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GENARLOW WILSON OPENS UP TO ESSENCE.COM: Newly-freed 21-year-old discusses case that nearly sent him away for 10 years.
*After hitting up several of the TV morning shows on Monday, 21-year-old Genarlow Wilson gave Essence.com the first print interview since his release from prison on Friday.
In 2003, the then 17-year-old was videotaped receiving consensual oral sex from a 15-year-old girl. He was charged with child molestation under a Georgia law that made having oral sex with anyone under 16 a felony. Refusing to take a plea deal and be branded a sex offender for life, the honor student and star athlete was sentenced to ten-years behind bars.
Wilson served nearly two years of the sentence before it was overturned Friday by the Georgia Supreme Court, which ruled 4-3 that it was cruel and unusual punishment.
Essence.com spoke exclusively to Wilson about the teen sex scandal that started it all, his time in prison and what he plans to do for the rest of his life.
On how he found out he was going to be released:
• “Someone said it on the radio. And I actually couldn’t believe it, though, because in June, I went through something similar when the courts ruled in my favor and my release was blocked because the State appealed. So I was like, ‘I’ll believe it when I see it.’ Then I was escorted up to the warden’s office, and he told me the Supreme Court had ruled in my favor. We were just waiting to hear from my attorney, and then they gave me the news that the State wasn’t going to appeal and that I would be released.”
On why he’s not bitter:
• “I can’t let my frustrations get the best of me. It’s not going to make matters any easier for me. Either way it goes, it’s still going to be hard for me. But now I get to start over. It’s a new beginning, and I’m looking forward to it. I’ve turned all the negative energy into something positive.”
On that fateful night:
• “I know that the decisions I made were not the best ones, and I did stuff that I probably shouldn’t have done that night. But I can’t go back and change anything, and for the most part I recognize my mistake.”
Read more exclusively on Essence.com. Also look for more from this Genarlow Wilson interview in the January issue of Essence along with exclusive photographs.
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