Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Despite judge's order, Wilson remains in jail

Posted by Alyssa Abkowitz on Tue, Jun 12, 2007 at 4:38 PM

On Monday, a judge ordered Genarlow Wilson -- the man who was imprisoned for having consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old girl when he was 17 -- to be freed. But hours later, state Attorney General Thurbert Baker filed an appeal.

Wilson still sits in jail.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, prison officials won't release Wilson until they get the go-ahead from the attorney general's office or the original Douglas County Court, which sentenced him to 10 years for aggravated child molestation.

Matt Towery, who authored the law in 1995 that put Wilson in jail, told the AJC: "This has been just an absolute nightmare to see young people such as Genarlow go to jail --- compounded by prosecutors and people lobbying --- using videotapes and everything in the world --- to try to keep him in jail."

But Baker won't budge. In an editorial he wrote: "[I]t is my responsibility to follow the laws of Georgia as they are written, not how some may wish they were written."

Seems like Baker is holding the line to try to eviscerate any Republicans in the next election who might say he's soft on crime.

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