Thurbert Baker must go. Free Genarlow Wilson!

Here's an op-ed piece from the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker his dubious application of the law. I don't know what's up with this guy but Georgians definitely need to make sure he doesn't hold office again.

Vanessa

News

Posted on Thu, Aug. 09, 2007

Can't have it both ways

An article in Tuesday's Fulton Daily Report about Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker and the Legislature's 2006 amendments to Georgia's sex offender law reminded me of an African proverb: His opinions are like water in the bottom of a canoe, going from side to side.

"The defense of Georgia's sex offender law has placed the state's attorney general in the awkward position of arguing to the state Supreme Court that the law cannot be applied retroactively, while arguing in a separate case in federal court that the law's retroactive provisions are legal," the Daily Report, a publication for lawyers, reported.

In the highly publicized case of Genarlow Wilson, Baker is seeking to uphold a 10-year sentence imposed on Wilson for having unforced oral sex with a 15-year-old girl when he was 17 years old. In June, Baker weighed in after a judge in Monroe County granted Wilson's civil habeas petition, the Daily Report reported:

"Citing a 2006 amendment to the sex offender law that reduces aggravated child molestation in some cases of consensual oral sex from a felony to a misdemeanor, Monroe County Superior Court Judge Thomas H. Wilson (no relation to Genarlow Wilson) reduced the now 21-year-old Wilson's felony sentence to a misdemeanor and ordered his release."

Baker appealed. He argued the judge didn't have the authority to apply the misdemeanor statute retroactively.

"Meanwhile, for the past year, Baker has been defending another of the 2006 amendments to the state sex offender law -- arguing that the Legislature had the authority to enact a new law that retroactively bars anyone on the state's sex offender registry from living, working or loitering within 1,000 feet of a school, bus stop or church," the Daily Report reported.

The fact that Baker offers different arguments about retroactive application of a law is revealing, said B.J. Bernstein, Wilson's lawyer, said in a telephone interview.

"That's the problem with saying, 'I'm just applying the law.' It shouldn't be about mechanical applications of law -- but about justice," she said. "The attorney general said he had to appeal Genarlow's case, yet in fact, he didn't have to appeal Genarlow's case. And he has personally said that he doesn't think what happened is correct. Yet he says he's compelled to do this. This article is revealing a different position."

Bernstein said she doesn't think the public gets upset when lawmakers or law enforcement factor in "doing the right thing." When laws conflict, the true duty is justice.

"I'll trust in the Supreme Court, but the truth is the attorney general could withdraw the appeal now. Still in Genarlow's case, there is no decision," she said.

Inspired by the Wilson case, Bernstein founded the My5th, a non-profit organization named for the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution. Bernstein takes her "Ignorance of the Law is No Excuse" program to high schools -- especially male students. For more information go to my5th.org

Contact Kaffie Sledge at 706-571-8585 or ksledge@ledger-enquirer.com