Georgia injustice? Modern-day lynching?

COMMENTARY

• Old South Lingers in a Legal Lynching
  By Marian Wright Edelman
  
  January 22, 2004
  
  There is a boy in Georgia who almost beat the odds. An African American born to a 15-year-old, drug-addicted mother and an absent father, Marcus Dixon nonetheless went on to become an honor student and all-state football star. His football skills, 3.96 grade point average and 1,200 score on his SAT won him a full scholarship to Vanderbilt University.
  
  Marcus, 19, was supposed to enter Vanderbilt last fall. Instead, he is serving a 10-year prison sentence with no chance of parole for having consensual sex when he was 18 years old with a white girl who was three months shy of 16. He is the only person in Georgia history this close in age to his victim to be convicted of "aggravated child molestation," a charge that was intended to protect children from predatory adults, not imprison teenagers for having sex with other teenagers.
  
  That such a promising young man could be sucked into the prison pipeline and become another African American statistic speaks volumes about blacks' vulnerability and about their disparate treatment in the justice system. From 1999 to 2000, there were 791,600 black men in jail or prison, compared with just 603,000 black men in higher education.
  
  And even though nearly 50 years have passed since Emmett Till was murdered in Mississippi for whistling at a white woman, Dixon's case raises eerie echoes of the old Southern obsession with miscegenation.
  
  Marcus was raised in Rome, Ga., by his partly disabled grandmother. With her blessing, a local white Little League coach, Ken Jones, and his wife, Peri, became Marcus' legal guardians when he was 11, and he became part of their family, which includes a teenage son and daughter. Marcus did not drink, smoke, use drugs or get in trouble. He sang in the high school chorus and worked and volunteered at the YMCA. Universities came calling; two boxes full of recruiting letters still rest beside his bed at home.
  
  Then, in February 2003, Marcus had sex with a girl who was almost 16, a virgin. Two days later, she accused him of rape. Investigators didn't give either of them a lie detector test or look for the condom Marcus said he used and threw away.
  
  "I didn't believe him," the investigator explained.
  
  But the charge didn't stand up. In May, a jury of nine whites and three blacks took just 20 minutes to acquit Marcus of rape. There was no forced sex, they concluded. They then were obliged to consider a lesser charge of "aggravated child molestation" — a charge that was applicable even if the sex was consensual. This statute had never before been used to prosecute consensual sex between teens with less than a three-year age difference, and a majority of states have passed "Romeo and Juliet" statutes — which deal with teen sex when both partners are close in age — for exactly these types of cases. Later, several jurors said they thought the charge was minor and were shocked when the judge announced the mandatory 10-year sentence.
  
  The case has been appealed to the Georgia Supreme Court, and arguments were heard Wednesday. Marcus has already missed his high school graduation and lost his scholarship. If the conviction is not overturned, you can almost hear the death knell ringing for this young man's future. Once out of prison, he would have a felony record and be required to register as a sex offender wherever he lives, effectively killing his aspiration to be a teacher and coach.
  
  The racism and disparate treatment that underlie this case are widespread. In 1997, although they made up only 34% of U.S. teens, minorities represented 67% of youths in detention. For those charged with violent offenses, blacks are jailed nine times more often than whites. Marcus' case brings back memories of all the black men who were lynched, executed or imprisoned for having relationships with white women, and it recalls the way black males are perceived to this day.
  
  Almost 50 years may have passed since Emmett Till was lynched, but the unjust treatment of African American males goes on. No example could be more egregious or heartbreaking than that of Marcus Dixon.

Marian Wright Edelman is president and founder of the Children's Defense Fund.

[hornplayer]

That makes me sick to my stomach. So much for "The New South!" HA!

[Uli]

what hornplayer sed.

[Monte Smith]

I'd be interested in learning more about this case. It sounds like injustice, but it's hard to make a judgement based on commentary from the LALA Times. If the case is as poor as laid out in the article, though, it's an outrage.

You are once again being ridiculous--had the very same story appeared in the National Review (not likely, I might add), you would have no doubt about its veracity. For hell's sake, Monte, free yourself from that GOP bondage!

[crawjo]

No, Monte, there is no way of spinning this. It is nothing other than an outrage. I don't know if Dixon's race was the determining factor in his sentence, or if this is just a case of a royal judicial screw-up. I saw a story the other day in which two jurors, one white and one black, said that Marcus should not be in jail, and they never would have convicted him of the lesser charge if they thought it was a felony. The jury should have taken a bit longer to learn the facts regarding that charge!

But at any rate, this must be overturned. It is an outrage. Think of the damage that has already been done to this kid because of this.

[crawjo]

Oh, and this case is just another example of how idiotic mandatory sentences are.

Originally posted by crawjo
Oh, and this case is just another example of how idiotic mandatory sentences are.

Amen to that, crawjo.

[jesus marion joseph]

Unfortunately (or fortunately, as the case may be), jurors are generally not allowed to consider th eimplications of the sentence in determining whether to convict or not. Their job is simply to decide whether the government has proved enough facts to convict according to the statutory charge. The problem is with the overzealousness of the prosecutors in bringing the charge, and mandatory sentencing guidelines, which are seen by politicians as "electoral gold".

Based on the scant information, what do you think, JMJ?

Here's a link to ESPN with more on this.

[Monte Smith]

No, I am not spinning this story at all. It's just that an editorial in any newspaper, let alone the LALA Times, is not the same as a hard news story. I mean last week when I questioned the veracity of a Drudge Report story until there was independent confirmation, no one said "Come on, Monte! You know that if that story appeared in a LALA Times editorial you wouldn't question it!"

So don't be ridiculous. Anyone have link to the facts? I'm quite prepared to believe this is as awful as it sounds, but I'd like an authoritative report. S'all I'm sayin'.

Here's another M. Dixon link.

[Al in NYC]

Here is the fullest consideration I've seen of the case, from the Atlanta area legal newspaper:

http://biz.yahoo.com/law/040116/e0fe...ad9ce23_1.html

To me this all shows the full horror and stupidity of mandatory sentencing, and of jury rules preventing jurors from knowledge regarding these sentencing requirements. And, of course, it also brings into question -- in a state where battles over the official status of the Confederate flag are still being fought, and where a man who went after blacks with an ax handle for having the audacity to actually try to eat lunch NEXT to a white person was hailed as a hero and made governor -- whether the prosecutor would have brought these types of severe charges (or, indeed, any charges at all) had both young parties involved been of the same race.

[Monte Smith]

OK, I have read the link Al in NYC posted. Thanks, Al. The case sucks. I agree with you guys on this.

[crawjo]

Regarding the horrors of mandatory sentencing...

The disturbing thing is that this kind of shit happens all the time, where judges are forced to bring down a harsh sentence even though they otherwise would not. Mandatory sentencing, in my opinion, upsets the equilibrium of checks and balances. It gives the legislatures far too much power, and besides, any sort of sentencing requirement that is the same regardless of context is just plain idiotic. Whoever first thought up mandatory sentencing was perhaps a political genius, but morally speaking, he was an idiot.

[moneyp]

They showed this story on Nightline last night as well. I agree that the child molestation charge is ridiculous, but Dixon has problems. He also has two counts of indecent exposure on his record (both cases of him whipping out his johnson in front of girls in public) and state prosecutors are bringing another for sexual harrassment. Here's hoping the resulting publicity gets him out of his ten year hitch, but he needs to seek help as well.

[hornplayer]

Originally posted by Monte Smith
I'd be interested in learning more about this case. It sounds like injustice, but it's hard to make a judgement based on commentary from the LALA Times. If the case is as poor as laid out in the article, though, it's an outrage.

Monte, this is an article by Marian Wright Edelman -- just PRINTED in the LA Times. This woman is no jiver... neverhas been.

[HLJ]

Blackman's Kryptonite.Peace and all that.

[Ron Thorne]

With all due respect, I must say that I'm beyond tired of predictable, worn-out, pigeonholing references such as "LALA Times". Give it a rest and read the damned material, already.

[Monte Smith]

Originally posted by Ron Thorne
With all due respect, I must say that I'm beyond tired of predictable, worn-out, pigeonholing references such as "LALA Times". Give it a rest and read the damned material, already.

Are you beyond tired of predictable, worn-out, pigeonholing references such as to the Drudge Report or conservative organs like National Review, I wonder. I doubt it, Ron.

[frankiepop]

& never let rest the always charming and guaranteed to make u chuckle

yuk yuk


ha.......h.............my stomach hur.......ca..brea..............hhhhhhhhh