For those of you who know the sad story of Genarlow Wilson, he has been freed by the Georgia Supreme Court:
The Georgia Supreme Court on Friday ordered that Genarlow Wilson be released from prison in a 4-3 decision, ruling that his sentence for a teen sex conviction was cruel and unusual punishment.
For those of you who don't, the background and why "kind of" after the flip.
In 2005, the then-17-year-old Wilson recorded a video of himself and a 15-year-old girl having consensual oral sex. He was charged with and convicted of felony child molestation.
To use the vernacular: A high school senior got a blowjob from a sophomore. And in Georgia at the time, it was a crime. I use 'at the time' because Wilson's case moved the state legislature to amend the law, "...making such conduct punishable by no more than a year in prison and no sex offender registration."
This amendment, however, was not retroactive for Genarlow Wilson, so the young man whose case was the reason for legislative action was S.O.L., and was imprisoned to face a mandatory 10 year sentence.
While Wilson has lost two years of his life while the court finally pulled its head out, today he is a free man--but only technically.
But shortly after it was handed down, Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker announced he would appeal the decision, a move that kept Wilson behind bars.
That's T-h-u-r-b-e-r-t B-a-k-e-r, available at (404) 656-3300.