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Sex offender suing to stop Kentucky law banning fake names on social media

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Kentucky criminal law textbooks

A registered sex offender is suing to block a new Kentucky law that requires him to go by his full legal name on all his social media profiles.

DAVIESS COUNTY, Ky. (WEVV) � On Monday, a new Kentucky law went into effect, banning certain sex offenders from using fake names in social media profiles. An anonymous Daviess County resident is taking the new law on in a federal lawsuit.

Daviess County Attorney John Burlew has found himself in a novel position, being the face and name representing all county attorneys in the state in that federal lawsuit.

“I don’t know of a Daviess County Attorney that’s been sued for a reason like this, ever,� Burlew told 44News.

KRS 17.544 says sex offender registrants convicted of a crime against a minor will face criminal charges if they go by anything other than their full, legal name on  social media profiles. An anonymous man living in Daviess County has found he is being affected by the new law and has filed suit

Court documents show the John Doe plaintiff believes his First Amendment rights are infringed upon by the over-broad law, taking away the right to anonymously engage in free speech as established by legal precedents.

Burlew is the sole defendant named, representing the 120 county attorneys in the commonwealth, and he argues that felons having restrictions on their constitutional rights is nothing new and not inherently unconstitutional.

“As it stands, if you’re a convicted felon, in most cases, you give up your right to bear arms," Burlew said. "I don’t know that that right is any more or less important than the First Amendment rights.�

Initially, the federal judge granted an injunction stopping all county attorneys from enforcing the law but later issued an amended injunction, vastly scaling down its scope to only Burlew and John Doe.

Burlew said an appeal to the injunction is being planned as he works with his representation from the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office.

“We’ll see where it goes," Burlew said. "I hope the end result is that the statute is held to be constitutional and it stays on the books.�