Genarlow Wilson ordered released by Georgia Supreme Court

October 26, 2007

Genarlow Wilson's 10-year prison sentence has been ruled cruel and unusual Friday and the Supreme Court of Georgia has ordered that he be released from prison.

Wilson was convicted in 2005 of a consensual sexual act with a 15-year-old girl when he was 17.

At the time, Georgia law made the act punishable by 10 years in prison. The law was later amended, making such conduct "punishable by no more than a year in prison and no sex offender registration," the supreme court noted in a news release Friday. But those changes were not made retroactive, so they did not apply to Wilson.

In a split 4-to-3 decision, the court upheld the decision of a Monroe County judge. The 48-page opinion said the "severe" punishment Wilson was given and his sex offender registration make "no measurable contribution to acceptable goals of punishment."