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HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
Two decisions address 'cruel, unusual punishment'
Dear Readers, There
are two recent crimi
nal law judicial deci
sions regarding the concept
of “cruel and unusual pun-
ishment”
that I
found
interest
ing and
thought
I would
share with
you.
One
of these
decisions
Jim Rockefeller
The “Law” man
concerns Genarlow Wilson
and you have all probably
heard about it. To briefly
recap the facts of the Wilson
case: Wilson, who was 17
years old at the time of
the incident, was acquitted
of rape of a 16-year-old girl
but convicted of Aggravated
Awareness comes before competency
Awareness comes
before competency.
That’s not only true
in the dictionary. I find it to
be required when working
to build skills in leaders.
Forward-looking leaders
want to
improve
the leader
ship skills
of those
under
their
author
ity. Some
have tried
unsuc
cessfully.
Others
Dennis Hooper
Leaders Building
Leaders
realize they aren’t effective
doing it alone. Some antici
pate future growth and
want the organization to be
prepared to handle the addi
tional demands.
Research indicates that
only 10 percent of leader
ship development occurs in
the classroom or at confer
ences. Another 20 percent
comes from studying the
behaviors and thought pro
cesses of bosses, role models,
and mentors. A whopping 70
percent of leadership devel
opment occurs right on the
job.
However, that develop
ment only occurs if the indi
vidual has a willingness to
experiment with some dif
ferent approaches. For most
individuals, that requires
some changes in perspec
tive.
If new insights are not
established, there is usu
ally little motivation to
LEUER2
From page 4A
Check this out: Does
Georgia have a tax on food?
No, Gov. Zell Miller removed
that tax. But look at your
receipt next time you buy
groceries. Enough is enough,
the county raises taxes this
year but what they said two
WALKER
From page 4A
was that I should “always
choose my friends by
their hearts.” If I had
known Jeff longer and
under different cir
cumstances, I suspect I
could have called him
“friend.”
Again, thank you for
sharing your thoughts.
Pete
RESOLVED
From page 4A
us to make sure that they
receive the best care pos
sible. And those who have
been deployed repeatedly
to the Middle East receive
the same lasting respect
and gratitude that the sol
diers of World War II did.
The wars may change,
but those who put them
selves in harm’s way for
their nation are always due
our respect, our gratitude
and our support.
Child Molestation involving
a 15 year-old girl. The mini
mum sentence was 10 years
in prison without parole,
which he received.
In addition, Wilson would
be labeled a sex-offender for
the rest of his life. Today,
an adult convicted of the
same crime would actually
have faced an even stiffer
minimum penalty (25 years
without parole).
The act Wilson commit
ted was having oral sex per
formed on him. All of the
evidence suggests that the
girl involved did so consen
sually. The teenagers were
all partying in a hotel room
for New Year’s Eve and they
had all been drinking alco
hol.
Prior to his conviction,
Wilson was an honor roll
student and star athlete. He
do something different in
building skills. Individuals
“who don’t know and don’t
know that they don’t know”
are usually unwilling to put
much effort into improving.
Those individuals are both
unaware and incompe
tent.
You may immediately
think of the unemployed or
under-employed. However,
otherwise capable leaders
are sometimes victims of
deception in specific skill
areas, unaware of their igno
rance. Your initial challenge
is to raise their awareness,
helping them see the huge
opportunity they have for
making enhancements.
If you can successfully
cause some paradigm shifts,
the person moves quickly to
the aware yet incompe
tent category. These indi
viduals have new insights on
the potential contributions
they could be making. For
most, this new hunger stim
ulates a desire to learn and
improve. They realize that
acquiring new skills will be
good for them, their organi
zation, and their customers.
Individuals who seek edu
cation and practice new
skills move slowly into the
aware and competent
category. They are capable
and can explain what they
do to achieve an outcome.
They make good role models
- that is, you can learn from
them by watching what
they do. They also make
good mentors. When asked
why they choose particular
behaviors, they are able to
years ago was if you vote for
a SPLOST your taxes won’t
increase.
Give me a break and if my
eyesight is still good then I
notice ALL the commission
ers voted for the increase.
Now those that have said in
the past they never voted for
a tax increase can no longer
say that.
Houston County and the
Note: Pete Donaldson
is the grandson of Dr.
Pete Donaldson, who was
at one time the President
of Abraham Baldwin
Agricultural College. Pete
is an outstanding criminal
defense attorney in Albanya,
and because of his kind-
Jte
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had never been in trouble
with the law before this inci
dent.
This case became a politi
cal hot potato and some of
the leading proponents for
the strict amendments to
our sex offender statutes
testified before the Georgia
Legislature to try and undo
such a result in the future.
In 2006, after Wilson had
exhausted his appeals, the
acts for which he was con
victed were made a misde
meanor (because of the ages
of the two consenting par
ties) and the black mark of
being called a “sex offender”
was removed from convic
tions for such acts.
Unfortunately, these more
lenient provisions concern
ing teenager sexual experi
mentation were expressly
not made “retroactive.”
provide helpful, descriptive
explanations.
The final category includes
individuals who are comfort
able with their current capa
bilities, yet often have great
capacity for performance
increases. They are compe
tent yet unaware. Some of
these individuals are blessed
with inherent talent, such as
gifted athletes or a “natural
born leader.”
These individuals may be
good role models, but they
typically make poor men
tors. They have difficulty
explaining whv and how
they do what they do. This
limits their ability to build
the capacity of their orga
nizations. Failing to realize
the need for future leaders is
a significant blind spot.
So how can you, a leader
in your organization, build
your organization’s capacity
for the future?
■ Increase the value
placed on “leadership devel
opment” in your organiza
tion.
■ Realize that you have
blind spots. Welcome and
encourage feedback, so that
you are more aware of your
personal opportunities for
improvement.
■ Build your own lead
ership development plan
and share it with those you
influence.
■ Create an environment
that fosters self-awareness.
Encourage new insights by
providing feedback to indi
viduals and offering group
sessions to reflect on recent
victories and losses.
surrounding municipalities
have a chance next year to
take back their government
and their right to fair and
impartial government.
Let’s do just that and send
a message to those that get
their names ors bridges and
the developers that we won’t
play by their rules anymore.
- Wayne Overholt,
Warner Robins
nesses to Jeff, is now our
friend. Thanks, Pete, for
your wonderful words which
will mean much to many,
and thanks for allowing me
to share them.
Pete’s e-mail address is
gpdonaldson@perrywalters.
com.
OPINION
This almost always hap
pens when criminal laws are
amended. What this means
is that the more sane treat
ment of sex between teenag
ers only applied to crimes
committed in the future, not
to those already sentenced.
This meant that Wilson
would continue to serve his
prison sentence, but if he
did the same thing today,
he could receive as little as
one-hour of probation and
be done with it.
Last session, the
Legislature tried to undo
this inequity. But in the spot
light of public condemnation
of sex offenders, our elected
officials could not take the
heat of doing the humane
thing to undo a roundly per
ceived “wrong.”
In Monroe County, ear
lier this year, a courageous
■ Personally and organi
zationally, welcome and cel
ebrate paradigm shifts.
Has your organization
become satisfied with “good
enough”? Becoming a leader
of leaders requires a major
paradigm shift. When you
embrace it, many opportuni
ties unfold before you!
Dennis Hooper is a certi
fied leadership development
coach, helping leaders build
organizations of excellence
and future leaders. Contact
Dennis at dhooper2@juno.
com or at 478-988-0237.
Assessing Your
Leadership Skills
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Superior Court Judge right
ed matters and ruled that
Wilson was entitled to be
treated as a misdemeanor
offender, as it was “cruel
and unusual” to have this
distinction, merely due to
the date of offense.
It is in this context that
Wilson’s case arrived on the
steps of the Georgia Supreme
Court.
In the other recent devel
opment, Judge Bryant
Culpepper, Jr. (Bibb County)
reached a similar conclu
sion. He was forced to sen
tence a man to 25 years
in prison, without parole,
for kidnapping his girlfriend
and her children (whom he
did not even place in the
car) and driving them to the
interstate, so he could leave
town.
Late last month, rely
LETTER 1
From page 4A
And lastly, when are they going to finish restriping the
entire road? The white shoulder stripe (fog line) has not
been done like there used to be on the old road. Also, the
Langston Rd., intersection has NO striping marking the
lanes.
Is this going to be another example of Houston County
“good ‘ol boy politics”? They let the contracts but don’t
enforce them. I wish all of the County Commissioners
would ride down Lake Joy Rd., and look at the mess the
contractors left, including the filthy new road surface and
trashed driveways from all the dirt.
If there is a plan to complete the project, maybe the
contract should require the contractor to complete it before
they move on to a new job. As I said, this has got to be the
shoddiest road paving project I have ever seen. Welcome
to the 21st century in Houston County.
James Adams, Perry
F. Dennis Hooper
Certified
Leadership Development Coach
Building leaders and
organizations of excellence
(478) 988-0237
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AM E F R pLACE
Custom Home Builders
ing on the reasoning from
Wilson’s appeal, Judge
Culpepper ruled this man
datory sentence “cruel and
unusual.” Why did he do it?
Do these decisions mark a
trend? We’ll explore these
questions next week, as we
look at the intersection of
legislative fiat and judicial
discretion, when it comes to
sentencing decisions.
Local attorney Jim
Rockefeller owns the
Rockefeller Law Center and
is a former Houston County
Chief Assistant District
Attorney and a former
Miami Prosecutor. E-mail
confidential legal questions
to ajr@rockefellerlawcenter.
com. Visit www.rockefeller
lawcenter.com for Frequently
Asked Questions and
Jim’s blog, The Rockefeller
Report.
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