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Insein
01-25-2007, 12:16 PM
This is why i hate how the law is worded, how stupid judges are and how evil prosecuters can be.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=wilson


By Wright Thompson
ESPN.com
DOUGLASVILLE, Ga. -- There is a cardboard box in Genarlow Wilson's old bedroom. It rests on the floor of his empty closet, near the deflated football and basketball. It's filled with things he needed in his old life. Mostly, it's overflowing with recruiting letters, from schools big and small. A "Good luck on the SAT" postcard from the coaches at Columbia. From another Ivy League college, Brown, a note from the football coach: "You have been recommended to me as one of the top scholar-athletes in your area."

There's a questionnaire from the Citadel. A brochure from Elon. An envelope from Sewanee. College after college, all wanting the undersized but overachieving Genarlow Wilson to consider their football programs. One open letter, dated three months before everything in this box became a reminder of a life derailed, invites him to take a campus visit. It begins:

Dear Genarlow,

Here you stand, on the threshold of four of the most influential, challenging, and rewarding years of your life.

Being Inmate No. 1187055
Genarlow Wilson is standing on a threshold all right, at the end of the last hall of Burruss Correctional Training Center, an hour and a half south of Atlanta. He's just a few feet from the mechanical door that closes with a goosebump-raising whurr and clang. Three and a half years after he received that letter, he's wearing a blue jacket with big, white block letters. They read: STATE PRISONER.

He's 20 now. Just two years into a 10-year sentence without possibility of parole, he peers through the thick glass and bars, trying to catch a glimpse of freedom. Outside, guard towers and rolls of coiled barbed wire remind him of who he is.

When he was a senior in high school, he received oral sex from a 10th grader. He was 17. She was 15. Everyone, including the girl and the prosecution, agreed she initiated the act. But because of an archaic Georgia law, it was a misdemeanor for teenagers less than three years apart to have sexual intercourse, but a felony for the same kids to have oral sex.

Afterward, the state legislature changed the law to include an oral sex clause, but that doesn't help Wilson. In yet another baffling twist, the law was written to not apply to cases retroactively, though another legislative solution might be in the works. The case has drawn national condemnation, from the "Free Genarlow Wilson Now" editorial in The New York Times to a feature on Mark Cuban's HDNet.

"It's disgusting," Cuban wrote to ESPN in an e-mail. "I can not see any way, shape or form that the interests of the state of Georgia are served by throwing away Genarlow's youth and opportunity to become a vibrant contributor to the state. All his situation does is reinforce some unfortunate stereotypes that the state is backward and misgoverned. No one with a conscience can look at this case and conclude that justice has been served."

Wilson's mother, Juanessa Bennett, certainly doesn't understand. She has just bought a new house the next county over, hoping that a change of scenery might do her good. The past few years have been hard on her.

"You think, what in the world could I have done to God to make him punish me like this?" she says. "Am I that terrible a person?"

The image of a bright future dimming with each passing day is what infuriates so many people. Wilson should be held up as an example of a kid who was making it. His life should be protected by society, not destroyed. He was a good student, with a 3.2 grade point average. He was popular, the school's homecoming king, liked by students and teachers. He never got into any trouble with the law. He was a track and football star. His last two years, he was the defensive back assigned to cover Calvin Johnson, the former Sandy Creek High star who went on to Georgia Tech and is now projected as a top pick in the NFL draft. Wilson studied film, trying to figure out how to outsmart a better and taller athlete. He did well, coaches remember, limiting Johnson to four catches in two games.

Three years later, sitting in their office overlooking the field, finishing up another workday, Wilson's old coaches also remember a good but not great high school player who would have played college ball. They remember his last game, in the playoffs, way down in south Georgia. He got hit so hard on a kickoff return that he ended up spitting up blood on the sideline. The trainer shined a flashlight in his eye, figuring he had a concussion. Wilson grabbed his helmet, determined to go back in the game. He went to the hospital instead.

He admits he wasn't perfect. Far from it. He drank. He smoked pot. He'd been sexually active since he was 13. And a month or so after that final playoff game, he and some buddies were plotting a New Year's Eve bash. His mama heard them whispering in his bedroom that afternoon. She knew kids whispering usually meant trouble, so she went in and looked those boys up and down.

"Don't do anything stupid," she warned.

Something Stupid
Genarlow Wilson and his friends checked into the Days Inn right off Interstate 20. At some point in the night, according to court documents and evidence presented at trial, some girls came over to party with them. Bourbon and marijuana were consumed. One of the young men turned on a video camera.

Later in the evening, a 17-year-old girl began to have sex with the young men, first in the bathroom, then on the bed. Genarlow is captured on tape appearing to have sex with the girl from behind. Her hand is clearly visible on the floor supporting herself. Witnesses said she was a willing participant.

The next morning, the girl awoke in a stupor, wearing nothing but her socks. She called her mother and said she had been raped. Police came to the room after sunrise and took the revelers in for questioning. Genarlow had already gone home -- he didn't want to miss curfew -- but the video camera remained.

On tape, the cops saw a 15-year-old girl, a 10th-grader, performing oral sex on a partygoer and, after finishing with him, turning and performing the act on Genarlow. She was the instigator, according to her mother's testimony. Problem was, the girl was a year under the age of consent. Local prosecutors called the act aggravated child molestation, following the letter and not the spirit of the law, which was designed to prosecute pedophiles.

A week later, on the first day of the second semester of his senior year, the police went to the school and arrested the boys. Wilson was charged with four felonies and taken from the building in handcuffs. Not long before, he'd been in the newspaper for being all-conference in football. Now, he was on the front page, branded a rapist and child molester.

"It was like I had everything one day," he says, "and the next day I didn't have anything."

For the next eight months, Douglas County District Attorney David McDade, who likes to wear an American flag in his lapel and play to his law-and-order-loving base, dangled plea bargains. The other boys didn't want to risk a jury, and one by one each took an offer and went to prison, including the other football player arrested, Narada Williams, who accepted five years with the possibility of parole.

In Douglas County, according to law professors following about the case, admitting sins and begging forgiveness -- not insisting on your innocence -- is the road to mercy. Williams is already out of jail, in part because McDade wrote a letter to the parole board, praising Williams for being the first to plead guilty and "take his medicine." As for Wilson, McDade called him a "martyr" in the media.

If he had accepted the plea bargain, Wilson would've had to register as a sex offender and wouldn't have been permitted to live in the same house as his younger sister.
Wilson refused to admit to being a child molester. If he pled to or was convicted of any charge that put him on the sex offender registry, he couldn't live at home with his younger sister. He wouldn't accept that, so he waited for his trial.

The Saturday before it began, his last weekend as a free man, Wilson tried out for a local semi-pro football team. He wanted to be that other person once more, the one who could outrun all of life's problems. For two glorious hours, he sprinted and jumped and dived. When it was over, the coaches were impressed. They traded cell phone numbers, just another opportunity that would soon pass him by.

Two days later, in February 2005, Genarlow Wilson walked into a courtroom. Two charges already had been dropped, and it was clear from the first witness that the rape charge wouldn't stick either. The aggravated child molestation, though, was on tape. Genarlow tried to defend himself against the assigned prosecutor, Eddie Barker.

"Sir," Wilson told him, "you don't even know me. I understand you're just doing your job, sure, but I mean, how would you feel if you were my age and you were put on the stand with these serious charges at this young age? I have a little sister. Why would I molest anyone, sir?"

"I'm not on trial here, Mr. Wilson," Barker said. "You're the one who did these acts, not me." (motherfucking scumbag piece of shit prosecutor)

The day before the trial was expected to end, in the last night he'd ever spend at his home, Wilson went to a church down the street and asked the preacher to pray with him. He awoke early the next morning. He knotted his tie carefully and went to the courthouse. The trial finished that afternoon, and the jury came back with "not guilty" on the rape but "guilty" on the aggravated child molestation.

He looked at the forewoman. She was crying, seeming to understand they'd just undone a promising future. Indeed, when the jurors found out there was a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence, several were incensed. The prosecution told them to write a letter, then moved on to the next case.

Genarlow Wilson put his head in his hands and wept.

Deputies yanked him from his seat. Not long after, Prisoner 1187055 found himself in the predawn darkness, riding in a bus, surrounded not by his teammates but by murderers, thieves and rapists. Some were headed to the penitentiary for the second or third time.

A scared kid looked out the window as the bus chewed up pavement. He didn't know what it was going to be like, only that he didn't want to go.

Doing Hard Time
Wilson moves to the rhythm of the prison now, up early with the shift change, tidying his cell, sitting down to rest before chow, wearing white pants with a blue stripe. It has been 23 months.

These walls and bars haven't taken his youth, though. Not yet. When he smiles, it's the same one from that old photo on his mom's mantel. Bennett wonders how her son has managed to keep that light in such a dark place and how much longer he can hold out.

With nothing but time, he has taken stock of his old life. He doesn't like the person he was back then, the cocky star athlete with the world as his yo-yo. When he thinks about the kid on that videotape, with a Pittsburgh Pirates hat cocked just so, he cringes.

"It's embarrassing to me," he says. "You see yourself. ... 'Man, I acted like that?' "

He has followed his appeals from behind bars. He watched as the state legislature changed the law that put him there, then declined to make it retroactive, for reasons that still boggle the mind. That was a dark day.

He watched as B.J. Bernstein, his new attorney, filed a petition for writ of certiorari, asking the Georgia Supreme Court to review the case. The petition was denied, then set aside, then denied again, then appealed, then denied again. Those were darker days.

The first time the Supreme Court voted on Genarlow's case, it was 4-3. The four judges who voted against the black teen were white. The three judges who voted for him were black.

"I don't understand the Supreme Court," Bennett says. "Do these people not have hearts? Can they not look and see this isn't right?"

In its decision, the Supreme Court called Wilson a "promising young man," a paragraph that he has read a thousand times. All the e-mails Bernstein gets in support of him, he has those, too. He reads them over and over, reminding himself that he once had a future and, one day, might have it again. It's not easy.

Other people's lives have moved on.

He has corresponded with Williams, his co-defendant and old high school teammate. Williams is enrolled in college now.

Wilson sat in prison and watched Calvin Johnson, the guy he once covered, become the best college receiver in the country and a soon-to-be millionaire.

"That has made my ambitions higher," Wilson says. "That makes me want to succeed even more because I don't want to be left behind."

The Halls of Power
In Atlanta, Bernstein makes her rounds at the state capitol. It's the first day of the legislative session and men in power ties click their wingtips over marble floors, lobbyists back-slapping each other in their little groups.

"He's sitting in jail," she says. "He's in jail every day they're sitting around chatting."

When Bernstein met Wilson, who had a different attorney for the trial, she saw that light in his eyes and didn't want prison to extinguish it. Truth is, she's a rescuer. One of her cats she found on the interstate. She stopped her car in the rain on a six-lane highway to save it. In her heart, she wants to save the world, starting with Genarlow Wilson. That means working pro bono, even as every small check the firm earns goes straight into the operating account. That means figuring out this strange power-brokers' dance.

It's frustrating work. No one involved believes Wilson should be in jail for 10 years.

The prosecutors don't. (but the fucker had no problems ruining his life at the time)

The Supreme Court doesn't.

The legislature doesn't.

The 15-year-old "victim" doesn't.

The forewoman of the jury doesn't.

Privately, even prison officials don't.

Yet no one will do anything to free him, passing responsibility around like a hot potato. The prosecutors say they were just doing their job. The Supreme Court says it couldn't free him because the state legislature decreed the new law didn't apply to old cases, even though this case was the entire reason the new law was passed. One possible explanation is that Bernstein, an admitted neophyte at backroom dealing, simply didn't know enough politics to insist on the provision. That haunts her.

The legislature still could pass a new law that would secure Wilson's freedom, so Bernstein is pushing hard for that. One such bipartisan bill was introduced this week, pushed by state Sens. Emanuel Jones, Dan Weber and Kasim Reed. This is Wilson's best shot.

"I understand the injustice in the justice system," Jones says, "and when I heard about Genarlow and started studying what had happened, I said, 'This is a wrong that must be righted.' Everyone agrees that justice is not being served."

Letter of the Law
Every story needs a villain, and in this one, the villain's hat has been placed squarely on the head of Barker, the prosecutor and a former college baseball player. Barker doesn't write the laws in the books to the left of his desk. He simply punishes those who break them.

"We didn't want him to get the 10 years," he says. "We understand there's an element out there scratching their heads, saying, 'How does a kid get 10 years under these facts?' "

In Barker's eyes, Wilson should have taken the same plea agreement as the others. Maintaining innocence in the face of the crushing wheels of justice is the ultimate act of vanity, he believes. (yea cause being innocent in your eyes isnt important is it. IT's about you being right and in control you piece of shit)

"I understand what he's saying," Barker says. "I think he's making a bad decision in the long run. Being branded a sex offender is not good; but at the same time, if it made the difference between spending 10 years as opposed to two? Is it worth sitting in prison for eight more years, and you're still gonna be a sex offender when you get out?"

Barker is quick to point out that he offered Wilson a plea after he'd been found guilty -- the first time he has ever done that. Of course, the plea was the same five years he'd offered before the trial -- not taking into account the rape acquittal. Barker thinks five years is fair for receiving oral sex from a schoolmate. None of the other defendants insisted on a jury trial. Wilson did. He rolled the dice, and he lost. The others, he says, "took their medicine."

While Bernstein works on every possible legal solution, the Douglas County District Attorney's Office has the power to get Wilson out of prison. If the prosecution wanted, this could all end tomorrow. The D.A.'s office says Bernstein hasn't asked. Bernstein says she has. Not that any legal he said/she said matters. Only the prosecutors' opinion does, and according to at least one legal expert, prosecutorial ego is more of a factor in this case than race. The folks in Douglas County are playing god with Genarlow Wilson's life.

"We can set aside his sentence," Barker says. "Legally, it's still possible for us to set aside his sentence and give him a new sentence to a lesser charge. But it's up to us. He has no control over it."

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.

Now, if Wilson wants a shot at getting out, he must throw himself at the prosecutors' feet and ask for mercy, which he might or might not receive. Joseph Heller would love this. If Wilson would only admit to being a child molester, he could stop receiving the punishment of one. Maybe.

"Well," Barker says, "the one person who can change things at this point is Genarlow. The ball's in his court." (i swear everytime i hear anything from this guy's mouth i just want to beat his smug little face in. Who the fuck does he think he is that he's superior to this kid and has to make him grovel for his life like hes the fucking king?)


continued in link above

This to me sums up the completely ridiculous state of our child rape laws. One KID having sex with a classmate only 2 years younger then him, both minors, gets 10 years in prison. Yet these female teachers, all legal adults, usually more than 10 years over the age of their male partners get 90 days at most for their sexual relations. This kid wasnt even a typical gang-banging hood. He was just a young kid with his whole life ahead of him that has had it all taken away by a piece of shit prosecutor that thinks he is god. This is why the law needs to be CLEARLY defined and our legal system needs to be revamped where these assholes "just doing their jobs" don't have as much power over people's lives as they do.

avatar4321
01-25-2007, 12:28 PM
Can't the governor pardon him? Im not familiar with the state law there.

darin
01-25-2007, 12:30 PM
good lord that's horrible. It's encouraging the girl's mother testified on behalf of this guy - but who in hell would have found him guilty of ANYTHING other than getting freaky in a hotel room with some girls who wanted it as much - or more - than he did?

jackass
01-25-2007, 12:38 PM
Ya know...I never have really thought too much about this..but now as I do..I would find it real hard to send any kid to jail for sex if his partner was willing and they where in HS together. And yes..I have a daughter. I hope I teach her better than that.

jackass
01-25-2007, 12:39 PM
good lord that's horrible. It's encouraging the girl's mother testified on behalf of this guy - but who in hell would have found him guilty of ANYTHING other than getting freaky in a hotel room with some girls who wanted it as much - or more - than he did?

Especially after seeing her do it to 2 guys???

darin
01-25-2007, 12:39 PM
I don't get this part:


it was a misdemeanor for teenagers less than three years apart to have sexual intercourse, but a felony for the same kids to have oral sex.

So - if the teenagers were MORE than three years apart it's okay? Or is it worse than a misdemeanor?

avatar4321
01-25-2007, 12:49 PM
I don't get this part:



So - if the teenagers were MORE than three years apart it's okay? Or is it worse than a misdemeanor?

I was wondering that myself... so if like an 19 year old wants to do something with a 13 year old its right, if thats an accurate portrayal of the law and there is no other laws. it makes no sense.

Nienna
01-25-2007, 01:19 PM
I don't get this part:



So - if the teenagers were MORE than three years apart it's okay? Or is it worse than a misdemeanor?

I know a woman whose husband was ruined by a similar case. In this state, if the teens were more than-- I think it's 4 years in OH-- so many years apart, it is a felony for intercourse. But, oral sex was made into a felony bc of the pedophiles' common use of it.


Moral of this story: keep it in your pants, and you won't have to worry. Better yet, keep away from situations like that, and there won't even be the temptation. But, being what it is, the kid should have been charged w a misdemeanor, and the girl should have been sentenced to counseling.

Insein
01-25-2007, 01:32 PM
I know a woman whose husband was ruined by a similar case. In this state, if the teens were more than-- I think it's 4 years in OH-- so many years apart, it is a felony for intercourse. But, oral sex was made into a felony bc of the pedophiles' common use of it.


Moral of this story: keep it in your pants, and you won't have to worry. Better yet, keep away from situations like that, and there won't even be the temptation. But, being what it is, the kid should have been charged w a misdemeanor, and the girl should have been sentenced to counseling.

I don't think any sex charges should have been made in this case. If they want to place charges for possession and use of an illegal substance, then so be it. But how are we going to regulate 16 and 17 year old boys having sex and oral sex with female students of roughly the same age who are WILLING to do it with them? No young boy is ever going to turn down an attractive female student that is WILLING to have sex with them. All the more reason why these ridiculous laws that somehow allow a 27 year old, female teacher that has sex with a 13 year old boy only 90 days but a 17 year old boy and a 15 year old girl who has oral sex gets 10 years for the boy and he has to register as a sex offender.

Nienna
01-25-2007, 01:41 PM
I don't think any sex charges should have been made in this case. If they want to place charges for possession and use of an illegal substance, then so be it. But how are we going to regulate 16 and 17 year old boys having sex and oral sex with female students of roughly the same age who are WILLING to do it with them? No young boy is ever going to turn down an attractive female student that is WILLING to have sex with them. All the more reason why these ridiculous laws that somehow allow a 27 year old, female teacher that has sex with a 13 year old boy only 90 days but a 17 year old boy and a 15 year old girl who has oral sex gets 10 years for the boy and he has to register as a sex offender.

I agree, when people REFUSE to behave THEMSELVES, laws can get complicated, redundant, nonsensical--- because people will ALWAYS try to see how close to the line they can get before crossing it.

However, I don't think we can do away with ALL sex regulation. Pedophiles have to be taken off the streets. The only way to do that is to pass laws against their behavior.

Mr. P
01-25-2007, 01:43 PM
This is a great example of the need for everyone to be aware of Jury nullification.

My guess is they found the kid guilty based on the courts instructions of the law and the video evidence. Clearly he was guilty, but they could have applied common sense in their deliberation and found him not guilty. I would have.

The ClayTaurus
01-25-2007, 01:52 PM
I don't get this part:



So - if the teenagers were MORE than three years apart it's okay? Or is it worse than a misdemeanor?What they were trying to show was that 3 years or less apart is a misdemeanor for intercourse, but a felony for oral sex. Yes. That's somehow the law.

I'm sure more than 3 years apart is a felony.

Mr. P
01-25-2007, 01:57 PM
What they were trying to show was that 3 years or less apart is a misdemeanor for intercourse, but a felony for oral sex. Yes. That's somehow the law.

I'm sure more than 3 years apart is a felony.

Yep, statutory rape even with consent..

Insein
01-25-2007, 02:07 PM
I agree, when people REFUSE to behave THEMSELVES, laws can get complicated, redundant, nonsensical--- because people will ALWAYS try to see how close to the line they can get before crossing it.

However, I don't think we can do away with ALL sex regulation. Pedophiles have to be taken off the streets. The only way to do that is to pass laws against their behavior.

Thats why the law needs to be clear. It needs to be "If your this age and the person is that age, then this applies."

Like for pedophiles it should be 11 or 12 years or younger and the person is 18 or older. When high school students, who have been having sex forever and will continue to have sex are subject to long prison terms for one side and not for the other, then it becomes a problem. Why is the 17 year old boy the one being charged with 10 years when the girl willingly complied? Shouldnt she too be sentenced for 10 years under the law? Thats where the law is ridiculous.

There shouldnt be a charge for either. The law is meant to protect kids from pedophiles not to send young boys to jail for a good time.

Hugh Lincoln
01-25-2007, 02:28 PM
Hard to feel sorry for ol' Genarlow. He's at an ab initio illegal party AT A MOTEL with drugs and liquor and girls at that age, and they're filming sex acts??? And we're supposed to weep that 'a young man's' life has been ruined? 'Young men' don't do that. "Genarlow" with his gangster braids was not going on to grace the Ivies with his genius. Nor was this was not some pure-hearted Romeo and Juliet encounter.

And the sports journalists want him set free because he's black. Yet more reason for me not to give a crap.

But OK, these laws can be abused, I'm sure. I don't have much interest in imprisoning 17-year-olds who have sex with 15-year-olds.

avatar4321
01-25-2007, 02:31 PM
Why on earth do you insist on making race an issue here? When are people going to realize it just doesnt matter?

I do have to say i have a hard time feeling sorry for him being so dumb. but I do think 10 years for it is alittle insane as is sex offender status.

The ClayTaurus
01-25-2007, 02:33 PM
Do people think he should register as a sex offender?

Mr. P
01-25-2007, 02:46 PM
Do people think he should register as a sex offender?

No. But the law will make it mandatory he does.

darin
01-25-2007, 02:48 PM
Do people think he should register as a sex offender?

No. But yup. Likely he'll have to.

The ClayTaurus
01-25-2007, 02:49 PM
And that will screw up his living situation with his sister.

Insein
01-25-2007, 02:50 PM
Hard to feel sorry for ol' Genarlow. He's at an ab initio illegal party AT A MOTEL with drugs and liquor and girls at that age, and they're filming sex acts??? And we're supposed to weep that 'a young man's' life has been ruined? 'Young men' don't do that. "Genarlow" with his gangster braids was not going on to grace the Ivies with his genius. Nor was this was not some pure-hearted Romeo and Juliet encounter.

And the sports journalists want him set free because he's black. Yet more reason for me not to give a crap.

But OK, these laws can be abused, I'm sure. I don't have much interest in imprisoning 17-year-olds who have sex with 15-year-olds.

Race really isnt an issue here. The same could have happened to a group of upper-class white kids who decided to rent a motel, get some drugs and have fun with some slutty classmates. The point is that this isnt the first time High School students have had sex and done drugs and it won't be the last. The point is, why is a law that is meant to stop pedophiles being used to punish a High School kid who made a mistake all the while pedophiles are getting less sentences for having sex with younger kids?

jillian
01-25-2007, 02:53 PM
Race really isnt an issue here. The same could have happened to a group of upper-class white kids who decided to rent a motel, get some drugs and have fun with some slutty classmates. The point is that this isnt the first time High School students have had sex and done drugs and it won't be the last. The point is, why is a law that is meant to stop pedophiles being used to punish a High School kid who made a mistake all the while pedophiles are getting less sentences for having sex with younger kids?

Overzealous, moralistic prosecutors.

Personally, I don't think any of these types of cases should be prosecuted... particularly if the parents and younger kid aren't complaining.

darin
01-25-2007, 03:08 PM
Overzealous, moralistic prosecutors.


But it's a FALSE moral ground. True morals dictate the boy not be sent to jail for something like this.



Personally, I don't think any of these types of cases should be prosecuted... particularly if the parents and younger kid aren't complaining.

I think you're exactly right.

avatar4321
01-25-2007, 03:22 PM
And that will screw up his living situation with his sister.

well i doubt its going to be much of an issuer when he gets out in 10 years.

avatar4321
01-25-2007, 03:24 PM
Overzealous, moralistic prosecutors.

Personally, I don't think any of these types of cases should be prosecuted... particularly if the parents and younger kid aren't complaining.

Someone had to complain or it wouldnt have been brought to their attention to begin with.

What i find amazing is the prosecutors and all parties involved claim they never wanted this to happen. They act as if none of them had any power to stop this. The prosecutors certainly did have power to

Insein
01-25-2007, 03:27 PM
Someone had to complain or it wouldnt have been brought to their attention to begin with.

What i find amazing is the prosecutors and all parties involved claim they never wanted this to happen. They act as if none of them had any power to stop this. The prosecutors certainly did have power to

Thats what hacks me off the most. These prosecutors think they are Gods of us mortals. Lets open there closet and see what skeletons fall out since they think their so high and mighty.

"I really wish i could have done something to stop this but i was just doing my job."

What a fucking cop-out. I swear prosecutors have no semblance of reality. They throw away a mans life like its a hamburger wrapper and think nothing of it. On to the next disposable human.

The ClayTaurus
01-25-2007, 03:46 PM
well i doubt its going to be much of an issuer when he gets out in 10 years.Does that make it ok?

Mr. P
01-25-2007, 04:01 PM
Someone had to complain or it wouldnt have been brought to their attention to begin with.

What i find amazing is the prosecutors and all parties involved claim they never wanted this to happen. They act as if none of them had any power to stop this. The prosecutors certainly did have power to


Thats what hacks me off the most. These prosecutors think they are Gods of us mortals. Lets open there closet and see what skeletons fall out since they think their so high and mighty.

"I really wish i could have done something to stop this but i was just doing my job."

What a fucking cop-out. I swear prosecutors have no semblance of reality. They throw away a mans life like its a hamburger wrapper and think nothing of it. On to the next disposable human.

Bugs me too..

But..

Girl calls Mom and says I was raped.
Mom calls police that go to the hotel and find video.
Mom doesn’t file charges
Video shows a crime.
Da is bond to file charges for a crime

What a mess.

With the video of a crime how can the DA do anything more but offer the kid a deal?
He won’t take one (even now) and they can’t just let him walk.

A rock and a hard place for the DA. The kid needs to decide if he wants to stay in jail for 10.

Just my 2 cents.

jillian
01-25-2007, 04:02 PM
Someone had to complain or it wouldnt have been brought to their attention to begin with.

What i find amazing is the prosecutors and all parties involved claim they never wanted this to happen. They act as if none of them had any power to stop this. The prosecutors certainly did have power to

Doesn't seem to be the girl or her family, though. Maybe a teacher or something.

Prosecutors always have discretion. I think this was a misuse of it.

avatar4321
01-25-2007, 04:22 PM
Does that make it ok?

Of course not. Im just saying I doubt that is the main concern he is going to have.

avatar4321
01-25-2007, 04:23 PM
Doesn't seem to be the girl or her family, though. Maybe a teacher or something.

Prosecutors always have discretion. I think this was a misuse of it.

I know they do. Thats why I can see this as very frustrating since they are acting as if they had no power.

Insein
01-25-2007, 04:40 PM
Bugs me too..

But..

Girl calls Mom and says I was raped.
Mom calls police that go to the hotel and find video.
Mom doesn’t file charges
Video shows a crime.
Da is bond to file charges for a crime

What a mess.

With the video of a crime how can the DA do anything more but offer the kid a deal?
He won’t take one (even now) and they can’t just let him walk.

A rock and a hard place for the DA. The kid needs to decide if he wants to stay in jail for 10.

Just my 2 cents.

The DA can use common sense. This is a common law society. The law is interpreted. So he should understand the "true meaning" of the law and apply that to the case. Does this case fit the intention of the law in that it is protecting a minor from a pedophile? No. Therefore, the charge of child molestation should be dropped by the DA. His claim to "doing his job" or "his hands are tied" is merely the fact that his reputation may be tarnished because he was overzealous in his prosecution. Look at the Duke case. Same thing there.

The ClayTaurus
01-25-2007, 04:44 PM
Of course not. Im just saying I doubt that is the main concern he is going to have.But it's precisely why he didn't take a deal.

Gaffer
01-25-2007, 04:59 PM
Posecutors are elected officials. Every successful prosecution is a feather in their cap. All their assistance are appointed by them and every successful prosecution is a feather in their cap when they look to get into the prosecutors position.

If no one wants to press charges the prosecutor has the descretion to pick up the case or let it drop. This is in to allow for prosecution of REAL criminals where the victim is too intimidated to press charges. This was not the case here.

The prosecutor could have easily reduced the charge to a simple misdemeanor and still been in the bounds of his duties to the state. Instead he chose to ruin the kids life. That kid will get out in ten years and not be able to get a job because of the felony conviction. He'll be classed as a sexual preditor and restricted in where he can live. His experiences in prison will harden him. He'll spend the rest of his life in and out of jail.

It happens far to frequently. Naphong is a prime example of this. Its all abot statistics and getting re elected.

manu1959
01-25-2007, 05:27 PM
a 17 year old had sex with a minor and it is the laws fault he is in jail?

The ClayTaurus
01-25-2007, 05:28 PM
a 17 year old had sex with a minor and it is the laws fault he is in jail?No. He had oral sex and is in jail. If he had "just had sex," he'd be doing community service.

avatar4321
01-25-2007, 07:31 PM
a 17 year old had sex with a minor and it is the laws fault he is in jail?

a 17 year old is a minor too

jackass
01-25-2007, 08:29 PM
Bugs me too..

But..

Girl calls Mom and says I was raped.
Mom calls police that go to the hotel and find video.
Mom doesn’t file charges
Video shows a crime.
Da is bond to file charges for a crime

What a mess.

With the video of a crime how can the DA do anything more but offer the kid a deal?
He won’t take one (even now) and they can’t just let him walk.

A rock and a hard place for the DA. The kid needs to decide if he wants to stay in jail for 10.

Just my 2 cents.

If he wants to get out he has to say he is a pedophile. If he doesnt, he gets out in 10 years and is still named a pedophile.

jackass
01-25-2007, 08:31 PM
a 17 year old had sex with a minor and it is the laws fault he is in jail?
First off..they are both minors.
Second...she gave him oral sex. Why isnt she in jail too??
Third...yes you should be upset. That could have been almost anyone of us on this board I am sure. I know when I was 17 I was dating a 15 year old. Did I deserve to be put away for 10 years for that???

darin
01-25-2007, 08:32 PM
Second...she gave him oral sex. Why isnt she in jail too??


Because she legally CANNOT CONSENT to the oral sex SHE initiated on the boy...therefor, he MUST have assulted her. That's the way the (STUPID) law reads.

jackass
01-25-2007, 08:36 PM
Ok...gotcha. Thanks for clearing that up for me.

retiredman
01-25-2007, 08:38 PM
a sad sad tale. The law should definitely be changed

darin
01-25-2007, 08:38 PM
Ok...gotcha. Thanks for clearing that up for me.

:beers:

Insein
01-25-2007, 11:43 PM
See now this is what the law's intention is supposed to stop.

http://www.ketv.com/newsarchive/10844988/detail.html


Boys Face Charges Of Taping Sexual Assault On Children
Alleged Victims Are 5, 3

LINCOLN, Neb. -- Two 13-year-old boys are accused of videotaping themselves sexually assaulting two 5-year-olds and a 3-year-old and also taping sexual contact between three young children, according to Lincoln police.

The alleged felony occurred at one of the boys' homes, about a block away from an elementary school.

Court records show that the tape includes the voice believed to be one of the 13-year-old boys. He talks about making a "sex video."


The victims, police said, are two 5-year-old girls and a 3-year-old boy.

"The videotape obviously contains one incident of sexual contact between the boys and the victims in the case," said Lincoln police spokeswoman Kerri Crosby.

Now these kids i don't care how freakin old they are. 13 is old enough to know that you don't rape 5 year olds. These boys need to be put away for awhile. Thats what child rape laws are meant to stop. Its supposed to protect young children who arent at the age to even comprehend what sex is from being molested by older people.

Gaffer
01-25-2007, 11:55 PM
Yep and they will probably get 30 days on house arrest.

Pale Rider
01-26-2007, 12:03 AM
No young boy is ever going to turn down an attractive female student that is WILLING to have sex with them.

I did.

And this....
it was a misdemeanor for teenagers less than three years apart to have sexual intercourse, but a felony for the same kids to have oral sex.

I thought slick willie said oral sex wasn't sex... :dunno:

manu1959
01-26-2007, 12:07 AM
First off..they are both minors.
Second...she gave him oral sex. Why isnt she in jail too??
Third...yes you should be upset. That could have been almost anyone of us on this board I am sure. I know when I was 17 I was dating a 15 year old. Did I deserve to be put away for 10 years for that???

when i was 30 i was dating an 18 year old.....but then i am a pig.....but my point was know the laws you are going to break and don't videotape your crimes.....kid was stupid....darwins therory got him

Pale Rider
01-26-2007, 12:12 AM
when i was 30 i was dating an 18 year old.....but then i am a pig.....but my point was know the laws you are going to break and don't videotape your crimes.....kid was stupid....darwins therory got him

What a coincidence. When I was 34 I was dating an 18 year old. I sub-contracted with her dad. He arranged our meeting. Happy days.

manu1959
01-26-2007, 12:13 AM
What a coincidence. When I was 34 I was dating an 18 year old. I sub-contracted with her dad. He arranged our meeting. Happy days.

my bosses daughter as well....men are pigs

Pale Rider
01-26-2007, 12:17 AM
my bosses daughter as well....men are pigs

Yeah I'm a pig, but we BOTH rolled in the mud... :D

Insein
01-26-2007, 12:22 AM
when i was 30 i was dating an 18 year old.....but then i am a pig.....but my point was know the laws you are going to break and don't videotape your crimes.....kid was stupid....darwins therory got him

So you have no problem with what happened to this kid because he should "know the law" at 17? And what is the difference between a 30 year old dating an 18 year old and a 30 year old dating a 17 year old. One gets you praise, the other gets you 5 to 10. All the while, real child molestors and rapists are given weak sentences and go free. So where is the justice in our society?

Pale Rider
01-26-2007, 12:28 AM
So where is the justice in our society?

That's the question of the century brother.

manu1959
01-26-2007, 12:29 AM
So you have no problem with what happened to this kid because he should "know the law" at 17? And what is the difference between a 30 year old dating an 18 year old and a 30 year old dating a 17 year old. One gets you praise, the other gets you 5 to 10. All the while, real child molestors and rapists are given weak sentences and go free. So where is the justice in our society?

there is no justice.....there are only consequences for ones actions.....

Pale Rider
01-26-2007, 12:32 AM
there is no justice.....there are only consequences for ones actions.....

That may be meted out unfairly. But that's life.

Mr. P
01-26-2007, 12:36 AM
If he wants to get out he has to say he is a pedophile. If he doesnt, he gets out in 10 years and is still named a pedophile.

That seems to be the case.

manu1959
01-26-2007, 01:09 AM
That may be meted out unfairly. But that's life.

your avatar is a testament to safe sex:eek:

Pale Rider
01-26-2007, 01:12 AM
your avatar is a testament to safe sex:eek:

Scarey ain't it... :laugh:

Mr. P
01-26-2007, 01:19 AM
Did you ever get that metal detector, Pale?

Pale Rider
01-26-2007, 02:03 AM
Did you ever get that metal detector, Pale?

My dad gave me his old White's. A couple of the knobs were frozen from sitting, but a little wiggling and some WD-40, and I got 'em freed up nice. It works real good. White's are good machine.

Can't wait for ground to thaw. Got a lot of gold prospecting to do.