US Supreme Court rules Wilmington sex offender can challenge GPS monitoring

WASHINGTON (WWAY) — The Supreme Court says a Wilmington sex offender should have a chance to challenge a requirement that he wear a GPS monitoring bracelet for the rest of his life.

The justices ruled Monday that the state’s highest court should have considered Torrey Dale Grady’s argument that having to wear the ankle bracelet violates his constitutional rights.

Grady was convicted in New Hanover County of a second-degree sex offense in 1997 and later convicted in 2006 of taking indecent liberties with a child. The second conviction qualified Grady as a recidivist. In 2013, he was ordered to start wearing the GPS bracelet 24 hours a day so officials could track his movements.

One of Grady’s attorneys, Mark Hayes, said the decision to monitor someone for the rest of his life is painting too broad of a brush.

“If they want to enroll him in some civil program where they are going to monitor him for the
of his life, he should have the opportunity to prove that he’s not a real danger,” Hayes said. “The state is going to have to do some sort of individualized assessment, instead of just
having just a broad brush stroke.”

The Supreme Court said lower courts should determine whether having to wear the bracelet is an unreasonable search under the Fourth Amendment.

“We’ll keep fighting to use technology to keep communities safe from the worst offenders,” NC Attorney General Roy Cooper said in a statement to WWAY.

Parents like Timeka Mosley say the monitoring of sex offenders like Grady is necessary.

“They have the advantage of coming up to these kids on a daily basis without police or anybody else knowing about it, and they could do something to these kids,” Mosley said. “So I don’t like the idea. I feel like they should be monitored all the time.”

Grady served 11 years in prison for both convictions.