RALEIGH, NC (AP) – North Carolina’s highest court has decided some repeat convicted sex offenders shouldn’t be subject to perpetual tracking by satellite-linked ankle bracelets after serving their full sentences.
A divided state Supreme Court ruled on Friday for a Wilmington-area man whose case already went to the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as for similarly situated offenders.
A majority on the state court agreed with a lower appeals court that GPS-type monitoring of Torrey Grady equated to an unreasonable search violating the U.S. Constitution. Associate Justice Anita Earls went further, saying it applied to anyone subject to satellite-based monitoring for life only because they had multiple sex-offense convictions.
Justices rejecting Earls’ decision said the satellite monitoring was a small privacy intrusion that didn’t outweigh the ability of law enforcement to protect the public.
