Baker Gives African-American Southern Democrats A Bad Name
A White superior court judge immediately saw the "grave miscarriage of justice" in the Genarlow Wilson case.
Granting habeas relief to the 21-year-old, Judge Thomas H. Wilson on June 11 also imposed a 12-month misdemeanor sentence, plus credit for the two years Genarlow has already served, and ordered his release.
Under Judge Wilson's ruling, Genarlow would not be required to register as a sex offender.
So why is this young black man's case still in the news?
Because a 'brother', named by Black Enterprise Magazine in 2003 as one of America's top black lawyers, is doing everything in his power to keep Wilson on lockdown.
Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker filed notice that he would appeal the decision before the Georgia Supreme Court 90 minutes after the judge's ruling.
Insisting that the judge had overstepped his authority and that an appeal was necessary "to resolve the clearly erroneous legal issues created by the order," Baker said he would "seek expedited treatment of the appeal so that all legal impediments to Wilson's case can be resolved without undue delay."
Although Thurbert Baker is a Democrat and Georgia's top black elected official for almost a decade, his appeal is not surprising to many. His efforts to prosecute civil rights icon state Sen. Ralph D. Abernathy III for misusing state funds was met with angry rallies in 1999.
On this case, Baker has refused to speak to local NAACP officials, and has even ignored a personal request by former President Jimmy Carter to change course.
And he's opposing Wilson's request to be released on bond pending the appeal!
Genarlow Wilson was sentenced to 10 years in prison for allowing a 15 year-old girl to willingly perform oral sex on him when he was 17.While he's no choirboy by any means, the former high school honor's student and star athlete with absolutely no prior criminal record has clearly paid dearly for making a bad choice.
Under Georgia law, however, 15 year-olds can not consent to engaging in such sexual acts and an outdated statue mandates a 10 year incarceration period.
While the law has since been changed as a result of Wilson, Baker insists it should not apply retroactively to Wilson and others currently in prison.
We have already received two emails encouraging us to get the word out that this North Carolina native needs to be recalled. It's all well and good to be in solidarity with black folks. When family starts acting crazy, however, you gotta kick them to the curb.
Whether you live in Georgia or not, please let this fool know that what he's doing is intolerable. You can do it by writing him here.
Judge Wilson said it best. "If this court or any court cannot recognize the injustice of what has occurred here, then our court system has lost sight of the goal our judicial system has always strived to accomplish … justice being served in a fair and equal manner."