10 Years in Prison for Consensual Oral Sex

In 2005, Genarlow Wilson, then a 17-year old high school student who was a talented athlete with good grades, was arrested for receiving oral sex from a 15-year-old girl -- who participated willingly.

The facts: Genarlow attended a New Year's Eve party with other teens at a Douglasville (GA) hotel in December 2003. The teens were partying, eg, drinking, smoking marijuana and engaging in sexual activity.

One teen even recorded some of the sexual activity with his camcorder, specifically, a 15-year old girl giving several of the boys oral sex. Yes, several of the boys!

One of the girls eventually told her mother what happened. She notified police, who then questioned the boys - six in all, Wilson being one of them. The boys were eventually arrested and charged with a number of offenses, including rape, sodomy, child molestation and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Five of the six boys who were charged accepted plea bargains. Wilson went to trial where he was convicted of aggravated child molestation. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison - in spite of the fact that the girl didn't press charges.

The Law Behind the Conviction

Essentially, the law that convicted Wilson goes like this: Under Georgia law at the time of Wilson's conviction, it was considered aggravated child molestation, which is a felony, for teens less than three years apart to have oral sex.

Rough Cuts with Michael Martin, an NPR.org journalist, said it best: "Georgia law is quite strict on what teens are allowed to do sexually even if there's a slight difference in age between the parties."

A conviction on the charge of aggravated child molestation carried a mandatory 10-year prison sentence. And, get this, if the teens had indulged in sexual intercourse, it was only a misdemeanor. What does all this mean?

If Wilson had had sexual intercourse with the 15-year-old, his maximum sentence could have been one year. Why? Because in the case of sexual intercourse, the judge has judiciary discretion. With aggravated child molestation, they doesn't. Why?