Georgia teen-sex case will go before top court

ATLANTA — Georgia's Supreme Court agreed Thursday to hear the state's arguments for keeping in prison a man who had consensual sex with a 15-year-old girl when he was 17. The attorney general later said the man's release could open the floodgates for hundreds of incarcerated child molesters looking for a way out.

Attorney General Thurbert Baker has caught heat for appealing a state judge's decision to void Genarlow Wilson's 10-year sentence, but he said at a news conference Thursday that he has no choice under the law. The state Superior Court had no authority to reduce or modify the trial court's sentence, he said.

Baker called the sentence "harsh" but added: "It looms much larger than just this Genarlow Wilson case, and we have to keep that in mind."

The state has already received one petition on behalf of another inmate because of the state judge's order, he said.

The Supreme Court said it would hear the case in October.

Wilson, now 21, has served more than 28 months in prison. A jury convicted him in 2005 of aggravated child molestation for having oral sex with the girl during a 2003 party. Although the sex was consensual, it was illegal under Georgia law.

Wilson also was charged with rape for being one of several male partygoers to have sex with another 17-year-old girl, but he was acquitted. The party was captured on videotape. The other male partygoers took plea deals.

Wilson's lawyer will seek to get him released on bond at a July 5 hearing. Baker said he would not oppose bond while the appeal moves forward.

Both Wilson and the girl are black. Baker is Georgia's top black elected official.

If Wilson had had sexual intercourse with the 15-year-old, he would have fallen under Georgia's "Romeo and Juliet" exception. But under the law in 2003, oral sex for teens still constituted aggravated child molestation and carried a mandatory sentence, plus listing on the sex-offender registry.

Lawmakers last year voted to close that loophole. But the state Supreme Court said the new law could not be applied retroactively to Wilson's case.

Also Thursday, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the 15-year-old girl's mother said Wilson should not have been criminally charged but changed her statement a day later after a visit from Douglas County prosecutors.

B.J. Bernstein, a lawyer for Wilson, called the prosecution's visit "pure intimidation."

The district attorney's office did not return messages Thursday seeking comment.