Releasing tape may violate child-porn law

ATLANTA, July 14 (UPI) -- Federal and county prosecutors in Georgia are at odds over the release of a videotape used as evidence in a teenage sex case.

David Nahmias, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, wants David McDade, the Douglas County District Attorney, to stop releasing copes of the tape. Nahmias said the tape constitutes child pornography.

The tape was used to prosecute Genarlow Wilson, a 21-year-old Georgia man serving a 10-year prison sentence for a consensual sexual encounter he had when he was 17.

Wilson, a former African-American high school football player with no prior criminal record, was convicted of child molestation for having oral sex with a 15-year-old girl during a New Year's Eve party. The sex act was videotaped by another partygoer and the tape shows the faces of several underage girls.

McDade said he has released about 35 copies of the tape to reporters and lawmakers under Georgia's open record law. Nahmias, however, said the tape constitutes child pornography and McDade may be breaking federal law by releasing it, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

The Georgia Supreme Court is to hear arguments July 20 on whether Wilson's sentence should be voided as cruel and unusual punishment.