09/14/2011
By Ed Anderson
A federal court judge has set an Oct. 18 hearing on a revised lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union challenging a new state law that prohibits some sex offenders from accessing Internet social networking sites and chat rooms. The lawsuit, originally filed Aug. 15, contests the legality and constitutionality of the law, which was backed during the legislative session by Gov. Bobby Jindal.
The statute (PDF) prohibits persons convicted of any sex offense against a minor or those found guilty of four specific crimes -- indecent behavior with a juvenile, pornography involving juveniles, computer solicitation of a minor and video voyeurism -- from having access to social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook.
The revised lawsuit added a second plaintiff, identified only as James Doe, an Iberia Parish man who was convicted in another state 20 years ago of having sex with a co-worker when he was 20 and she was 14. He served four years in prison and is required by state law to register in Louisiana as a convicted sex offender.
The suit was originally filed on behalf of a Baton Rouge man identified only as John Doe, who served four years for possession of child pornography and is required to register as a sex offender.
Justin Harrison, one of the ACLU lawyers working on the case, said that besides Jindal and state Attorney General Buddy Caldwell, three other defendants are being sued: Department of Public Safety and Corrections Secretary James LeBlanc; East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore and 16th Judicial District Attorney John Philip Haney, whose jurisdiction includes Iberia, St. Mary and St. Martin parishes.
U.S. District Court Judge Brian Jackson will hear arguments at 9:30 a.m. Oct. 18 on the ACLU's request for preliminary and permanent injunctions to block enforcement of the law and for a trial on the merits of the lawsuit.
Caldwell spokeswoman Amanda Larkins declined to comment on the lawsuit and said the office will file a response by the court-imposed Sept. 23 deadline.
Larkins said the new law is in effect and will remain in effect pending the outcome of the litigation.
The law, the outgrowth of House Bill 55 (PDF) by Rep. Ledricka Thierry, D-Opelousas, allows the sentencing court or a sex offender's probation or parole officer to grant waivers approving the use of a chat room or social networking site, but the lawsuit claims those procedures are not spelled out clearly enough.
Violations of the new law call for a maximum fine of $10,000 and imprisonment for up to 10 years on a first offense; repeat violations call for a minimum of five years and a maximum of 20 years in prison, and a maximum fine of $20,000.
The lawsuit claims the new statute is overbroad and unconstitutional because it does not clearly define terms such as accessing social networking sites and does not clearly define what a social networking site or a chat room is.
It says the new law can be used to prohibit offenders from using or looking at sites like nola.com, YouTube, Yahoo, Gmail, Twitter, Hotjobs, eBay and a host of other news and jobs-related Web sites. The lawsuit said the law could even be read to prohibit an offender from checking the state's hurricane preparation site, Getagameplan.org.
The suit said the Baton Rouge plaintiff works as a computer technician and writes a blog that helps paroled prisoners become functioning members of society. The ban would prevent him from doing his job and "his efforts to remain a productive contributing member of society will be severely hampered."
James Doe of Iberia Parish, the suit said, holds "a dangerous, highly-specialized job in an industry critical to Louisiana's economy," but did not specify the job.
The suit said he often spends long periods of time working away from home in areas where the "Internet is frequently the only means of communications."
The suit said the new law would hurt "his ability to receive news and other Internet-based speech" and to communicate with his company and family by email and other electronic means.
