PITTSBORO, N.C. (AP) — A man convicted of taking indecent liberties with a 7-year-old will not have to wear a satellite tracking monitor.

Chatham County Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour ruled Tuesday the sex offender monitoring law doesn’t apply to Guy Reeves because he was convicted before the law took effect.

WRAL-TV reports Reeves was convicted in January 2006. It was his third sex-offense conviction. He left jail in May 2007. Sex offender monitoring laws were passed in 2006, and specific procedures for the program were added last December.

District Attorney Marci Trageser argued that lawmakers intended the law to be retroactive. Baddour rejected the argument.

Reeves is the 29th convicted sex offender in North Carolina to get a tracking device removed. He still must register with local authorities as a sex offender.

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Information from: WRAL-TV, http://www.wral.com
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