(Newser)
–
A judge ordered a 21-year-old Georgia man freed from prison today, ruling that his 10-year sentence for aggravated child molestation—receiving consensual oral sex from a 15-year-old when he was 17—was "cruel and unusual" and that keeping him incarcerated would be a "miscarriage of justice." The attorney general promptly announced his intention to appeal, stalling Genarlow Wilson's release.
In 2003, when the act occurred, a loophole in the law made oral sex a felony and intercourse a misdemeanor. Wilson has served over two years for a crime that is now a misdemeanor—but the statute is not retroactive. His conviction sparked widespread outrage, and his lawyer is filing for his release on bond pending the AG's appeal.
