken into account were only applicable to vaginal sex. As the case involved oral sex, the consent of the girl was not at that time legally relevant."Georgia Man Fights Conviction as Molester"
– ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', Tuesday December 19, 2006
On October 26, 2007, the Georgia State Supreme Court, while not overturning the conviction itself, ruled that Wilson's sentence was disproportionate. He was released later that day, after serving over 4 years of his 10-year prison sentence in the Al Burruss Correctional Training Center in
Forsyth, Georgia Forsyth is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County, Georgia, United States.Forsyth
Georgia.gov
The pop ...
.


Background

During a private New Year's Eve party that Wilson attended in a
Days Inn Days Inn is a hotel chain headquartered in the United States. It was founded in 1970 by Cecil B. Day, who opened the first location in Tybee Island, Georgia. The brand is now a part of the Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, headquartered in Parsippany ...
motel room in the small town of
Douglasville, Georgia The city of Douglasville is the county seat of and largest city in Douglas County, Georgia, United States. , the city had a population of 34,650, up from 30,961 in 2010 and 20,065 in 2000. Douglasville is located approximately west of Atlant ...
, in 2003, when he was 17 years old, multiple sex acts took place. Wilson engaged in
oral sex Oral sex, sometimes referred to as oral intercourse, is sexual activity involving the stimulation of the genitalia of a person by another person using the mouth (including the lips, tongue, or teeth). Cunnilingus is oral sex performed on the vu ...
with a 15-year-old girl, and the girl later stated consistently that the act was consensual; the girl was recorded having oral sex with several boys in succession, including Wilson. At the time, Wilson was an honor student, star athlete, and homecoming king. Additionally, Wilson engaged in sex with a 17-year-old girl, who woke up the next morning naked and disoriented and claimed to have been raped, which triggered an investigation. Police found condoms and evidence of drinking, as well as a video camera with footage of Wilson engaging in the sex acts, in the motel room used for the party. In the video, the 17-year-old girl appeared sleepy or intoxicated during the sex act, but did not ask Wilson to stop.


Legal process


Initial trial and plea deal

The then-15-year-old girl has repeatedly stated that her act of oral sex with Wilson was consensual; however, as a legal matter she could not consent. The jury acquitted Wilson of the rape charge. But, as the
age of consent The age of consent is the age at which a person is considered to be legally competent to consent to Human sexual activity, sexual acts. Consequently, an adult who engages in sexual activity with a person younger than the age of consent is un ...
in Georgia is 16, they voted to convict him of aggravated child molestation for the oral sex incident. Some jury members later complained they had not understood that the verdict would result in a 10-year minimum sentence, plus one year on
probation Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offence (law), offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration. In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incar ...
.
Outrageous Injustice
' – Thompson, Wright,
ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
website, January 24, 200

/ref> Wilson received the 10-year sentence following his refusal to enter into a proposed
plea bargain A plea bargain, also known as a plea agreement or plea deal, is a legal arrangement in criminal law where the defendant agrees to plead guilty or no contest to a charge in exchange for concessions from the prosecutor. These concessions can include a ...
, as he stated that his adamant belief was that "It's all about doing what's right ... And what's right is right, and what's wrong is wrong. And I'm just standing up for what I believe in." His decision to reject the plea agreement, as well as his continued fight to overturn his conviction, takes into account that
sex offender A sex offender (sexual offender, sex abuser, or sexual abuser) is a person who has committed a Sex and the law, sex crime. What constitutes a sex crime differs by culture and legal jurisdiction. The majority of convicted sex offenders have convi ...
s in Georgia must register themselves and are subject to penalty laws for life, and that the law was not intended to penalize teenage partners. As the law stands, Wilson would not even have been able to return to his own family after an early release, as he had an 8-year-old sister Jiaya Bennett with whom he would be forbidden contact. The other young males involved (including one charged for the same oral sex acts as Wilson) accepted plea bargains with the possibility of parole; they were required to register as convicted sex offenders.
Teen’s 10-Year-Term for Consensual Sex Draws Attention to Georgia Law
'' – from BlackAmericaWeb, January 10, 2006
Wilson had been offered a plea bargain for a five-year sentence with the possibility of parole before the trial but rejected the offer. After the jury had returned the guilty verdict, the prosecutor offered the same 5-year plea bargain again, and Wilson refused again. Another young man involved in the case who had accepted a similar 5-year plea bargain was paroled after two years.


Legislative action

In part because of the publicity surrounding this case, the law under which Wilson was convicted was changed after his conviction; the act would now be treated as a
misdemeanor A misdemeanor (American English, spelled misdemeanour elsewhere) is any "lesser" criminal act in some common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished less severely than more serious felonies, but theoretically more so than admi ...
with a maximum sentence of one year in prison, and no sex offender registration. While Wilson's attorneys argued that such a change in the law should reverse his conviction, the Legislature specifically prohibited the bill from being applied retroactively. A bipartisan group of legislators introduced a bill in the 2007 Georgia legislative session that would allow Wilson's sentence to be reduced by the courts. This session was adjourned in April, before the bill could be considered. Several legislators have subsequently called for a rare special session of the Legislature to reconsider the bill. After the trial ended, the
District Attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer represen ...
's office received numerous open record requests for the videotape. David McDade inquired of the Prosecuting Attorneys' Council of Georgia whether the videotape had to be released under the Open Records Act. The Council concluded that "if no one has filed for a protection order ... claiming that disclosure of the video tape would invade individual privacy, we can find no reason why disclosure of the video tape is not required under ... the Open Records Act." Ignoring the fact that it was the Legislature that wrote the Open Records Law (and which caused the initial controversy by refusing to apply the "Romeo and Juliet" clause retroactively), Georgia State Sen. Emanuel Jones said he would introduce legislation to block district attorneys from handing over photographic images in sex cases. "'I'm going to call it the David McDade Act,' Jones said. 'Sometimes we have to protect our kids from district attorneys.'" As the participants shown having sex in the video were under 18, the videotape constitutes
child pornography Child pornography (also abbreviated as CP, also called child porn or kiddie porn, and child sexual abuse material, known by the acronym CSAM (underscoring that children can not be deemed willing participants under law)), is Eroticism, erotic ma ...
under
federal law Federal law is the body of law created by the federal government of a country. A federal government is formed when a country has a central government as well as regional governments, such as subnational states or provinces, each with constituti ...
. The
Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act is a federal statute that was signed into law by U.S. President George W. Bush on July 27, 2006. The Walsh Act organizes sex offenders into three tiers according to the crime committed, and mand ...
prohibits prosecutors from allowing defendants in criminal proceedings to possess a copy of any evidence that constitutes child pornography, even if the purpose is to mount a defense against the charge. Under this law, Wilson and his defense team are prohibited from having a copy of the videotape that prosecutor McDade has distributed to anyone else who has requested it.


Appeals

The case was appealed to the Georgia Supreme Court; the court twice refused to hear the case, with the presiding judge delivering an opinion that said she was "very sympathetic to Wilson's argument" but that she was bound by the Legislature's decision to make the law not apply retroactively. The governor does not have
pardon A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the j ...
power in Georgia, but the prosecutor has the power to set aside the verdict. The prosecutor Eddie Barker, apparently waiting for an admission of guilt, has said "the one person who can change things at this point is Genarlow. The ball's in his court."


''Habeas'' petition

In response to a petition of ''
habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a legal procedure invoking the jurisdiction of a court to review the unlawful detention or imprisonment of an individual, and request the individual's custodian (usually a prison official) to ...
'' filed by Wilson's attorneys, the Superior Court of Monroe County in the State of Georgia reduced Wilson's charge to misdemeanor aggravated child molestation, ordered that his name not be placed on the sex-offender registry, and resentenced him to 12 months and with credit for time served. Stated Judge Thomas Wilson (no relation), "The fact that Genarlow Wilson has spent two years in prison for what is now classified as a misdemeanor, and without assistance from this Court, will spend eight more years in prison, is a grave miscarriage of justice." Georgia's
Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...
Thurbert Baker has appealed Judge Wilson's decision, staying Genarlow Wilson's release. Baker maintains the judge did not have the authority to overturn the conviction and says there is a
plea bargain A plea bargain, also known as a plea agreement or plea deal, is a legal arrangement in criminal law where the defendant agrees to plead guilty or no contest to a charge in exchange for concessions from the prosecutor. These concessions can include a ...
offer on the table. According to Baker, the plea deal could allow Wilson to be eligible for First Offender Treatment, which would mean that he would not have a criminal record nor would he be subject to registering on the sex offender registry once his sentence had been completed. It could also result in Wilson receiving a reduced sentence, possibly leading to his release based upon time already served. Wilson's lawyer, B.J. Bernstein, would not accept the proposed deal because it would require her client to plead guilty to a felony with a fifteen-year sentence, forcing him to register as a sexual offender for up to fifteen years.


Bond hearing

Following the grant of ''habeas'' and Baker's appeal, Bernstein urged prosecutors to allow her client to be set free on bond until his appeal could be heard.
Whitney Tilson Whitney Richard Tilson (born November 1, 1966) is an American former hedge fund manager, author, and Democratic Party political activist. He is a candidate in the 2025 New York City mayoral Democratic primary. Early life and education Whitney ...
, a New York City hedge fund manager and philanthropist, and others offered to finance a million dollar bond on Wilson's behalf."Free Genarlow Wilson: the $1 Million Man Speaks to ABC"
''ABC News'', June 26, 2007.
However, District Attorney McDade said that Wilson's crime, aggravated child molestation, was one that did not allow Wilson to be released on bond. Douglas County Superior Court Judge David Emerson agreed with McDade, and canceled a scheduled bond hearing. Bernstein announced that she would file an appeal.


Georgia Supreme Court appeal hearing

On July 9, 2007, the Georgia State Supreme Court set a hearing for Genarlow Wilson's appeal for July 20, 2007, more than two months earlier than previously scheduled. The first motion was an appeal by the State Attorney General Baker of the Monroe County Superior Court judge's decision to reduce Wilson's felony conviction to a misdemeanor and release him. The second motion was brought by Wilson's attorneys to have him released on bond while the appeals are heard which the Douglas County Superior Court judge denied.


Wilson's release

On October 26, 2007, the Georgia State Supreme Court ruled 4–3 that Wilson's sentence was cruel and unusual, and ordered him released. He was released from prison in the late afternoon that day. The majority opinion said that the changes in the law (which made oral sex between minors a misdemeanor instead of a felony) "represent a seismic shift in the legislature's view of the gravity of oral sex between two willing teenage participants" and "reflect a decision by the people of this State that the severe felony punishment and sex offender registration imposed on Wilson make no measurable contribution to acceptable goals of punishment. ... Although society has a significant interest in protecting children from premature sexual activity, we must acknowledge that Wilson's crime does not rise to the level of culpability of adults who prey on children and that, for the law to punish Wilson as it would an adult, with the extraordinarily harsh punishment of ten years in prison without the possibility of probation or parole, appears to be grossly disproportionate to his crime." The dissenting opinion said that the legislators had explicitly made the law non- retroactive and, therefore, should not be applied to Wilson. The majority opinion claimed, however, that it did not apply the law retroactively but instead that the punishment was unconstitutionally cruel and unusual. The dissenters argued that the
precedents Precedent is a judicial decision that serves as an authority for courts when deciding subsequent identical or similar cases. Fundamental to common law legal systems, precedent operates under the principle of ''stare decisis'' ("to stand by thin ...
the majority relied upon involved legislation with no prohibitions against retroactivity. Attorney General Baker said he would not appeal the ruling.


Reaction

On December 21, 2006, ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' published an editorial condemning the Georgia Supreme Court's original refusal to hear Wilson's appeal, noting that Wilson was not a sexual predator, and that his behavior would have only been a misdemeanor if he had actually had sex with the girl, instead of having had oral sex (due to a loophole in the applicable law's provision intended to prevent exactly this kind of dubious conviction). Oral sex has long had a special criminal status in Georgia law; until 1998, oral sex even between husband and wife was punishable with up to 20 years in prison.
Outrage After Teen Gets 10 Years for Oral Sex With Girl
' – ABC News, February 7, 2006
The United States Supreme Court, in 1986, originally upheld Georgia's anti-sodomy law (which covered both oral sex and anal sex) as constitutional even when applied to criminalize two consenting adults in the privacy of their bedroom ('' Bowers v. Hardwick'', 478 U.S. 176). Twelve years later, Georgia's Supreme Court would, however, find that the same law upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court was unconstitutional on state constitutional grounds, at least as applied to oral sex with persons over the age of consent ('' Powell v. Georgia'', S98A0755, 270 Ga. 327, 510 S.E. 2d 18 (1998)). On April 30, 2007, ''The New York Times'' published another editorial noting that Georgia's legislature had closed the loophole in the law and that if Wilson were tried today he would now be facing only misdemeanor charges for the same act. However, the State Senate adjourned for the year without taking up a bill allowing judges to review previous cases like Wilson's and Wilson continued to serve a mandatory 10-year sentence. The ''Times'' also noted that Wilson's attorneys had applied for a writ of ''habeas corpus'' with the U.S. Supreme Court and it urged the Court to grant it. In the same editorial, the ''Times'' lambasted prosecuting district attorney David McDade for continuing to publicly charge that Wilson participated in gang-raping a different 17-year-old girl, even though he was acquitted of charges in that case. On May 24, 2007, former US president
Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...
wrote a letter to state attorney-general Thurbert Baker (who, like Wilson, is African-American) in which he questioned whether Wilson's race had played a role in his treatment. He wrote: "The racial dimension of the case is likewise hard to ignore and perhaps unfortunately has had an impact on the final outcome of the case," pointing out that white defendants have received lesser punishments for similar conduct. Following the June ruling in Monroe County, both Attorney General Baker and Georgia Governor
Sonny Perdue George Ervin "Sonny" Perdue III (born December 20, 1946) is an American politician, veterinarian, and businessman who served as the 31st United States secretary of agriculture from 2017 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party (United States), ...
expressed concern that other convicted child molesters might attempt similar legal tactics to get out of prison. While Baker called the Wilson sentence "harsh", he also noted that he had taken an oath to uphold state law. Black leaders such as Rev. Joseph Lowery, Dr.
Francys Johnson Francys Johnson (born June 10, 1979) is an American civil rights lawyer, attorney, pastor and educator. He is in private practice as an attorney in Statesboro, Georgia. He has lectured on constitutional and criminal law, civil rights and race and ...
, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and the
Congressional Black Caucus The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) is made up of Black members of the United States Congress. Representative Yvette Clarke from New York, the current chairperson, succeeded Steven Horsford from Nevada in 2025. Although most members belong ...
have criticized Baker's appeal of the Monroe County ruling. Meanwhile, Rev. Markel Hutchins, a civil rights activist in Atlanta, has criticized them for not having all the facts and failing to stand up for the victims in the case. He also questioned the motivations of Wilson's attorney, Bernstein, and urged her to attempt to find a resolution in the case.Civil rights leader meets with DA, AG in Genarlow Wilson case
– by Shannon McCaffrey,
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
, June 15, 2007
On Genarlow's behalf, the NAACP, led by Dr.
Francys Johnson Francys Johnson (born June 10, 1979) is an American civil rights lawyer, attorney, pastor and educator. He is in private practice as an attorney in Statesboro, Georgia. He has lectured on constitutional and criminal law, civil rights and race and ...
, also marched on Douglas County, Georgia, for the injustice done. There were many participants there, including the girl's mother who stated that she forgave Genarlow and was in favor of his release. The speakers targeted Douglas County judicial system and particularly David McDade for his unfair treatment.


See also

* Marcus Dixon *
Child sexual abuse Child sexual abuse (CSA), also called child molestation, is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in Human sexual activity, sexual activit ...


References


External links


My5th.org
(Genarlow Wilson's criminal defense lawyer's blog)
Outrageous Injustice
(ESPN article covering the case in detail


One year later, Genarlow Wilson focused on being asset to community
{Dead link, date=September 2018 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes by Tambria Peeples, CrossRoadsNews, October 23, 2008. 2007 in Georgia (U.S. state) 2007 in United States case law Fellatio Georgia (U.S. state) case law Juvenile case law in the United States Sex crimes in the United States U.S. state criminal case law Monroe County, Georgia History of women in Georgia (U.S. state)