Atlanta Teen "Sex Offender" Has 10-Year Sentence Thrown Out by Judge

According to CNN, Georgia's Monroe Superior Court Judge Thomas H. Wilson decided on Monday that Genarlow Wilson, 21, should be set free from a current 10-year jail sentence he was given for an illegal sexual encounter with a younger girl when he was a teen.

Back when Wilson was 17, he engaged in oral sex with a girl who was 15. The encounter was found to be illegal by the Monroe County court and he was imprisoned. So far he was been serving for two years, reported CNN.

Wilson, his attorney B.J. Bernstein, and his mother Juannessa Bennett, were ecstatic over the judge's decision to let him go. Bennett told the press, "I just feel like a miracle happened...He didn't deserve to have the sexual predator status," she said.

B.J. Bernstein also told the press, "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." CNN reported that Bernstein that the punishment was cruel and unusual, and that the judge saw this.

Originally, Wilson's fate was arguably worse because the prosecuting attorney wanted him to be registered as a sex offender, said CNN.

Since Wilson's case, the Georgia Legislature has made the crime that Wilson committed a misdemeanor and punishable by only one jail in jail. Registering as a sex offender was not longer part of the sentence either. However, this new law was made after Wilson was imprisoned, so he still had to serve the original 10-year sentence.

Since the ruling was overturned by Judge Wilson, he made the now 21-year-old continue to serve one whole year. He also knocked off the sex offender registry, reported CNN.

Also, court prosecutors have had no immediate response to the over-turning of the sentence.

Sources:
CNN. "10-year sentence thrown out in teen sex case." CNN. www.cnn.com/2007/US/06/11/teen.sex.case/index.html