GEORGIA SUPREME COURT OVERTURNS SEX CONVICTION

Marcus Dixon was an 18 year old high school football player with a 3.96 grade-point average and a scholarship to attend Vanderbilt University when he was arrested. He was convicted of aggravated child molestation and statutory rape for having consensual sex with a fellow student. The girl was only 15 at the time. Attorneys for Dixon told the Georgia Supreme Court in January that the teen’s automatic 10 year sentence amounted to cruel and unusual punishment. Prosecutors insisted the mandatory prison term was exactly what state law intended for Dixon.