March for Genarlow

On Saturday, July 14, a march that could draw thousands will attempt to draw even more attention to Georgia inmate Genarlow Wilson, who’s serving a 10-year prison sentence for having consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old when he was 17.

Protesters likely will have something to say about Douglas County District Attorney David McDade, whose office prosecuted Wilson and who released to reporters a videotape of the sex act. Religious and civil rights leaders are calling the tape child porn. McDade calls it evidence that’s subject to the state’s Open Records Act.

According to the AJC:

Two state senators, a state representative, a civil rights veteran, and the pastor of historic Ebenezer Baptist Church all criticized ... McDade at a Thursday afternoon press conference. ... Some of the group, all of whom are African-American, compared McDade’s actions to those of Mike Nifong, the North Carolina prosecutor recently sanctioned for his handling of the Duke lacrosse rape case. They suggested McDade should be prosecuted criminally for distributing a tape of Wilson.

The day before the press conference, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Atlanta issued a warning about the tape:

We have advised that the videotape at issue constitutes child pornography under Federal law and should not be knowingly distributed, received, or possessed outside of law enforcement and judicial proceedings. We further advise anyone in possession of that videotape outside of law enforcement or judicial proceedings to return it to law enforcement or destroy it immediately.

In case the feds are wondering, we at CL have no such tape. Nor does YouTube.