Marcus Dixon
 

A growing number of Black state legislators and civil rights leaders are urging the Georgia Supreme Court to overturn the conviction of Marcus Dixon, the 18-year-old Black Georgia high school football player, who is serving a 15-year sentence for having consensual sex with a 15-year-old White female classmate.
“Marcus Dixon is a modern-day Emmett Till,” an angry Rep. Tyrone Brooks, of the Georgia General Assembly, told BET.com Friday. “He was lynched by a judicial system in Floyd County – Rome – Georgia, by an overzealous prosecutor. As president of the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials, I can tell you that 100 percent of us are supporting the movement to free Marcus Dixon.”Advertisement
Initially, Assistant District Attorney McClellan had sought a rape conviction against Dixon, but the jurors rejected it. Instead, they agreed on misdemeanor statutory rape. “The jury said, ‘We’ll convict him of the misdemeanor, and he’ll get to go home today,” Brooks says
But McClellan used a loophole, “bundling” the misdemeanor statutes with aggravated sexual assault statutes in order to stick Dixon with the 15-year sentence, 10 years of which he must serve behind bars before a five-year probationary period, Brooks says.
“The prosecutor abused a law designed to protect children from predators, says Brooks, who, ironically helped draft the legislation. “The intent of the law is good. Only one prosecutor since 1996 has abused it. Marcus Dixon is not a predator; in this case, he is the victim of the judicial system.
In fact, Dixon, an A-student and football star who had been granted a full scholarship to Vanderbilt University, is the first teen in Georgia history to be sentenced under a similar statute. The Web site actforjustice.com, reports that “more than 35 states … have passed ‘Romeo and Juliet’ laws that have either decriminalized the behavior or minimized the offense to misdemeanor status for consensual teen-age relations.”
Says David Balser, an attorney with McKenna Long & Aldridge who is leading Dixon’s pro bono legal team: “No teen-ager should be serving 10 years in a state prison for having a consensual sexual encounter with someone in his own peer group. Regardless of one’s view of whether it is appropriate for teens to engage in voluntary relations, it is unethical to punish someone this severely for what even a jury found to be consensual behavior.”
Like Brooks, the Rev. Joseph Lowery, former president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, says that the race factor is impossible to ignore. Speaking at a recent candlelight vigil at a Georgia church, he likened Dixon’s case to those of countless other Black men who received cruel punishments after being accused of raping Whites.
"If it'd been a Black girl, nobody would give a damn," Lowery said.
McClellan and his boss, District Attorney Leigh E. Patterson, say that race has never been a factor in this case.
Brooks says he expects the Georgia Supreme Court to decide on the case within 90 days.
“Mr. Balser presented an eloquent case before the court,” Brooks says, “and I think there is compelling evidence for the court to overturn the conviction. I believe the court will do the right thing.”
But Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue has not done the right thing, Brooks says, because he has let this sentence stand
Loretta Lepore, the governor’s spokeswoman, says, however, that Perdue has no power of executive clemency or any authority to intervene in the Dixon case.
“That power rests with pardons and parole,” Lepore told BET.com. “The governor believes that the circumstances are tragic, but he does not have all the details.”
Brooks disagrees with the limited-power argument.


I don't know about comparing him to Emmit Till, i mean when i turned 18 my mother made sure i knew about Statuory Rape.

I know ya hitting the race thing, my man...

But if ya 18, ya shouldn't be fucking 15 year olds...

You should damn well know better.

But, you don't deserve 15 years in tha pen either.

I agree without question. i'm not saying the race stuff, those are all quotes.

He should have stayed away from her. But that is the problem with some of these fucking girls. They have sex with a guy, scream rape and totally fuck up his life.

I would seriously get revenge on any woman that did that to me.

That happened to my homeboy, a girl fucked him woke up and realized her boyfriend was going to dump her and screamed rape, almost got him killed if it wasn't for me and his (the girl's boyfriend's) cousin walking in on em on accident.

he certainly broke the statutory law, but 15 years seems too much. I think the "victim" who in this case was a willing minor, should have a say in the sentencing.

im a year an 11 months older than my gf! shes 15 an im 17, but when i turn 18, do u think it would be safe to still be datin her, i mean we been together 4 like 5 months so i trust her but what do yall think

im a year an 11 months older than my gf! shes 15 an im 17, but when i turn 18, do u think it would be safe to still be datin her, i mean we been together 4 like 5 months so i trust her but what do yall think

^^i dont see why not..if Ashton can get married to that 30 something year old

It's still statutatory(sp?) rape.. Fool got what he had coming. . It society perceives it to be wrong, gotdammit you're going to jail! Eat shit. Fuck him. Worry about yourself. I don't care whether he was a white lesbian transsexual in a wheelchair with one arm and a prosthetic leg.. The fucker will still be going to jail.. Although I don't think the courts would believe he raped her..

Anyone remember that quadraplegic girl joke? lmao..

U have 2 have permission from her parents to be in them drawz, not to be dating her, but to b fucking her if not then they can press charges.

I fucked a 15 year old..it was great..





oh btw..Im 15 too..but to be serious..the problem is..these girls are too damn thick..they're starting to get big titties and round asses at an early age now..but thats still not an excuse, but it's an excuse..:wtf: did I just say?

Basically some girls will say they are 18,19,even 20 to get the guy they want.Trust me i've seen tha shit, and the "check ID' shit don't work 4 two reasons, nobody checks ID if they bout to bang a girl, and we all know how easily fake IDs are bought.

He Wouldn't Have Been Punished If He Wasn't Black.

Even So.....I Don't Understand How It Happened.

When I Was 15...My Boyfriend Was A Senior..and 18...

Teachers Knew...But They Didn't Say Anything....How'd This Come About?

This artical is really old man... n if u dont know by now when u hit 18 u have to watch who u fuck keep ur gaurd up n make sure u see there real ID be4 u hit n leave cuz if they under 18 there gonna get mad n say u raped them

*cough*hoe*cough*