The Sad Story of Genarlow Wilson

I have to say that this has to be one of the saddest stories I have come across over the last year in the world of sports. Genarlow Wilson probably isn't the best person walking the face of the Earth, but from reading the link you get the idea that he was at least making an effort and doing everything that most high school kids want to do, like making good grades, getting offers to play football at D1 schools, and getting a blow job.

I did a post on it over at In The Bleachers back in January, when I first heard the story. And I was appalled that someone could be sent to jail for 10 years for a bj because of some ancient law on the books. And then that the law was taken off the books, but because Wilson was already convicted, he would have to serve out the sentence.

And now there is still a huge debate going on even after a judge ordered the release of Wilson.

*Genarlow Wilson will have to stay in jail for at least three more weeks after a district attorney appealed a judge’s ruling Monday that he was to be released due to a “grave miscarriage of justice.”

Wilson’s celebration over the judge’s decision was quickly doused by news that Attorney General Thurbert Baker had appealed the ruling, which meant Wilson would not be able to be released from jail for the time being.

Just sad!

Update 6/14/07:

It is just comical now! Let the kid go!

The mother of a then-15-year-old girl in a highly
publicized teen sex case told a newspaper that the boy involved should not have
been criminally charged, but she changed her statement a day later after a visit
from prosecutors, the newspaper said Thursday.

Lawyer B.J. Bernstein, who represents the young man, Genarlow Wilson, called the prosecution's visit "pure intimidation." She said the mother's interview had made clear that the New Year's Eve party encounter between Wilson, then 17, and the 15-year-old girl "was definitely a consensual act."

Wilson was convicted of aggravated child molestation and - based on a law that has since been changed - was sentenced to a mandatory 10 years in prison. That sentence drew widespread criticism as grossly disproportionate to the crime, and a judge on Monday, calling it a "grave miscarriage of justice," ordered Wilson released. But Wilson, now 21, is still behind bars because the state attorney general is appealing the decision. In an interview Tuesday, the girl's mother told The Atlanta
Journal-Constitution that her daughter had told her the videotaped sex acts were
consensual. The mother also said she regretted that she didn't ask prosecutors
not to charge Wilson and four other boys at the party.