Makes Me Wanna SCREAM!

COMPARE AND CONTRAST:

Utah man who had sex with girl, 13, is sentenced
From the Associated Press
July 11, 2007

WEST JORDAN, UTAH — A judge sentenced the son of an imprisoned Utah polygamist to 180 days in jail Tuesday for having sex with a 13-year-old girl he met on the Internet site MySpace.

William Green, 19, must avoid pornography, stay out of Internet chat rooms and pay a $500 fine, District Court Judge Royal Hansen said.

"He's a remorseful kid," said Green's lawyer, David Leavitt. "He's married and has full-time work. I think you'll see this is a blip on the radar screen."

Green was charged with rape but pleaded guilty to two counts of misdemeanor sexual battery.

His father, Tom Green, 58, went to prison in 2001 for having sex with a 13-year-old girl when he was 37.

The girl was the first of five women he took as wives. He also was convicted of bigamy and criminal non-support for the thousands of dollars in state payments made to support his 32 children.

Green is scheduled to be released from prison Aug. 7.

Leavitt, who prosecuted Tom Green, said William Green was a victim because he grew up in an environment where there was no sensitivity to age-appropriate sex.

WITH:

Editorial
Free Genarlow Wilson Now
From The New York Times
Published: December 21, 2006

Genarlow Wilson loves reading mystery novels and can’t wait for the next Harry Potter book. The 20-year-old former high school football player and honor student works in a library, the perfect job for a young bookworm. Unfortunately, that is where the good news ends and a genuine horror story of this country’s legal system begins.

The library in Georgia where Mr. Wilson works is in prison. He is two years into a sentence for engaging in consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old girl at a New Year’s Eve party when he was 17. He won’t be eligible for parole until he has served 10 years, essentially sacrificing his remaining youth to an obvious miscarriage of justice.

As Shaila Dewan reported in The Times this week, Mr. Wilson has been convicted of aggravated child molestation even though he and the girl were both minors at the time. Even if he could win an early release, Mr. Wilson could not go home to his family. He would have to register as a sex offender and would be prohibited from living with his 8-year-old sister. It is all the more disgraceful because the Georgia Supreme Court last week refused to hear his appeal.

The sexual act took place during a party involving sex, marijuana and alcohol, all captured on a graphic videotape. But that does not make Mr. Wilson a child molester. When high school students engage in consensual sexual activity, that is not the same as an adult molesting a teenager or a teenager molesting a child.

What makes this case more absurd is that if Mr. Wilson and the young woman had sexual intercourse, he would have been guilty only of a misdemeanor and not required to register as a sex offender, thanks to a provision in the law meant to avoid just this type of draconian punishment for consensual youthful indiscretions, the “Romeo and Juliet” exception. And since Mr. Wilson’s conviction, the law has been changed to exempt oral sex as well. But the courts say that can’t help Mr. Wilson retroactively.

His lawyer is planning to file a habeas petition seeking his release. The courts need to grant it and expunge his record so that Mr. Wilson can return to his family and his once promising academic career. Legislators in other states should take notice and make sure that their own laws do not catch children in dragnets designed for predatory adults.

WHAT THE EFF???!!!