Sheriff Can't Put 'No Trick-Or-Treat' Signs On Sex Offenders' Yards: Court

A federal judge in Georgia sided with a group of registered sex offenders, ruling that signs warning residents not to trick-or-treat at their homes violated their constitutional rights. The class-action lawsuit was filed by three registered sex offenders in Butts County to stop the Sheriff's Office from placing the warning signs in their front yards.

U.S. District Court Judge Marc Treadwell ruled that the warning signs were a form of forced speech and issued an injunction barring Sheriff Gary Long from having his deputies place the signs on their lawns.

"The question the Court must answer is not whether Sheriff Long's plan is wise or moral, or whether it makes penological sense. Rather, the question is whether Sheriff Long's plan runs afoul of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. It does," Treadwell wrote.

Sheriff Long issued a statement saying that he disagrees with the judge's ruling and plans to increase police presence in neighborhoods where registered sex offenders live.

"For this Halloween, our Deputies will keep a very strong presence in the neighborhoods where we know sex offenders are likely to be," he wrote on Facebook. "Deputies will have candy in their patrol vehicles and will interact with the children until the neighborhood is clear of Trick-or-Treaters."