Genarlow Wilson’s Appeal

On the July 20, 2007 appeal heard by the Georgia Supreme Court:

Sara at Going Through the Motions, who was in the courtroom, has a play by play on the arguments on her blog. Check it out.

Now, I guess, we wait. Below is a recap of that day’s events. At the very end you’ll find pix and articles. The GA court has also released a video of the days proceedings, which you will also find below.

7/20/07

This morning, from The Daily Report

The court will hear two appeals on Friday. One on the issue of his habeas appeal from the June ruling in Monroe County, where Wilson is being held at Burrus Correctional Facility. The other deals with whether he should be released on bond while his appeal is pending. A Douglas County judge ruled recently that Wilson is charged with a crime that makes him ineligible for parole under Georgia law.

Noon, court is still in session, some quotes from today’s arguments:

The justices seemed to be wrestling with how to provide Wilson relief under the law.

“We have a responsibility to enforce the law,” Justice Robert Benham asked. “Should we do that at the expense of fairness?”

The court was also asked to overturn a lower court decision denying bond to Wilson while his case is on appeal.

But Douglas County District Attorney David McDade argued that Douglas County Superior Court Judge David Emerson was correct to deny bond in this case.

“Judge Emerson can hold 500 bond hearings, with 500 hours of testimony, and he’d still have to follow the law,” McDade said. “This defendant is not eligible for bond.”

Uh-oh, 40 mins. in, the simulcast has gone out (everywhere, not just here.) They are having a network difficulty. McDade and Bernstein have already opened their arguments. The video ended during a probate official’s argument against Wilson’s bond release. She was trying to support her argument by noting that the oral sex was not between a boyfriend and girlfriend, that it happened, essentially, during a “raucous” sex party, and that somehow that should affect judgement on Wilson’s punishment.

Umm, referring to the act as “oral sodomy”? Okay, who wants to make that argument about how language doesn’t matter? That it’s all just “semantics”?

Interestingly, one of the judges cut her off at that point, reminding her that point is not relevent to the law or the appeal.

(7.23.06)

The video of the session has been loaded on the GA Supreme Court site, and you can watch it below. There’s a big chunk of lead-time at the beginning, so you might want to fast foward!

More on Genarlow Wilson

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