[Dean's World] Ron Coleman: BJ does it!

[notify at powerblogs.com]

Posted by Ron Coleman:
BJ does it!
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1181580950.shtml


     A Georgia judge ordered the release Monday of a man sentenced to 10
     years in prison for having consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old
     girl when he was 17.

     The judge threw out Genarlow Wilson's previous sentence and amended
     it to misdemeanor aggravated child molestation with a 12-month
     sentence, plus credit for time served. Under the new ruling, he
     will not be required to register as a sex offender.

     Wilson, now 21, has been behind bars for more than two years.

     "If this court or any court cannot recognize the injustice of what
     has occurred here, then our court system has lost sight of the goal
     our judicial system has always strived to accomplish ... justice
     being served in a fair and equal manner," the judge wrote.

     Wilson's original sentence, for aggravated child molestation, was
     widely criticized on the grounds it was grossly disproportionate to
     the crime. State lawmakers later passed a law to close the loophole
     that led to the 10-year sentence.

     "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 Genarlow Wilson.

     The attorney general's office did not immediately comment.

     Wilson's lawyers applauded in their office and hugged his mother,
     who wiped away tears, as the order came over a fax machine.

     "We right now have an order of release and I beg the attorney
     general of the state of Georgia please do not file an appeal," said
     Wilson's lawyer, B.J. Bernstein.

   Haven't read the opinion, and don't know what kind of legal ground the
   judge was standing on. But as the judge said,

     "If this court or any court cannot recognize the injustice of what
     has occurred here, then our court system has lost sight of the goal
     our judicial system has always strived to accomplish ... justice
     being served in a fair and equal manner," the judge wrote.

   Kudos to Judge Wilson and, of course, B.J. Bernstein!