THE US SUPREME COURT STRIKES DOWN NC LAW BARRING PERSONS ON SEX OFFENDER REGISTRY FROM ACCESSING SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES

In 2010, Mr. Packingham, a person listed on the sex offender registry, posted on Facebook a note of gratitude to thank God for having a traffic ticket dismissed. After a police officer saw his post, Packingham was prosecuted and convicted under a North Carolina law that made it a felony for a convicted sex offender to use social-networking websites which allow minors to create profiles. Today, the Supreme Court agreed with him that the North Carolina law violates the Constitution’s guarantee of freedom of speech.

In 2012, I represented Mr. Packingham and filed a motion to dismiss because the statute infringed upon the First Amendment right of free speech. Today in an 8-0 decision, the USSC agreed. Justice Kennedy began by outlining what he described as a “fundamental principle of the First Amendment”: that everyone should “have access to places where they can speak and listen, and then, after reflection, speak and listen once more.” And even if once it may have been hard to determine which places are “the most important” “for the exchange of views,” Kennedy concluded, it isn’t hard now. Instead, he reasoned, it is “clear” that the Internet and, in particular, social media provide such opportunities.

He wrote that North Carolina’s law stifled “lawful speech as the means to suppress unlawful speech.” By barring sex offenders from using social-networking sites, he continued, the state “with one broad stroke bars access to what for many are the principal sources for knowing current events, checking ads for employment, speaking and listening in the modern public square, and otherwise exploring the vast realms of human thought and knowledge.” “In sum,” Kennedy concluded, “to foreclose access to social media altogether is to prevent the user from engaging in the legitimate exercise of First Amendment rights.”

This case is important because it “is one of the first this Court has taken to address the relationship between the First Amendment and the modern Internet.” Justice Kennedy warned that the court should “exercise extreme caution before suggesting that the First Amendment provides scant protection for access” to ubiquitous social-networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.

RESTORATION OF GUN RIGHTS AFTER INVOLUNTARY COMMITMENT-PART 2

 
Under state and federal gun laws, a person who has been involuntarily committed to a mental health facility may not possess a firearm. (NCGS§14-404(c)(4), 18 U.S.C. § 922(d)(4)) However, this prohibition may be lifted by complying with the restoration protocol articulated in NCGS§ 14-409.42.
Step 1: File and serve a petition in the same district court which adjudicated the involuntary commitment once the commitment has ended and once the mental condition which led to the commitment has been treated. The petitioner must be able to prove that he/she will not be likely to act in a manner dangerous to public safety and that the restoration of the firearm rights would not be contrary to the public interest. Petitioner must sign a release of information so the prosecutor can obtain mental health records for the hearing.
Step 2: At the hearing, the district attorney can present evidence from petitioner’s mental health records, juvenile records, and criminal history. The judge will decide the case on the following items of evidence: the petitioner’s mental health and criminal history records, the petitioner’s reputation or other character evidence, and any changes in the petitioner’s condition or circumstances since the original determination or any findings relevant to the relief sought.
Step 3: The judge will decide if the petitioner has proven that he/she is not likely to act in a manner dangerous to public safety and that the granting of the relief would not be contrary to the public interest. If the judge rules in petitioner’s favor, the clerk of court will send the order to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) and the prohibition against firearm possession is lifted.
Step 4: If the judge rules against petitioner, the case can be appealed to the Superior Court for a new hearing. If the Superior Court denies the petition, then the applicant must wait a minimum of one year before reapplying.