I represented the defendant, Mr. Packingham in trial and argued that the law was unconstitutional. On August 20, 2013, the North Carolina Court of Appeal agreed with me.
North Carolina’s ban on accessing commercial social networking sites by sex offenders was held to be unconstitutional on its face, the Court of Appeals held this morning, August 20, 2013, in State v. Packingham.
Before this ruling many persons were convicted under N.C.G.S. 14-202.5 of a Class I felony if the state proved that any registered sex offender could access a commercial social networking web site when the offender knew the site permited children to join.
The University of North Carolina’s School of Government blogged about this victory today. You may view the latest post at Social Networking Prohibition for Sex Offenders Facially Unconstitutional.http://nccriminallaw.sog.unc.edu/?p=4424
