The News & Observer reports that the debate surrounding a controversial North Carolina law is heating up again and two North Carolina lawyers are fanning the flames.
The law, which was passed only three years ago, stipulates that registered sex offenders are not allowed to use social media sites like Facebook and Myspace.
On Facebook, when a user’s identity is verified as a sex offender, the site immediately eliminates the user’s account.
When caught, offenders will be charged with Sex Offender Use of a Social Website, which is now a felony.
Ronnie Monroe Grant, Jr. was recently charged with Sex Offender Use of a Social Website.
Although the law was passed years ago, sex offenders are still trying to bend the rules and sign up for these sites.
Just last week, Ronnie Monroe Grant, Jr., a sex offender from Lincolnton, NC, was caught using a social media site.
Fox Charlotte reports that Grant’s arrest is the third instance of Sex Offender Use of a Social Website in the Charlotte area last week.
But offenses aren’t just limited to the Charlotte area.
Authorities report that 75 sex offenders from all over NC were charged with the offense last year.
Christian Martin Johnson and Lester Gerard Packingham, two of the men charged last year, are challenging the law’s constitutionality.
Their lawyers are arguing that the law infringes on the constitutional rights of the convicted offenders and does not actually accomplish its goal of preventing sex offenders from interacting with minors.
Some people question why sex offenders are allowed to sign up for dating websites but aren’t allowed on social media.
Lincoln County Sheriff David Carpenter, the Sheriff of the county where Grant was charged, explains that dating sites have an age limit, whereas sites like Facebook allow minors to sign up.
But Johnson and Packingham’s lawyers say that that fact is irrelevant.
In a motion filed recently, Glenn Gerding, Johnson’s lawyer, wrote,” The regulation does not just keep a registered sex offender from engaging in obscene speech with a minor. It prohibits any and all speech, however innocent, even if it’s a religious conversation between the offender and his priest, or a discussion of family matters between the offender and his mother.”
The lawyers also believe that the law’s broad nature will continue to have unintended consequences.
Gerding cites the law as the reason why his client lost his job, saying that his inability to use Facebook as a marketing tool for his company made Johnson unable to complete work assignments.
Whatever the reasons, it is evident that Johnson and Packingham’s lawyers expect modifications to this law in the near future.
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