Case in point, GA Attorney General Thurbert Baker, elected Black man, and Genarlow Wilson, convicted Black man. The elected Black man has the power to look at this case, see the clear and obvious injustice, and with a stroke of his pen, correct the situation. Unfortunately for Genarlow, that probably wont happen, because our Black elected officials are apparently still controlled by white puppet masters.
From AJC.com
Still room for justice
10-year term must be overturned. Thurbert Baker has the power. And Genarlow Wilson deserves it
Published on: 05/22/07
The Georgia Constitution bestows Attorney General Thurbert Baker with power and independence. He ought to use both to obtain justice for Genarlow Wilson, the young Douglasville man sentenced to 10 years in prison with no chance of parole for having consensual oral sex with a younger high school classmate at a 2003 New Year's Eve party.
The law that snared Wilson has since been changed so that consensual oral sex under those same circumstances — he was 17, she was 15 — is now a misdemeanor and carries no more a 12-month jail sentence.
After exhausting appeals and striking out with the Legislature, Wilson's attorney is now seeking to overturn the draconian 10-year sentence on constitutional grounds. A hearing is scheduled for June 6 in Monroe County, the site of the Burrus Correctional Training Center, where Wilson has already served 27 months.
Under the law, the attorney general is charged with protecting the conviction and convincing the judge that there were no constitutional or other errors. But Baker also has the latitude to look at the facts and court transcripts and agree with Wilson's attorney that there may be a basis for a challenge.
In the interest of justice, Baker ought to use that leeway to give Wilson the justice that the law and the Legislature denied him.
Georgia's Child Protection Act of 1995 was never meant to entrap teens in consensual sex acts, which is why the Legislature amended the law in 2006, too late to benefit Wilson. At the time of his arrest, Wilson was a good student, a top athlete and a former prom king. He had no criminal record and the full expectation that he would be off to college that fall.
The collapse of Wilson's future began in a hotel room at a party with no adults but lots of alcohol, drugs and sex. A video camera recorded the sex acts, including Wilson having intercourse with a 17-year-old classmate and oral sex with a 15-year-old.
It was the intercourse with the older girl that led Douglas County prosecutors to charge Wilson with rape. However, the jury acquitted Wilson of that charge, believing the 17-year-old girl was capable of having consented to the sex acts.
As a precaution, the prosecutors had also charged Wilson with aggravated child molestation, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years. Under the law at the time, it didn't matter that the 15-year-old girl was a willing participant. Her age alone was sufficient to convict, so the jury felt bound to find Wilson guilty.
Wilson's behavior deserved reprimand, but not a decade behind bars, a sentence so severe that some jurors wept upon hearing it. The decision of the Douglas County district attorney to charge Wilson with aggravated child molestation represents prosecutorial overreach that ought to concern Baker.
A similar overreach occurred in the Duke lacrosse case, in which three players were accused of sexually assaulting a stripper at a party.
Last month, North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper overruled the local prosecutor and dropped all charges. "In the rush to condemn, a community and a state lost the ability to see clearly," he ruled.
Unfortunately, Baker may duck the chance to bring clarity and justice to the Genarlow Wilson case. "Our office intends to uphold the presumptive valid sentence and conviction of Genarlow Wilson," Baker spokesman Russ Willard said Monday.
While that doesn't sound promising, some optimism can be teased out of the phrase "presumptive valid." The qualifier suggests that Baker is open to the possibility that Wilson's defense fell short and that there may be constitutional grounds to revisit the case.
Baker has proven a cautious man; he has a chance now to prove he's also a just one.
— Maureen Downey, for the editorial board (mdowney@ajc.com
