Raleigh (North Carolina): After deposing in a traffic court, Lester Packingham Jr. celebrated his turn of good fortune by informing his friends through Facebook that his ticket was dismissed without him saying a word. “No fine. No court costs. No nothing. Praise be to God. Wow. Thanks, Jesus,” Packingham wrote in a 2010 post that led to a lawsuit being heard by the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, abcnews.go.com reported. Packingham, 36, was forbidden by a 2008 North Carolina law from using social networking sites like Facebook that children could also join. That’s because he’s a registered sex offender.
According to the report, a Durham police officer investigated Packingham’s post and determined he used an alias rather than his real name. Packingham was prosecuted, convicted of a felony and received a suspended prison sentence. His lawyers say no evidence pointed to Packingham using Facebook or his computer to communicate with minors or that he posted anything inappropriate or obscene. Now the Supreme Court’s task is deciding whether the law, meant to prevent communications between sex offenders and minors via social media, is so broad that it violates the Constitution’s free-speech protections.
