Robin Hudson could have gotten smeared for siding with sex offender Lester Packingham. Instead, the U.S. Supreme Court appears poised to vindicate her – and remind us all of the dangers of a politicized judiciary. Hudson, an N.C. Supreme Court justice, was in fact smeared when she dissented in a separate case in 2010 involving child molesters. In her 2014 re-election bid, Hudson faced a half-million dollars worth of TV attack ads from special interests that twisted that dissent and portrayed her as soft on sex offenders. Full Article
Read MoreTag: North Carolina
SCOTUS: Court to consider social media access for sex offenders [updated with media links]
In April 2010, Lester Packingham’s traffic ticket was dismissed, prompting him to take to Facebook to celebrate. He posted that “God is Good! How about I got so much favor they dismissed the ticket before court even started? No fine, no court costs, no nothing spent . . . Praise be to GOD, WOW! Thanks JESUS!” … Based on his Facebook post, Packingham was charged with violating a North Carolina law that makes it a crime for a registered sex offender to “access” a “commercial social networking Web site” when he…
Read MoreThe Man Arrested for Praising Jesus
Lester Packingham’s Facebook post is headed for the Supreme Court… Lester Gerard Packingham was having a really good day back on April 27, 2010. The North Carolina man had just learned that a traffic ticket against him had been dismissed, so he logged onto his Facebook account and gleefully told the world: “Man God is Good! How about I got so much favor they dismissed the ticket before court even started? No fine, no court costs, no nothing spent… Praise be to GOD, WOW! Thanks Jesus.” Full Article Packingham v.…
Read MorePackingham v. North Carolina – Oral Argument February 27
Issue: Whether, under the court’s First Amendment precedents, a law that makes it a felony for any person on the state’s registry of former sex offenders to “access” a wide array of websites – including Facebook, YouTube, and nytimes.com – that enable communication, expression, and the exchange of information among their users, if the site is “know[n]” to allow minors to have accounts, is permissible, both on its face and as applied to petitioner, who was convicted based on a Facebook post in which he celebrated dismissal of a traffic…
Read MoreNC: Lawsuit Contends Sex Offender Law Goes Too Far
Convicted sex offenders are pushing back against North Carolina laws they contend deprive them of constitutional rights without protecting children. Two anonymous sex offenders and a Raleigh-based national nonprofit that advocates for them filed a federal lawsuit on Monday challenging the state laws. It’s part of an effort to trim sex registry laws that now require more than 800,000 convicts nationwide to register their names, addresses and photographs, perhaps for as long as they live. Full Article Related / NARSOL website http://nationalrsol.org/narsol-ncrsol-file-suit-challenging-north-carolinas-sex-offender-registry/
Read MoreNC: Petitions to Terminate Sex Offender Registration – Moir Tiers
Last month the supreme court decided State v. Moir. It is a case about how a state sex crime—namely, indecent liberties with a child—fits within the offense tiering system set out in the federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA). Full Article
Read MoreEFF to Supreme Court: Strike Social Media Ban for Sex Offenders
Yesterday, EFF and its allies Public Knowledge and the Center for Democracy & Technology filed an amicus brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down under the First Amendment a North Carolina law that bans “registered sex offenders” (RSOs) from using all Internet social media. This law sweeps far too broadly. Social media are one of the most important communication channels ever created. People banned from social media are greatly handicapped in their ability to participate in the political, religious, and economic life of our nation. Full Article
Read MoreTwo Federal Courts Call BS on Banning Sex Offenders From ‘Child Safety Zones’
A couple of years ago, ____ ____, a registered sex offender who lives in Hartford City, Indiana, received a citation for sitting in his brother’s car. The car was parked outside his brother’s house, which happens to be across the street from a school. By sitting in it, ____ violated a local ordinance prohibiting anyone convicted of a sex offense involving a minor from entering a long list of “child safety zones”—including schools, parks, libraries, swimming pools, athletic complexes, movie theaters, and bowling alleys— or “loitering” within 300 feet of…
Read MoreNC: Federal Appeals Court Strikes Down Absurdly Repressive North Carolina Sex Offender Law
North Carolina’s efforts to drive sex offenders out of public life hit another roadblock on Wednesday when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit held that two key provisions of a repressive sex offender law violate the Constitution. The ruling marks the second time this year that a federal appeals court has issued a harsh rebuke to a state for enacting outrageous restrictions against former sex offenders, after the 6th Circuit upbraided Michigan for turning sex offender registrants into “moral lepers.” Wednesday’s decision is also a victory for…
Read MoreNC: New law bans sex offenders from fairs
Friday, the Cabarrus County fair celebrates it’s opening night. The fair runs through September 17 featuring rides, fair foods, a petting zoo and exhibit hall. But one thing you shouldn’t see this year: registered sex offenders. Full Article
Read MoreNC: North Carolina Kicks Sex Offenders Out of Libraries, Parks, and Fairs
A new sex offender law took effect in North Carolina on Thursday, restricting offenders’ freedom of movement and association by barring them from libraries, recreational parks, pools, and fairs. The law is designed to replace a previous measure that a federal court ruled unconstitutional in April. It will do nothing to stop sex crimes while continuing to isolate, penalize, and ostracize fully rehabilitated offenders who are attempting to rejoin society. Full Editorial
Read MoreNC: Gap in N.C. law allows sex offenders near schools, day cares
On Sept. 1, a registered sex offender will be breaking the law if he continues to work at a car repair shop that sits within 300 feet of the Boys & Girls Club of Cumberland County and a day-care center. A state law takes effect that day prohibiting sex offenders from being near places where children “frequently congregate” – including schools, parks, arcades and day care centers – when minors are present. Full Article
Read MoreNC: Sex Offender Premises Restrictions Revised in Response to Doe v. Cooper
The General Assembly amended G.S. 14-208.18, the law that makes it a Class H felony for certain registered sex offenders to go certain places. The changes are a response to Doe v. Cooper, a federal case in which the trial judge enjoined every district attorney in the state from enforcing the parts of the law he found to be unconstitutional. Today’s post takes a look at the revised law. Full Article Related NC: Federal Judge Enjoins Enforcement of Sex Offender Premises Restriction NC: Bans sex offenders from spots children gather
Read MoreNC: Bans sex offenders from spots children gather
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – North Carolina has banned some sex offenders from places children gather while a similar state law from 2009 remains under federal review. Gov. Pat McCrory signed a bill Thursday that would prohibit sex offenders who have been identified as threats to minors from places like arcades, parks, libraries and the State Fairgrounds during the fair. It takes effect in September. Full Article Related House Bill 1021
Read MoreNC: Sexting charges dismissed for Fayetteville teenager
Charges were dismissed Thursday against a Fayetteville teenager who made international headlines last year after he was accused of making child porn for taking nude photos of himself when he was 16. Full Article
Read MoreNC: Newton wants to restore sex offender rules
After a federal judge struck down part of North Carolina’s law restricting the activities of registered sex offenders, Sen. Buck Newton, R-Wilson, on Thursday rolled out a new version of the law he said would address the judge’s concerns. Full Article
Read MoreNC: On ‘ample alternative channels of communication,’ the First Amendment and social networking
A couple of weeks ago, I joined 16 law professors in an amicus brief (authored by Eugene Volokh and several of his students) urging the Supreme Court to grant certiorari in the case of North Carolina v. Packingham. Full Article
Read MoreNC: Couple Jolly After Getting Sentenced To Life In Prison Because They Say They Did The World A Favor
A white supremacist couple smiled and kissed yesterday when sentenced to two consecutive life sentences each for killing a sex offender and his wife. Full Article . wife.
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