The state Supreme Court agreed to hear the state's arguments for keeping in prison a man who had consensual sex with a 15-year-old girl when he was 17. Atty. Gen. Thurbert E. Baker has been criticized for appealing a state judge's decision to void Genarlow Wilson's 10-year sentence but said in Atlanta that he had no choice under the law. The Superior Court judge had no authority to reduce or modify the trial court's sentence, he said.

Wilson, now 21, has served more than 28 months in prison. A jury convicted him in 2005 of aggravated child molestation for having oral sex with the girl at a 2003 party. Although the sex was consensual, it was illegal under Georgia law.