Georgia Court Frees Man in Teen Sex Case

Finally. I would say that there's hope for Georgia yet, but given the fact that they put him away in the first place, I'm not so sure.

Finally! It's about freaking time!!!!

Who are the dissenting judges who voted against?

Yes! It's SO past time! Not surprising:

The man who prosecuted Wilson, Douglas County District Attorney David McDade, said that while he disagrees with the court's decision, "I also must respect their authority as the final arbiter in this case."

Yes, finally! Hoorah.

"Douglas County District Attorney David McDade, said that while he disagrees with the court's decision,..."
Wrongheaded right to the end!

Also, NY Times

hey why doesnt newsvine treat breaking news from its writers with a higher priority than breaking news from AP? i posted this story hours ago!

Wowee!! Justice at last for Genarlow.

That judge had called the 10-year sentence a "grave miscarriage of justice."

This is putting it very mildly. This young man has been scarred for life. I believe because he is an upstanding individual who has great perseverance he will make it. I along with other young men back in my day at the tender ages of 16&17 years old dated girls who were 15&16 years old. I never knew anything about a law that dictated if you were a male or female and 17 years old could not date someone in your high school who was 15 years old or you could be charged with a felony and sent to prison. They would have to lock up half the high school population in Georgia then because they are all doing it. I'm glad someone with some sense changed the law, because I'm sure if they were to really look into this crazy law they would find many of the Georgia legislators teen sons and daughters are in violation. They should not have charged this young man with this broken law, instead he should have been given a warning and educated on the fact of this being a law on the books. I'm sure he would have spread the word among his peers. Shame on you Georgia....I hope you are "State" enough to stand up to your over kill on this law and the havoc you inflected on this young man and his family. Understanding that you cannot give him back his precious teen years but a great compensation to that is "money" pay the man.

Great news.

A bit of solace in the fact that he had to spend "only" 2 years unlike this poor guy who spent 20 years for no crime.

This is welcome news. It comes as no surprise that there are some people in Georgia who see his release as a miscarriage of justice, but it is Georgia, isn't it? Apparently they don't teach the fact that the judiciary is meant to act as a check on the legislature in Georgia. And it is engineered so, precisely because of cases such as this.

Now if only McDade and Baker can suffer at the hands of the electorate, come the next round of voting.

Although I won't be holding my breath.

I also think we should applaud the members of Newsvine's Justice for Genarlow Wilson group, and especially vas (who started that group), who have done their part to try to keep this story alive and in front of the public, as well as all those others around the country who have taken the time to put some pressure on Baker, et al, to allow justice to be done.

I hope he will get an opportunity to play football in college somewhere, as I believe he was on track to do before this all went down. He's a little bit older, and probably a good bit rusty, but it would be nice if he were to get that chance. It's nice to see justice finally prevail. I hope he has some recourse civilly, not unlike what the Duke players went through. I know that in this case, the law was the law, and the proof here showed him being fellated, but the fact is, he will not get his life back for something which was the result of someone with an axe to grind, for sure.

Good luck, Genarlow.

unbelievable

Ok hold on,

He got 10 years for oral sex? It was consent and it appears they were both under 18, how is that illegal?

I think it may have been illegal but it appears so petty when you consider the kinds of crimes being committed and the victims of those crimes. Lets just say this crime does not appear to have a victim and is an example of a misuse of power and of resources. They should be searching for criminals not beating down kids who make mistakes, this is so crazy really when you think this kid had an opportunity to do something very few have an opportunity to do, and because he did what teens are just doing - the law did not use its discretionary powers to put this in perspective.

Based on the the comments thus far I'm sure this is going to be an unpopular thought but I agree with the dissenting justices. I don't agree with the law or with the notion of a kid going to jail for getting a BJ - but it isn't the court's job to undo laws they don't agree with.

I'm glad the kid is out of jail - but I am fearful of governments that rewrite the rules as they go along.

Yeah sorry, I am with Wolf, A higher Court serves exactly that purpose because mistakes are made in terms of the spirit of a law and the commission end enforcement of those laws - the Law is made by community needs but needs challenging when it functions contrary to the interest of the public.

Yeah, im sure the judges have a grudge agains black kids. How stupid. Nothing can happen to a black person in the law without the race card being played. Get over it. Crap happens to white people in court systems as well. Racism will never die as long as people keep picking its scaps..let it go people. Society is more ready than you think to move on. The world doesn't need black leaders to cry party foul and act as watch dogs for everyone else when their own community is really not doing so much to lift themselves from self loathing, self loathing and lower socioeconomic status...GET OVER IT! Just a rant and rave. Peace.