The 300-Foot Rule Goes to Church

Last week the court of appeals decided another case involving the sex offender premises restriction in G.S. 14-208.18. The defendant was convicted of being within 300 feet of a church preschool. The case is State v. Fryou. In it, the defendant was charged with a violation of G.S. 14-208.18(a)(2)—the 300-foot rule described here—for entering a Presbyterian church that has a preschool. The preschool was deemed a location “primarily for the use, care, or supervision of minors,” located on a broader premises, the church, that is not intended primarily for the use care or supervision of minors. The first issue in the case was whether the 300-foot rule applied to the defendant at all. As discussed here, the restrictions in G.S. 14-208.18 do not apply to all registered sex offenders, but only to (1) those on the registry for offenses listed in Article 7A of Chapter 14 of the General Statutes; and (2) those “where the victim of the offense was under the age of 16 years at the time of the offense.” G.S. 14-208.18(c). The defendant in Fryou was on the registry for a federal child pornography offense, so he would be covered under the law only if his victim was under 16 at the time of his crime (a federal pornography crime isn't listed in Article 7A). However, the federal crime covers pornography depicting children up to age 18, so it wasn't clear from the conviction alone that the defendant fell within the coverage of G.S. 14-208.18. The defendant argued that the court [...]