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</p>
<p><a href=“http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=wilson[/url]”>http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=wilson</a></p>
<p>Wow, from what I have heard as to the “popularity” of oral sex starting at young ages for teens, there would be a lot of young people locked up. Not sure why this kid is when nobody else is. And a law that treats oral sex as a felony but intercourse as a misdemeanor? Very odd indeed. I hope there are good lawyers on his case or someone in the legislature who can help. It is worse because of the consensual nature. I mean the boy is in jail and the girl is not. Both did the same act willingly. An act that thousands of teens do, whether good or bad. I can’t see someone in jail for ten years when every other teen is not who has engaged in this same act, let alone the girl who willingly engaged in what that state considered a felonious act.</p>
<p>From the article…</p>
<h2>“The position of Barker and the district attorney, McDade, who refused to comment, is that Wilson is guilty under the law and there is no room for mercy, though the facts seem to say they simply chose not to give it to Wilson. At the same time this trial was under way, a local high school teacher, a white female, was found guilty of having a sexual relationship with a student – a true case of child molestation. The teacher received 90 days. Wilson received 3,650 days.”</h2>
<p>And across the country, we even have Mary Kay LeTourneau initially given probation and second chance after her plea bargain. What she did was unconscionable.</p>
<p>This whole case is outrageous.</p>
<p>Thanks for the link to sign the petition.</p>
<p>I forwarded it to all in my address book too. It is ridiculous Genarlow Wilson would have to carry the label of child molestor for the rest of his life. </p>
<p>Good grief, why can’t we focus on putting the REAL monsters away? We certainly have enough of those.</p>
<p>I’m also very glad you added the link to the petition ldmom. I just felt heart sick when I read this story. What a good idea of sending the link to your friends, and I’m going to do the same thing. This is such a travesty of justice.</p>
<p>Thanks for posting about this coronax! Who knows…if we all send this on to our friends, we could add a few thousand signatures to his petition.</p>
<p>I’m encouraged that Mark Cuban and other high profile sports figures are backing Genarlow. If you check out the ‘home’ link on the petition, there is more about this and pictures of his family. And in his interview, he seems to be hanging in there. It just has to be incredibly hard for all involved though.</p>
<p>SICK, SICK, SICK…what a devastating and needless waste of a young and promising life caused by the very system that was put into place to “protect” citizens. I am BEYOND DISGUSTED–not to mention TERRIFIED as the mother of three sons. :(</p>
<p>If he’d have been a real molester or sexual abuser of a young child, he’d probably just have gotten probation, esp. if he lived in Vermont. :eek:</p>
<p>What happened to the ability of judges to <strong>JUDGE</strong>??? </p>
<p>Genarlow Wilson will receive my support and that of everyone I can tell about this.</p>
<p>~berurah</p>
<p>If the story is accurate, this is outrageous and this severe punishment appears to be somewhat racist, if I may say so. He’s served 23 months already, enough is enough.</p>
<p>“Not sure why this kid is when nobody else is.”</p>
<p>You can start with the fact that he was a big black guy messing around with a white girl in Georgia.</p>
<p>There are lots of layers that don’t sit right. Another one is how the DA is saying that if Wilson had pled guilty on a plea bargain, he’d be in better shape. The other boys are out of jail who pled guilty. </p>
<p>I believe one jury ruling at one stage of this was split along racial lines.</p>
<p>I also don’t get the law about being “less than three years apart”. You mean to say it would not be breaking the law had they been FURTHER apart in age? That makes no sense either. </p>
<p>And then they passed a new law because this was so unjust so that it doesn’t happen again…but it is not retroactive. </p>
<p>And then the DA even now is legally able to set aside his sentence and give him a new sentence to a lesser charge but is not willing to do so.</p>
<p>And then oral sex is given a harsher consequence than intercourse? Tell Clinton that, LOL. </p>
<p>Then those who have actually molested a child…an adult with a young person get less time than this kid did for oral sex with another teen that was consensual (even the girl agrees that it was). Why is the girl allowed to engage in sex with no consequences if the boy can’t? </p>
<p>Hopefully with the attention the case gets, something will be done. If this kid is in jail for having consensual oral sex with another teen, then LOTS of kids should be in jail. It seems an injustice when many walk for the same thing others have done and are serving time. Actually, nobody should serve time in such a situation. Wilson should be free like umpteen teens who have had oral sex with other teens, and even the other boys who were involved that night who plea bargained.</p>
<p>Hanna, I didn’t know the girl was white, but it shouldn’t have mattered. Then, again, I don’t think the race of the female in the Duke case should have mattered but that was turned into a racial thing as well. </p>
<p>Also, as I mentioned in my previous post, but here is a direct quote:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That sort of thing makes me wonder even in the Duke case, if that is how things are in some areas of the South, whether or not a fair trial when two races are involved in such a situation may even be possible. I don’t know. But these two cases have racial overtones when it comes to justice. And maybe it is not a southern thing. However, the way things are done there seem different than here.</p>
<p>I agree it is totally outrageous, but where has the outrage been for the past TWO years while this kid has been rotting in jail ???</p>
<p>Just mulling this… if Genarlow Wilson were my son, maybe I wouldn’t mind seeing a Colin Finnerty or Reed Seligman spend some time behind bars.</p>
<p>I hadn’t heard of this case before reading this but it is very sad that this boy has been sitting in jail for two years for something like this. Particularly so, when I watched the sentencing for the two boys who started the fire at a Seton Hall dorm which killed three people and injured more than 50 others, and they got five years with parole a real possibility in only 16 months.</p>
<p>I agree that the uneveness of sentences from one person to another, one jurisdiction to another, even within a jurisdiction, and from one crime to another in terms of how well it fits the severity of each crime is hard to come to terms with. There is no equality in it any way you put it.</p>
<p>what a bunch of <a href=“mailto:cr@p”>cr@p</a>.
thanks for providing the link ldmom.</p>
<p>Good point, soozievt about why isn’t the girl in jail? What a waste of taxes and court expenses.</p>
<p>NJres,
The case has been in the media before. However, nothing has changed. I sure hope someone can do something and he gets out of jail. I really doubt he’d be in jail if the girl were black or if they were both white.</p>
<p>“No room for mercy?” </p>
<pre><code>For a 17 year old who engaged in sex with a girl who was willing…outrageous. What’s so wrong is that if it had been a white boy from the same church or neighborhood or something, this prosecution would never have seen the light of day.
</code></pre>
<p>When I read stories like this I understand a little better why a predominantly AfAm jury would acquit O.J. despite the evidence or why the black population in Durham rewarded Nifong with their votes when he pursued the case against the lax players. Injustice breeds injustice. I hope the petition, if it gets a million signatures nationwide, will have some impact.</p>
<p>I notice this thread has had over 300 views. I hope everyone is taking time to sign the petition…it could make a difference.</p>
<p>Let’s all try to occasionally give this thread a bump…hopefully more people will see it and help this kid out.</p>
<p>Race matters, not just in the South. We have a study here on racial disproportionality that indicates that, in Washington State, for exactly the same crime, an African-American arrested is up to 36 times more likely to spend time in a state prison than a white one. The chain starts at arrest - who is arrested, who is booked, who is arraigned, who has a defense attorney, what the charges are, whether there is bail or bond and how much, whether bail or bond can be paid, what rules of evidence are used, what plea bargains are made, who serves on the jury, what the jury instructions are, what the sentence is, what are the parole/probation recommendations, and whether the sentence can be served locally.</p>