MOUNT VERNON – Banning social media for sex offenders on supervised release violates the First Amendment guarantee of free speech, Fifth District appellate judges ruled on March 1.
The appellate court vacated the ban from a list of conditions that Shelby County Circuit Judge Martin Siemer imposed on Christopher Chiovari.
They applied an Illinois Supreme Court decision from 2019, finding the ban prohibits activity that the U. S. Constitution protects.
Justice John Barberis wrote that he found no evidence that Chiovari used social networking websites to seek out victims.
Justices Thomas Welch and Randy Moore concurred.
Chiovari pleaded guilty of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of two children in 2021.
In 2022, Siemer sentenced him to four years in prison and two years on supervised release.
The code of corrections provides that “conditions of parole and mandatory supervised release shall be such as the Prisoner Review Board deems necessary to assist the subject in leading a law abiding life.”
It provides that a subject convicted of a sex offense must “refrain from accessing or using a social networking website” as defined in the code.
The review board modified the condition in light of the Supreme Court decision.
In Chiovari’s case, the state argued that the board’s modification made it unnecessary for Fifth District judges to render a decision.
Barberis disagreed, finding the board could revert to an unconstitutional interpretation at any time absent a decision from their court or action from the legislature.
He also rejected an argument from the state that Chiovari couldn’t challenge the ban until the state has released him from prison.
He found the ban is mandatory and not an abstract possibility.