News & Politics - Court strikes sentence in biracial sex case

meretwins · 05-14-2004, 05:41 PM

Quote:

Black teen in Ga. got 10-year term for having sex with white girlThe Associated Press

ATLANTA - A black teenager�s 10-year prison sentence for having sex with a younger, white schoolmate was thrown out Monday by the Georgia Supreme Court.

The state�s highest court ruled 18-year-old Marcus Dixon should have been prosecuted just on the lesser charge of misdemeanor statutory rape rather than aggravated child molestation for having sex with a 15-year-old in February 2003.

Dixon has claimed he was targeted because he is black and had sex with a white girl. His case drew protests from the NAACP.

Dixon was acquitted on felony rape charges but found guilty of aggravated child molestation, which comes with a mandatory decade-long sentence, as well as statutory rape. Monday�s ruling lets the statutory rape conviction, which carries a maximum sentence of one year and a $1,000 fine, stand.

In its 4-3 decision, the Georgia Supreme Court didn�t rule on whether the 10-year sentence was cruel and unusual. It said only that Dixon shouldn�t have been tried for aggravated child molestation because the statutory rape law would be more relevant.

�It would be entirely incongruous with the intent of the Legislature ... if the state retained the discretion to prosecute the exact same conduct as either misdemeanor statutory rape or felony child molestation,� wrote Chief Justice Norman Fletcher.

�Clearly, when, as here, the sexual act involves injury to the victim, the General Assembly intended that the aggravated child molestation statute apply,� wrote Justice Harris Hines.

Dixon, an honor student and star football player at Pepperell High School in Rome, was accused of having sex with the 15-year-old student at a trailer after school.

The defense argued the sex between the two teens was consensual and had been planned.

Prosecutors argued Dixon forced himself on his victim, causing vaginal bruising and tearing.

The girl testified that she tried to escape from the trailer, where she was working as an assistant custodian, but did not scream or shout for help.

�I was too scared. I was afraid he�d hit me or something,� she said.

Dixon, a senior, had been granted a scholarship to attend Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. It was revoked after his arrest.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4891446/

Maresa · 05-15-2004, 05:49 PM

Well, either way, rape or no, he's a "child molestor" for the rest of his life.

AuburnGrad · 05-16-2004, 03:45 PM

After following this story for a year, I was elated to hear Marcus Dixon was released. I can't believe he was charged with child molestation in the first place. After seeing extensive interviews given by the district attorney and the "victim"'s interview with Oprah a while back, it was sickenly obvious to me he was set up. Of course that is just my interpretation.

Anyway, I'm glad he's free and hopefully he'll be on a college campus this fall.

I'm Not Your Boy Toy · 05-16-2004, 04:53 PM

guilty, not guility whatever.

why does someone always say theyre targeted cuz theyre black, a celebrity, etc etc?

i dont know about georgias laws but here in michigan you have to register as a sex offender and are limited in where you live, where you work and what you do.

meretwins · 05-16-2004, 04:53 PM

auburngrad i agree...the racial dynamics and sexual politics of the south aside the entire case never sat right with me...i'm glad folks found some sense...


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