Am I the only one who has a problem with the conviction of a 17-year-old for having consensual sex with a 15-year-old?

The former football player, Genarlow Wilson, is serving 10 years without parole for having consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old girl at a New YearÂ’s Eve party, an offense that constituted aggravated child molesting even though he was 17 at the time.

The mandatory sentence shocked even the jury that convicted him. State law has since been changed to make most consensual sex between teenagers a misdemeanor.

But the courts have ruled that the new law does not apply to Mr. Wilson, and the district attorney in his case, David McDade of Douglas County, has opposed efforts this session to pass a law that would allow judges to review earlier cases and to revise sentences.

“Six young men basically gang-raped a 17-year-old and had repeated sex acts with a 15-year-old,” Mr. McDade, told Channel 11, the local NBC affiliate, in March. “There’s no member of the legislature that I think would condone that behavior.”

But the jury in Mr. WilsonÂ’s case disagreed with Mr. McDadeÂ’s depiction. After being repeatedly shown a home videotape of sex, drugs and alcohol at the New YearÂ’s Eve party in a hotel room in Douglas County, they acquitted Mr. Wilson of rape. The five other young men at the party have pleaded guilty to lesser charges. None have been convicted of rape.

“This is the same thing that happened in the Duke rape case, where some prosecutor exaggerated the facts out of self-interest,” said B. J. Bernstein, Mr. Wilson’s lawyer. The attorney general in North Carolina, Roy A. Cooper, called the prosecutor there, Michael B. Nifong, a “rogue.” Ms. Bernstein has called on Georgia’s attorney general, Thurbert E. Baker, to review the Wilson case and not to oppose a habeas corpus petition she filed last week.

I'm not saying that the activity that went on was right -- morally it wasn't -- but it clearly was not a felony that merits a decade in prison.

Posted by: Greg at 10:05 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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