And then the very next day 
Hearing on Bill That Could Free Genarlow Wilson Taken Off Schedule, Sparks Heated Debate
Date: Friday, February 16, 2007
By: Jackie Jones, BlackAmericaWeb.comA hearing scheduled for Thursday on a bill that could free a Georgia teen sentenced to 10 years in prison for having consensual oral sex was suddenly taken off the state senate calendar, according to the lawyer for the teenager.
A rally, scheduled to show support for the legislation, also was called off, said lawyer B.J. Bernstein, who represents Genarlow Wilson.
The bill was pulled off the calendar with no explanation, at least "nothing on the record," Bernstein told BlackAmericaWeb.com. "I'm just frustrated."
Last month, Georgia state Sen. Emmanuel Jones introduced the legislation that would allow judges to reverse convictions before July 1, 2006 under the state's sodomy bill. Before July 1, teenagers who engaged in consensual oral sex with another teenager could be found guilty of aggravated sexual assault of a minor, even if there were only a few years' difference in age between the teens.
The law, which was intended to punish adult sexual predators, has caught up a number of teenagers throughout the state on a technicality, which has landed them in prison with a mandatory 10-year sentence and a lifetime on the sexual offender registry after they are paroled.
The code was amended last July to treat consensual oral sex between teenagers no more than four years apart as a misdemeanor, the same punishment given for consensual intercourse between teenagers.
The bill was pulled off the calendar on Wednesday and Jones tried to submit it as an amendment to another piece of legislation, touching off a virulent attack by opponents of the bill, Bernstein said. The heated debate was captured on video, which is being disseminated to the local broadcast media in Atlanta, she said.
The legislative session in Georgia only lasts 40 days, so Bernstein said she hopes some action can be taken to get the bill back on track in the next two weeks.
"I wish the governor would take the leadership and say something," Bernstein said.
Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue has said nothing publicly about the bill, but Jones noted in an interview with BlackAmericaWeb.com earlier this week that Perdue supported the revisions last year to the original law.
"It's not just Genarlow, but there are other kids who have been impacted by this legislation," Jones said in that interview.
Wilson and four other young men admitted to detectives that they had had sex with one teenaged girl and that another had performed oral sex on them at a 2004 New Year's Eve party in a Douglasville, Ga., hotel, which involved about a dozen youths. Wilson was convicted in 2005. His codefendants pleaded to lesser charges and received shorter sentences, but also must register as sex offenders under the deal.
Wilson's case was similar to that of Marcus Dixon of Rome, who at 18 was convicted of child molestation and misdemeanor statutory rape after having consensual intercourse with a 15-year-old girl in 2003. The state Supreme Court overturned Dixon's conviction, saying it did not believe the law intended to punish teens willingly involved in sexual activity.
Dixon didn't challenge the misdemeanor statutory rape charge that only required a one-year sentence.
The difference for Wilson is that under the former law, oral sex with someone under 16, even during consensual sex between teens, is still classified as sodomy, which is a felony and punishable by up to 10 years in jail.
In December, the Georgia State Supreme Court turned down an appeal on Wilson's behalf seeking a new trial. Presiding Justice Carol Hunstein said she was sympathetic to the youth's situation but bound by the limits set by the legislature, which did not apply the new provisions of the revised law to people previously convicted under the original law.
Jones said the bill enjoyed significant support in both houses of the legislature, but the process has moved slowly because the district attorney in the case was an influential lobbyist at the Capitol and had opposed efforts to free Wilson.
Douglas County District Attorney David McDade is a past member of the Prosecuting Attorneys' Council, which oversees a budget for statewide prosecution in Georgia.
"He wants the kid to take one of his pleas," Jones told the Atlanta Journal Constitution last month. "The law has changed, the state has changed, and he needs to change."
"Sen. Jones is still committed to this," Bernstein told BlackAmericaWeb.com on Thursday. "We're trying to regroup. I'm going to talk to the senators (who support the bill) and see if I can get some guidance."
Bernstein said CNN will broadcast an update on Wilson's case at 10 p.m. EST Sunday on "CNN Newsroom" and that the Fox network is planning a story for early next week.
In December, Bernstein said she intended to file a "habeas action" in civil court, which says, basically, that Wilson is being held in prison unlawfully. The action allows Bernstein to raise legal questions that the youth's original lawyer did not. However, on Thursday, Bernstein said she had held off on the filing until the Senate acted on the bill.
"We may still need to do that," Bernstein said. "Obviously, the legislature is the quickest fix. But at some point, we may have to do that if something doesn't happen in the next two weeks."
