Portions of a North Carolina statute intended to keep convicted sex offenders away from children is overbroad and vague, according to a trial court ruling by Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour. The provision effectively prohibited registered offenders from attending churches that kept nurseries. In fact, the 2 defendants in the case were indicted for attending a local Baptist church. The Judge ruled the blanket 300 feet rule improperly restricts constitutionally protected activities.
Chatham County authorities maintained that the men could get private counseling from ministers or attend a church that doesn't have a Sunday school, nursery or youth programs.
Baddour ruled that lawmakers could have used less drastic means to keep sex offenders away from children, noting they carved out exceptions to allow sex offenders to go on school property to vote or to pick up their own children from school.
"The state has not closely drawn the statute to avoid unnecessary abridgment of associational freedoms in achieving its objectives," he wrote in his 16-page ruling. "Additionally, there are a host of protected religious activities abridged by this statute which do not serve the compelling governmental interest."
