Genarlow Wilson, the Georgia man incarcerated for having consensual oral sex with a high school classmate when he was 17, caught a break yesterday. Relatively speaking, of course. The state supreme court moved up the attorney general's appeal hearing from August 5 to July 20th, a move that will have Wilson out of jail sooner, if all goes as planned.

Attorney General Thurbert Baker is appealing a Monroe County Superior Court judge's decision to reduce Wilson's felony conviction to a misdemeanor and free him from prison. Baker said the judge overstepped his authority when he granted Wilson's habeas corpus last month. Wilson's attorney is arguing his 10-year prison sentence is cruel and unusual punishment.

When Wilson gets out of jail, something I and most rationale people would like to happen, I wonder if he will be able to get back to any sort of normalcy. The cynic in me says that no matter how innocent you are when you go to jail, the company you keep while you're there can't be a great influence.

[AJC]