Marcus Dixon Rape Conviction Reversed
Marcus Dixon, the black high school honor student serving a ten year sentence in a Georgia prison for consensual sex with his nearly-16-year-old white girlfriend, has had his conviction reversed 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 had 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.
Dixon was 18 at the time of the offense with a 3.96 grade point average. His football scholarship to attend Vanderbilt University was revoked after his arrest. His case drew national publicity and strong criticism from the NAACP. Dixon is African-American; his victim is white.
More details are available in this article, Was it a Lynching or Justice?
[comments now closed]
< The High Cost of Incarceration | Joseph Wilson Names Possible Plame Leakers > |