My god. Imagine if it had been a 15-year-old boy.

The act was videotaped, according to the judicial documents, which means a bunch of stick-in-the-assed prosecutors and jurists saw it. Doesn't that mean they've peripherally run afoul of child pornography law? If we're going to put the kid in jail for 10 years, shouldn't the D.A. have to do at least a few months?

And is it wrong that I'm titillated by the whole sordid tale? Perhaps I should get some jail time too.

How fucked up we are...

Considering that hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and 3000 Americans are dead because of a blowjob, I don't find this all that shocking.

Bizarrely, if he had fucked her instead, it would also have been a misdemeanor. The law in Georgia believes that sodomy is more damaging to a minor than intercourse.

Georgians: MOVE AWAY FROM THERE.

To add to this sad situation, consider just how small is the likelyhood that the threat of a long jail sentence would keep a 17 year old boy from turning down a blow job.

I don't think making them punishable by death would deter very many.

To make matters even more pathetic, he was only investigated for sodomy w/ a 15-year-old because he was quickly acquitted of raping a 17-year-old.

I don't think making them punishable by death would deter very many.

This is a good thing. We must stand up for our oral rights. The right to give and the right to receive. FOR ALL! When you think about it, that boy is a patriot.

This kinda shit makes my blood boil. They've ruined this poor kids life. I realize that ignorance of the law is no excuse but would a 15 or 17 year old even be aware of such a law?

It's just so unfair. Poor kid!

Kids! Don't video tape your sex!

Jeebus, I'm glad no one complained about the 15-year-old boy I deflowered when I was 17 myself. I'd probably still be in jail. HE sure as hell didn't complain.

@6,

According to the article you linked to, the sodomy charge was a lesser charge tacked on to the primary charge of rape. The jury immediately acquitted on the rape charge, but had no choice other than to convict on the sodomy charge. The guy wasn't "investigated" because the prosecuting attorney was pissed about the acquittal.

apparently in georgia, head DO count. no one told outkast.

Jesus. Is he going to suffer the humiliation of being on a public sex offender registry, too? (This is one of the big problems with them ...)

Probably, and, just to make things worse, the Georgia legislature has been trying to pass a draconian sex offender bill, making it illegal for registered sex offenders to live pretty much anywhere in the state. They may have even passed it already.

Georgia is a toilet. Move away from there, don't visit it, and don't do business with companies based in Atlanta.

This is sad. Can anything be done about this?

Just remember when you're called to jury duty: Jury nullification is always a possibility. Southern racists gave it a bad name by refusing to convict lynching perpetrators, but it can prevent tragedies like this.

That sucks...

Had to say it.

I'm trying to remember if this was the case of a black guy and his white girlfriend, or was that a similar case where they threw the book at the guy.

So Dan, you're going to use this week's Savage Love column to call for a letter-writing campaign to the governor of Georgia, right?

You read my mind, A Nony Mouse.

This further goes to what I tell clients all the time- regardless of whether it's Georgia or right here in Seattle- take whatever measures are necessary to stay out of the criminal justice system in this country, unless you have a fat wallet (and then, use lawyers to buy your way out). Unfortunate, but true.

"You read my mind, A Nony Mouse."

Cool, someone needs to help this poor kid.

Someone needs to stop Georgia. Didn't this just happen in 2003 with Marcus Dixon? I guess the Salon Audio post of Danger Mouse & Murs' "To a Black Boy" is appropriate once again:

http://www.salon.com/ent/audiofile/2005/03/03/murs/index.html

"a football player, honor student and the first homecoming king at Douglas County High School."

Jesus. Can we just build a wall to divide trhe north and south? I'm tired of supporting these racist southern states.

I think that this case is interesting for a few reasons. First, the whole manditory sentencing thing. Jury nullification is really important and I hope that people read up on it before serving on a jury. Second, the 17 year old wasn't told by his attorney what the manditory sentence for the crime was. His attorney should have told him. Btw, the jury can't be told, so if you sit on a jury don't expect anyone to tell you what the manditory sentence that the judge has no power over is. Third, the real crime seems to be having sex with the incapacited 17 year old.

I believe the guy that he didn't think he was doing anything wrong. I believe that he didn't want to rape her. But, according to the article she was in no position to give consent. Yes, the jury found him not guilty. But, why? Did the jury think that she should not have been drunk, high, whatever? I think education would make a big difference here. Men and boys need to learn that when someone is too drunk to say yes, they are too drunk. I don't think that the 17 year old necessarily deserves jail time, but I think that someone should explain to him that having sex with someone who is too drunk to say yes, is stupid and often illegal. Now, he's serving time for something totally foolish. No justice.

Pretty awesome, huh? Receiving a blowjob given by a voluntary participant: bad! Sex with a girl too drunk to dissent OR consent: okay!

HEY,

We tried to impeach a president for a blow job, remember?

The kids just didn't learn.

Kill, maim, hate, it's all o.k.,
just
NO SEX!

I can't stop thinking about the injustice of this situation. I'm ashamed to live in a country that allows this to go unanswered. It may seem like a small thing, but we are all endangered by such reckless applications of the rule of law.

Dan, I think this would be a cause worth taking on. Perhaps we could label Georgia with some new work a la Santorum and keep driving it home.

We should have let those sonsabitches secede when we had a chance.

I'm with Papayas. When reading the article @ 6, the kid's attitude really bothered me. He claims to know that no means no. Well, silence also means no. Climbing on top of and fucking an incapacitated girl is not ok. He doesn't deserve ten years for a blow job, maybe not even for rape, but he should have owned up to what he did and accepted a plea for a lesser charge.

Please, Keshmeshi, the issue is not whether he might have used bad judgment, but whether a TEN YEAR sentence is bizarrely out-of-proportion to any wrongdoing here.

The Georgia legislature admitted that their Byzantine laws were out of whack, and changed the law, but they sociopathically declined to adjust the sentence already rendered in this case.

And if I read the story right, the kid would have faced a maximum of ONE YEAR if they had simply fucked.

FUCK GEORGIA!!!

Yes, and in my comment I stated that ten years is out of proportion. I guess you didn't read past the first sentence.