Atlanta – A Georgia judge ordered the release Monday of a man sentenced to 10 years in prison for consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old girl when he was 17, a sentence that had been widely criticized as grossly disproportionate to the crime.
Several influential people, including former President Carter, publicly supported Genarlow Wilson’s appeals, and state lawmakers voted to close the loophole that led to his 10-year term.
Monday’s ruling doesn’t ensure Wilson’s freedom, though.
Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker said Monday afternoon that he had filed notice of appeal, arguing that Georgia law does not give a judge authority to reduce or modify the sentence imposed by the trial court. He said he would seek an expedited state Supreme Court ruling.
Tracy J. Smith, a public affairs officer for the state Department of Corrections, said Wilson, now 21, would not be released until the department receives guidance from the state attorney general’s office or from the court that originally sentenced Wilson.
Wilson’s lawyer, B.J. Bernstein, said she plans to apply for a bond to release him while the appeal is pending.
The judge’s ruling Monday threw out Wilson’s 10-year sentence and amended it to misdemeanor aggravated child molestation with a 12-month term, plus credit for time served, and he would not be required to register as a sex offender.
“The fact that Genarlow Wilson has spent two years in prison for what is now classified as a misdemeanor, and without assistance from this Court, will spend eight more years in prison, is a grave miscarriage of justice,” wrote Judge Thomas H. Wilson (no relation to the defendant).
When the judge’s order arrived Monday morning, Wilson’s lawyers applauded and hugged his mother, Juannessa Bennett.
“I just feel like a miracle happened,” Bennett said.
