A divided New Jersey Supreme Court ruled Sept. 22 that requiring a sex offender to wear a satellite tracking device after he has completed his sentence violates the ex post facto clauses of the federal and state constitutions.
The 4-3 decision in Riley v. New Jersey State Parole Board means that an 81-year-old man, convicted in 1986 and released from prison in 2009, will not have to wear a global positioning system monitoring device on his ankle for the rest of his life, as required by a 2007 law, the Sex Offender Monitoring Act (SOMA).
