Court Frees Teen In Controversial Sex Case

Court Frees Teen In Controversial Sex Case

www.cnn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Good, the court finally gets one right.

I happy for this young man, he finally gets a chance at life.

www.cnn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

This is good news. Shame this kid had to go through all this over oral sex with a girl 2 years his junior.

The article says that he won't be taken of the sex offenders registry though if I read it correctly. Thats a shame but this over ruling of his conviction is a good start.

reply to post by elevatedone

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I agree this is a case that got me on my edge for years because I also have a son that was that age when this happen to the young man.

Plus it was just in my neck of the woods almost.

Terrible way to destroy what it was a brilliant future as an athlete.

Justice has been serve a littler bit late but sure.

How sad is it that 3 of the people who we have voted to overrule everything in Georgia are complete morons. 2 years. 2 years. I feel sorry for this poor kid. When I was in high school, it was not uncommon to see a junior dating a freshman.

For some reason, someone wanted to ruin this kid's life for their own personal morals.

If this kid had been white. he would never have spent a day in jail.

To think the South is all tolerant and nondiscriminatory is an illusion perpetrated by the racist that still exist in this country.

It was political motivate, or that is what the people were complaining about.

It seems that most of the time a case comes against young black teens, politics place a role on the outcome.

good.
now they need to take him off the sex offender registry.
that is going to follow him around his entire life.

this entire thing was a farce and they owe him about 700 days of his life

reply to post by whaaa

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Here we go...

Puhlease, Everyone in and around the area where this happened, Georgia, was up in arms about this case. There was so much static about it that the legislature was forced to amend the law, which is the only reason this kid is getting out of jail to day. Cruel and Unusual Punishment. Even the jurors who convicted him were reluctant but were obligated under the law based on the evidence and the current statute at the time of conviction. Some of them were crying and several have worked steadily to help him get freed. As for the first time he was supposed to be released and wasn't, it was simply a matter of jurisdiction and would have affected many other criminal defendants and set bad precedent.

The problems that many people try to define as racism are really issues of class - the justice system and public education to name a few. But yeah, racism exists. The problem is, it's just well-disguised by smiles, handshakes and a knowing wink. And sometimes it's even wrapped up all nice and politically correct and peddled as affirmative action.

The law in this matter was more a reflection of repressive and hypocritical Southern Bible Belt values and mentality. Now, if you would like to talk about that, well let's sit down for a drink and discuss it. Except not on Sunday. Oh, and bless your heart, we can't talk about sex either!


[edit on 26/10/07 by kosmicjack]

[edit on 26/10/07 by kosmicjack]

reply to post by whaaa

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Don't make this a black white thing.

Did he break the law? YES
Is it a bad law? YES
Fix the law.

I do not feel sorry for him for breaking the law, nor for spending time in jail. I do feel bad for him that it was an out dated law. BUT, the law is the law, and I am sure he knew what the law was. At that age...I knew what the age of consent was.

reply to post by kosmicjack

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OH NO!

We agree Kosmick.

OK, show me how many white kids have been charged with the same crime. And don't give me that BS that white kids have a different moral standard than blacks when it comes to teenage sex.

Oh, I could have gotten in trouble for that! I'm going to start asking for ID… "look baby I know you want Westy but where's your ID, a good mouth is never worth a prison sentence"…




For some constructive comments, I to agree that this should have never gotten to this point, sometimes a little common sense goes along way in resolving an issue. No need to be heavy handed and ruin someones life over a case like this.


[edit on 26-10-2007 by WestPoint23]

This is not a black/white issue. It is a moral's issue. IMO you cannot legislate morality and all attempts to do so have failed:

- prohibition
- drugs
- abortion
- prostitution
- Sunday Blue Laws

That being said, the seedy under-belly of this story that is not widely known outside of Atlanta is that this episode was videotaped. (Someone please correct me if I am wrong, but this has been discussed on several local radio talk shows here in Atlanta)

Now what do you do when you are young, immature, emabarassed and busted? You lie your a$$ off, especially if it's about sex and it's on videotape. She lied to her parents that it was not concensual so that she could stay out of trouble. Her parents, being outraged and protective, filed charges. The prosecutor was obligated, based on the evidence, to bring the case to trial. It was not until things started snow-balling and he was about to be convicted that the real story started coming out in dribs and drabs.

Now, Georgians have done what they could in order to fix this mess. But let's don't make it more than it is: A chicken fried, southern style Romeo and Juliet.

BTW Trader, I DO feel sorry for him, not only because he went to jail, or the fact that he will now be used by those with an agenda to further their purposes, but particularly for his choice in women.

reply to post by whaaa

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Wow! Such a simple statement has just earned you my undying lack of respect.

How could you make such an ignorant statement? It's obvious you aren't from the south.

Try looking up some South Georgia newspapers on the net and look in the crime and punishment sections. You will see MORE than enough names of WHITE kids that are convicted and sentenced to 2 years + for statutory almost identical to this case and almost ZERO blacks. Yet, you see 20 - 30 year old black men walking around with their 13 year old PREGNANT girlfriends all the time.


Perhaps you need to work out your racism and hate issues.


Jasn

Is Lubbock, Texas southern enough? Funny I don't see myself as racist or hateful.

Sorry, Ive lost your respect. I never knew you cared.

and it't just the www. my murderous friend. chill!

[edit on 26-10-2007 by whaaa]

[edit on 26-10-2007 by whaaa]

You have already been taken to wood shed twice. Thanks for defending me people.

Sorry, this is not about white/black. Its about breaking a law. It might be stupid, but it was the law at the time.

It has since been changed, you can not retry someone retor activiely on a law change. Don;t be surprised if the AG of Georgia does their job and attempts to retry the kids. I am sure he will again be found guilty and sentenced to time served.

Case Closed

Perhaps his attorneys will take his case to the supreme court reversing the sex offender listing.

Back when I was in high school it was called natural selection having sex among your classmates.

This case had NOTHING to do with breaking the law. From day one it was no secret that this case had more to do with others involved furthering their careers as well as making a statement. I have followed this case for a little over a year now.

Traderonwallst: "A law is a law and you can't break the law!" That is bogus and a cop out. Using your logic, in the state of SC it is perfectly legal for me to beat my wife on the steps of the court house on Sunday. So just because that is a law does it makes it ok for me actually do it? Or how about this SC law which says if a man promises to marry an unmarried woman, the marriage must take place or the SC law which states, No work may be done on Sunday. Of course my personal favorite SC law says, When approaching a four way or blind intersection in a non-horse driven vehicle you must stop 100 ft from the intersection and discharge a firearm into the air to warn horse traffic.


"The Law" is intended to help people and protect people. In this case their is NO ONE to protect. We are talking about consensual sex between two people. Who was hurt? Where is the crime? A 17 year old minor and a 15 year old minor made a decision, which under a majority of states they are both of age to consent. Before taking the position that "Its the law" you might want to look into some of the laws in your state that are broken on a daily basis. One day you too may face a situation such as this, all because of some overzealous, politically motivated people.

I'm glad that the courts finally corrected this mistake.