Feb. 7, 2006 —A wild New Year's Eve two years ago has landed a Georgia teen in prison for 10 years on charges of child molestation in a case that has state legislators reworking the strict law that put him behind bars.

Genarlow Wilson and a group of friends had the kind of bash no parent would want their teenager to attend. Crime scene investigators combing the room in a Days Inn in the small town of Douglasville, Ga., found evidence of drinking, as well as condoms and wrappers littered all over. Plus, there was a video camera.

In a portion of a tape obtained by "Primetime," Wilson, then 17 and an honor student and star athlete who was homecoming king, is seen having intercourse with a 17-year-old girl, who was seen earlier on the bathroom floor. During the sex act, she appears to be sleepy or intoxicated but never asks Wilson to stop. Later on in the tape, she is seen being pulled off the bed.

Other portions of the tape show a second girl, who was 15 and later said she did not drink that night. She was recorded having oral sex with several boys in succession, including Wilson.

The following morning, Wilson got a phone call that would change his life. He learned from a friend that the 17-year-old had gone to the police to report that she'd been raped.

"I was, like, 'What? When was this happening? Did this happen at the same party I was at?'" Wilson said. "It was shocking to me."


A Decade in Prison


Authorities believed the 17-year-old alleged rape victim and said she was too intoxicated to consent to any sexual acts, which is what Georgia law requires, otherwise these acts can be considered rape.

Six boys, including Wilson, were arrested on various charges, including rape. District Attorney David McDade said the videotape was critical to his case. "There is no doubt that without the videotape we would have to be relying on the statements of these young people, and that would have been a more difficult prosecution," he said.

http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/stor...362&page=1



Do you think he deserves 10 years?

Hmmm I would take the opposite view....if he had sex with a woman he knew to be clearly intoxicated then that is RAPE......even if it appeared that she gave consent.... further given the law as it is stated in this report, if he knew that the child was 15 thenit is clear that he committed statutory rape of a minor.

I don't think the fact that he is an honour student has any bearing on the circumstances, and I also do not think that the fact he is BLACK is a mitigating factor either...

The circumstances are that he is 17, and muture enough to gauge what is a safe and unsafe situation, getting involved in a drunken orgy with other men involved, where the bounderies of consent was clearly blurred and capacity clearly could not be establised...was at best foolhardy...

The issue is NOT whether he is guilty, but whether the punishment fits the crime, and on that basis I would say not..10 years for gross stupidity is totally unreasonable.

What a stupid fool! I am just speechless at his own stupidity forhaving sex with a woman who was past it, so gone was she that the report states that she was filmed "being pulled off the bed"

Now, what kind of intelligent person would go have sex with a person who is clearly "NOT IN THE MOMENT"?? And its stupid to say that she wasn't seen saying NO....duuhhh, if she was too intoxicated, how the hellwas shegone be in the right mind to say YES?? Stupid.

And having group sex(it does not matter whether it was just oral)with a 15 year old?For that alone he deserves to be locked up, period!

Most young people needs to learn responsibilities for their actions....it doesn't matter whether he is an honour student or not, in fact that claim only serves to discredit his so called intelligence, because if he was as smart as they are claiming, he wouldn't seen conducting himself the way he did. Young men nowdays are just becoming more and more iresponsible with their lives when it come to sex.....stupid nockleheads with no sense of responsibility and judgement. They should learn that their penis has NO brain cells, and being a man is much more than just opening their zipers with no thought.

I am shaking my head at the stupidity of this boy....blkangry

See how they're trying to make it sound less of an offence... imagine what this piece of shit would have turned into had he not been caught? he didn't just rape a minor, but they also filmed it. You have to be pretty sick todothat, and also being a star athlete, home coming king, he probably thought he was untouchable seeing as he probably was awarethe act was being filmed.

Also if having sex with a girl who then needs to be dragged of a bed isn't considered rape then what is rape?

What is up with you and anal rape in prison, Ingonyama?

You HOPE that a 17 year old should be raped? Surly we have better things to wish for in our life?

Ebony,

Let me tell you about Good ol' Douglasville! It's a suburb/Small town at 48 miles outside Atlanta. In general, I personally haven't had a racial problem there and it's failry diverse. While I'm not going to sayit's the most racially intolerant 'burb in Georgiait's a place where I remembered my mother telling me that if you came there with a license tag from Atlanta, the county police would try to give you a ticket. If you were from the Atlanta, the police would give you trouble. I don't know what race the "victim" was, but I have a strange feeling that she was not Black or minority. In my opinion I do not think that the penalty would be as high if the victim was Black. If there is one thing I notice about Douglasville and Douglas county in general is that what ever the penalty is, they tend to give Black people the harshest penalties.Their so called justice system needs to be fixed!

Cee Cee: I'm curious then..if YOU know as an America based in or with knowledge of that area that sleeping with a European is bad news.....it follows that it must be common knowledge.... So i'm baffled how this boy could be so stupid as to compound his stupidity by sleeping with a white girl whom was obviously NOT previously know to him.. Surely in a town known for this type of view..he was not only stupid he was totally reckless...

Kunjufu,

All of us are feeling that boys pain. The problem with Douglasville( They'll say it's a Georgia problem, but in actuality it's up to their local cities of how they want submit the punishments) Justice of Blacks have become so troublesome that recently , they have re-established a branch of the NAACP there because of it.