Should the punishment fit the crime?

[SuzySunshine]

Yes, this was brought to my attention because he is an athlete, but I don't think that has anything to do with his situation.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/ ... age=wilson

I'm curious what peoples' thoughts are on this. I'll post mine shortly.

[madeintaiwan]

DH showed me this article the other day. I have to put dinner on the table. I'll be back to post my thoughts.....

[DrWahoo]

This has happened before. Another guy whose name I can't remember did almost exactly the same thing, but he was later set free.

[SuzySunshine]

I think its a shame that a kid from a less advantaged background who was able to use sports in a way to get a scholarship to a good school was stuck like this.

The prosecutor should have some say on what he does or doesn't prosecute. This never should have gone to trial and I don't blame him for not taking the deal, he would't have been allowed to live with his own sister.

I think it should be reversed and he shoud be set free, if he hasn't been completely hardened by this experience hopefully he can still make a positive contribution to society.

[spotty_dog]

Now I'm really being irreverent because this is a very sad story, but...

...the lawyer's name is B.J.???

:!

Wow, I just watched the video interview on this. How ridiculous that he is sentenced 10 years for "molestation" charges!? How naive is anyone to think that teenagers don't have sex. Then, what disturbed me was in the article it says " it was a misdemeanor for teenagers less than three years apart to have sexual intercourse, but a felony for the same kids to have oral sex." WHAT? Is that legit? And, who had to make the claim against him for him to go to court over it. Can't they see that it was consensual in the video? And, the jury said that they felt that he should not be guilty, yet he was still sentenced. That is disturbing. Our judicial system is so flawed.

[Momo]

I didn't realize there was a video tape of him and I believe the 5 or 6 other guys gang banging a 17 year old girl, that was soooo doped up/ drunk that there was no way she could have given consent...the oral sex he received was buy a 15 year old girl that was also captured on tape... BTW the girl who told her mom when she was picked up "I was just gang raped" wa also of the same race. Some feel that the jury decided to convict on the oral sex caherge since there were issues w/ the rape charge.

[Rapunzel]

I didn't realize there was a video tape of him and I believe the 5 or 6 other guys gang banging a 17 year old girl, that was soooo doped up/ drunk that there was no way she could have given consent...the oral sex he received was buy a 15 year old girl that was also captured on tape... BTW the girl who told her mom when she was picked up "I was just gang raped" wa also of the same race. Some feel that the jury decided to convict on the oral sex caherge since there were issues w/ the rape charge.

Yeah, dh and I watched a highly biased CNN report on this story a few weeks ago. It was definitely one-sided but even having it so completely one-sided (in favor of the guy) we saw that this definitely wasn't as much of a cut-and-dried issue as some in the media are selling it.

[SuzySunshine]

Where is that written in a news article or an interview? I've read a lot of interviews on BOTH sides of this story and I've never heard anything of HIM raping anyone.

Really! If its there I'd like to know.

[Momo]

Well I hate to admit it but Dh had Fox news on last night ...not my favorite by any means...O'Riely was on and he had the young man's attorney on and a former sex crimes prosecuter. They also showed parts of the tape and I'm tellin ya Cheri...it was awful...the tape itself was too x-rated to obviously show all...even his attorney was not comfortable w/ it but it is what it is. His attorney, the other attorney and O' Riely were all discussing it...that's why I made DH stop from changing the channel because you had mentioned it here on the boards and I was curious.

[Sheherezade]

Genarlow Wilson and his friends checked into the Days Inn right off Interstate 20. At some point in the night, according to court documents and evidence presented at trial, some girls came over to party with them. Bourbon and marijuana were consumed. One of the young men turned on a video camera.

Later in the evening, a 17-year-old girl began to have sex with the young men, first in the bathroom, then on the bed. Genarlow is captured on tape appearing to have sex with the girl from behind. Her hand is clearly visible on the floor supporting herself. Witnesses said she was a willing participant.

The next morning, the girl awoke in a stupor, wearing nothing but her socks. She called her mother and said she had been raped. Police came to the room after sunrise and took the revelers in for questioning. Genarlow had already gone home -- he didn't want to miss curfew -- but the video camera remained.

On tape, the cops saw a 15-year-old girl, a 10th-grader, performing oral sex on a partygoer and, after finishing with him, turning and performing the act on Genarlow.

That's from the article you posted Cheri. I can see how it would be interpretted by some as gang rape -- and he clearly was photographed as part of that pack of men.

I hadn't heard the story, but from here I can see that it isn't clear cut. I'm not sure an Ivy League football team would want a guy with this history --rape or no. Of course, I'm not a sports fan. I think atheletes get a lot of free rides and special treatment in colleges that I wouldn't grant if I ruled the world.

[Momo]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,252948,00.html here you go ...check it out.

[SuzySunshine]

Well I didn't watch the O'Reily information, I can't stand him but reading the ESPN article that I posted it didn't scream gang rape to me. There are always stories about young girls doing something they were ashamed of and then changing their story.

Maybe he wouldn't have gotten into or be welcome at an Ivy league school but now instead of him getting some kind of higher education he's stuck paying a price for a situation that is a he said/she said. Sometimes sports are the only way out of a poor upbringing that kids have its to bad it was all thrown away because of a situation like this.

[Momo]

Cheri, the link obviuosly didn't offer the transcript of the 2 attorneys nor did it give the viewer the chance to see the clip...you'll have to trust me when I say that even if this girl went over there to party...it doesn't mean that she wanted or was willing to have sex w/ six guys on film ...she couldn't even stand...the boys/guys were dragging her body around the room...was it stupid of her to go there and put her self in that situation obviously...was he stupid hell yes...I'm sorry but until yesterday I was sympathetic towards him...not now...even his own attorney struggled to articulate how she felt about watching that girls motionless body being dragged between thes boys and used for sex, granted she did her job and stuck up for him, but the video was compelling to say the least.

[SuzySunshine]

Update:

Appeal blocks release in teen sex case

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Prosecutors filed a notice of appeal on Monday in the case of Genarlow Wilson, blocking him from being released from prison, his attorney B.J. Bernstein said.

Wilson is serving a 10-year prison sentence for a sexual encounter with a 15-year-old girl that occurred when he was 17.

Earlier in the day, a judge in Monroe County, Georgia, voided that sentence and said Wilson should be released.

The judge ruled Wilson could serve one year, less than he has already served, and that he would not be listed as a sex offender.

Wilson's attorney, B.J. Bernstein, cheered, screamed with delight, and hugged Wilson's mother, Juannessa Bennett, as she read the judge's decision. (Watch Wilson's mom, lawyer's tearful reaction to the judge's ruling)

"I just feel like a miracle happened," said Bennett.

"He didn't deserve to have the sexual predator status," she said.

The original sentence had demanded Wilson be listed on a sex offender registry.

The Georgia Legislature has since altered the law to make such an act a misdemeanor punishable only by up to one year in prison, with no sex offender registration. But the change was not retroactive, which meant Wilson remained in jail.

Bernstein, speaking to reporters, pleaded with prosecutors to give up their fight to keep the sentence against the young man and allow him to be freed immediately.

"This has been a really long 28 months," Bernstein said tearfully. "It's a very long fight. And right now we have an order of release. And I beg the attorney general of the state of Georgia: please, enough. Do not file an appeal, please. Because we have an order of release right now for a young man that I think most everybody in the community believes should not be in prison."

She added, "Please, please, enough."

Bernstein had argued the original punishment was cruel and unusual, in violation of the Constitution. She said the judge, in his decision, agreed the punishment was unconstitutional.