Genarlow Wilson — the young man imprisoned for committing a consensual sex act who became, for many, an example of inequitable criminal justice — was released from prison Friday after his conviction was overturned by Georgia’s Supreme Court.
In 2005, Wilson was convicted of aggravated child molestation for having oral sex with a 15-year-old girl when he was 17. He was sentenced to 10 years with no possibility of parole, the mandatory minimum under Georgia law at the time.
But the state’s Supreme Court, in a 4-3 decision, found that the sentence amounted to “cruel and unusual punishment.” And Friday afternoon, Wilson, a former high school honor student and football star, walked free from Al Burruss Correctional Training Center after 32 months behind bars, calm and relieved.
“I’m finally happy to see we’ve got justice,” Wilson said at a news conference outside the prison. “It’s just a whole new beginning. I got fresh breath, a new life.”
Wilson was joined by his 9-year-old sister, Jaia ; his attorney, B.J. Bernstein; and his mother, Juannessa Bennett. He told reporters he planned to pursue a sociology degree in college.
“I know he learned a lot of lessons,” his mother said. “A lot of people gained from this. It won’t happen to another teenager.”
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On Friday, Southern Christian Leadership Conference President Charles Steele said that Wilson “most definitely” received unfair treatment because he is black.
“There are many, many more Genarlow Wilson cases before us in society throughout this country,” Steele said.
Wilson’s case also highlighted the increasingly strict sex-offender laws that have become common in Georgia and other states. If his conviction had been upheld, Wilson would have had to register as a sex offender upon his release.
At the news conference, Bernstein said teenagers and parents are often unaware that sex laws vary.
“This is an awakening of parents everywhere,” she said. “Have a conversation with your teenager.
“Dangerous sex predators are out there,” she added. “Those are the people who should be subjected to harsh laws, not Genarlow Wilson.”
In the court’s majority opinion, Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears said that the Georgia legislature had altered the law in 2006 to make conduct like Wilson’s a misdemeanor that would not require registry as a sex offender.
Sears said that represented a “seismic shift in the legislature’s view of the gravity of oral sex between two willing participants.”
In the dissenting opinion, Justice George Carley said that the legislature clearly stated that its alteration of the law was not to be applied retroactively.
The alleged crime occurred at a New Year’s Eve party in 2003. Wilson originally was charged with raping another girl, a 17-year-old, at the party but was acquitted.
In a statement Friday, the prosecutor, Douglas County District Atty. David McDade, said that he “respectfully” disagreed with the court’s decision.
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