ATLANTA – The lawyer for Genarlow Wilson said today that a New York investment manager and ten other business leaders have volunteered to post a one million dollar bond to free Wilson from prison while his appeal is pending.
Attorney BJ Bernstein called on Douglas County District Attorney David McDade to reconsider his opposition to bond for Wilson. Wilson remains in prison pending a bond hearing July 5th.
McDade said Wilson is not eligible for an appellate bond, because he was convicted of 1 of the so-called seven deadly sins under Georgia law. Bernstein disputed that, saying that law does not apply to habeas corpus appeals.
Bernstein said some but not all those who contributed to the bond fund have agreed to go public. The investment manager is Whitney Tilson, founder and managing partner of T2 Partners LLC and Tilson Mutual Funds. He was a co-founder of Teach For America and is on the cover of the July 2007 Kiplinger's Magazine.
Wilson, now 21, was convicted of aggravated child molestation stemming from a 2003 New Year's Eve Party where he was captured on videotape receiving oral sex from a 15-year-old girl. He was 17 at the time. He is now serving a mandatory 10-year prison sentence. His case has spawned widespread publicity.
Wilson was also charged with raping a second 17-year-old girl at the party. A jury acquitted him of the rape charge.
In 2006, Georgia lawmakers changed the law Wilson was sentenced under but the state's top court said it could not be applied retroactively.
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