The Trials and Tribulations of Genarlow Wilson

When I read that Genarlow Wilson was not being released from prison, I began to cry. Wilson was a star in the classroom and highly-regarded prep football player in Georgia who held Detroit Lions first round draft choice Calvin Johnson to four receptions in two games. Most prominent in his box of football recruiting letters were the ones from the Ivies: Brown and Columbia. He was known as an overachiever. He was also the homecoming king at his high school, Douglas County High. At a New Years Eve party in 2003, Wilson, then age 17, had consensual oral sex with a 15-year old girl. According to everyone at the party, the girl in question, and even the prosecutor of Wilson's case agreed that she initiated the act. But according to an antiquated, archaic Georgia state law, it was a felony to engage in consensual oral sex with a minor. At the same time, it is a misdemeanor - the "Romeo and Juliet" law - to engage in consensual sexual intercourse with a minor.