But for Black Males, even still in their teens, the outcome & way of looking at them is so much of a different story. Two sad examples that come to mind immediately are the cases of Marcus Dixon & Brian Banks. I often talked about these cases to my Suns, as a cautionary tale of how easily we could get caught up and have our lives ruined. Back in 2003, 18 Year Old Marcus Dixon was en route to play football at Vanderbilt University (on a full scholarship) when the train abruptly ran off of the tracks. His scholarship scholarship was gone, and jail awaited him. Georgia prosecutors charged Dixon with rape, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, sexual battery, statutory rape and aggravated child molestation for what no one denied to be a completely consensual relationship with a 15 Year Old White Female Student. Grossly, the prosecution used the existence of " vaginal bruising" as their ace card to justify the child molestation charge. Dixon would serve 15 Months in prison, before The Georgia Supreme Court voted 4-3 to overturn his conviction. Marcus Dixon ultimately made it to The NFL briefly; but no matter what the truth is, he will always have the Sex Offender tag attached to his name. Brian Banks spent Five Years In Prison after being accused of raping Wanetta Gibson while a sophomore in high school. Gibson and her family received a $750,000 settlement, after suing Long Beach Poly High; but later recanted her story. Ever the fighter, Banks came out of jail and got a shot at The NFL. Predictably though, that window wasn't open for long & his life will never, ever be the same. Little has been done to Ms. Gibson in reference to the lie that was told. Both Banks & Dixon received much longer sentences than Neill, few were there to speak on their behalf, and few will remember them. Ponder that as we await sentencing for Daniel Holtzclaw, who was accused of using his badge as a bridge to rape 13 different women while patrolling the streets of Oklahoma city. And remember, he was only convicted of raping eight of the women. Five will forever go on knowing that they will never receive justice.
http://www.newschannel5.com/news/local-news/tennessee-lawmaker-urged-lower-sentence-in-child-porn-case
http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/local/story/2014/jul/22/ex-pastor-gets-break0010in-porn-sentence/262375/
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/jets/marcus-dixon-overcomes-molestation-conviction-high-school-racism-long-journey-nfl-ny-jets-article-1.982917