From Top Student To Prisoner: teen gets 10 yrs for sex w/ another teen
"That's what happened to Marcus Dixon, a defensive end on the Pepperell High School football team in Rome with a near-perfect GPA (3.96) and an SAT score of more than 1200 who had won a scholarship to Vanderbilt University. According to Vanderbilt's head coach, Bobby Johnson, there is a "good chance" Dixon would have been a starter this year, were it not for the fact that he is now in prison.
"Last February, Dixon, who was 18 and a senior, had sex with a sophomore girl from one of his classes who was three months shy of her 16th birthday. Two days later, she accused him of raping her."
*Dixon is African American and the alleged victim is caucasian*
"Dixon's supporters say the girl flirted with him and consented to sex. At trial a witness claimed the girl said she accused Dixon of rape so that she would not get in trouble with her father, who was described as a racist who had whipped her for smoking. "
http://biz.yahoo.com/law/040116/e0f...7ad9ce23_1.html
http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?b117725863
Just for anyone not clear on the definition:
jury nullification
: the acquitting of a defendant by a jury in disregard of the judge's instructions and contrary to the jury's findings of fact
Note: Jury nullification is most likely to occur when a jury is sympathetic toward a defendant or regards the law under which the defendant is charged with disfavor. Except for a statutory requirement to the contrary, a jury does not have to be instructed on the possibility of jury nullification.