No bail for Georgia man jailed for consensual sex at 17

Story Highlights

• AP: Genarlow Wilson's conviction makes him ineligible for bail, judge rules
• Wilson serving 10 years for consensual sex at age 17 with 15-year-old
• Another judge reduced Wilson's sentence to a year; prosecutor appealed
• Wilson is backed by ex-President Carter and some jurors who convicted him

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ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- A judge denied bond Wednesday for a teenager who's serving a 10-year prison sentence for having consensual oral sex when he was 17 with a 15-year-old girl, an aide to the judge said.

Douglas County, Georgia, Superior Court Judge David Emerson said Genarlow Wilson's conviction makes him ineligible for bail, despite a court ruling this month that reduced his sentence to one year, according to The Associated Press.

Attorneys for Wilson, who has already served two years in prison, are fighting to win bond for the 21-year-old while his unusual case makes its way through the courts.

The case revolves around a New Year's Eve party outside Atlanta in 2003, when Wilson, then 17, engaged in the sex act with a 15-year-old girl.

Under a now-changed Georgia law, Wilson was convicted of felony aggravated child molestation. Wilson was acquitted on a second charge of raping a 17-year-old girl at the party -- who prosecutors maintained was too intoxicated to consent.

Wilson received a 10-year sentence, which was mandatory under the law.

Partly as a result of Wilson's conviction, state legislators changed the law to make such consensual conduct between minors a misdemeanor, rather than a felony. But that change wasn't made retroactive, so it did not affect Wilson.

Wednesday's ruling makes it more likely that Wilson will remain in prison until at least October, when the Georgia Supreme Court is expected to hear his appeal, AP reported.

Wilson's attorneys have been spurred by a legal victory this month when a Monroe County Superior Court judge ruled that Wilson's punishment was cruel and unusual and voided it on constitutional grounds.

The judge reduced the sentence to one year and said Wilson should not be put on Georgia's sex offender registry, as the old law required.

Wilson's jubilant attorneys hoped the ruling would free him from state prison. But shortly after it was handed down, Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker announced he would appeal the decision, a move that kept Wilson behind bars.

In a statement announcing his decision, Baker said he filed the appeal to resolve "clearly erroneous legal issues," charging that the judge did not have the authority "to reduce or modify the judgment of the trial court."

Baker also said prosecutors in Douglas County had offered a plea deal that would reduce Wilson's sentence, possibly to time already served, and place him in a program for first-time offenders.

Once his sentence was complete, his conviction would be removed from his record, and he would be taken off the sex-offender registry, the attorney general said.

But Wilson's attorney, B.J. Bernstein, said she would not accept the proposed deal because it would still require him to plead guilty to a felony with a 15-year sentence, which would hang over him until the sentence had been served, despite the judge's view that his conduct should be punished as a misdemeanor.

Wilson's plight has drawn national attention and pleas for his release, including from former President Jimmy Carter, a former Georgia governor, and even some of the jurors who convicted him.

Legislation that would make the change in Georgia's child molestation law retroactive in order to free Wilson failed to win approval earlier this year.