It's being called a victory for convicted sex offenders, but local prosecutors say it's a dangerous defeat for children.

  A Missouri Supreme Court ruling has set a precedent many prosecutors aren't pleased with.

  "I did my time, I did my parole, I'm finished. I'm not bothering anybody."

  Yet this convicted sex offender tells us he's regularly bothered.

  "It's like a witch hunt."

  He's so tired of the stigma and fears so much for his own safety, he doesn't want his face shown or his voice heard on TV.

  But he does want his message heard.

  "I understand protecting kids but there's a line you have to draw, and if you're going to start breaking laws to enforce the laws then you're not any better than the person you're arresting." 

  He was arrested Halloween night for not obeying a law that requires sex offenders to turn off all lights and post a sign on their door discouraging trick-or-treaters.

  The law was enacted less than a year and a half ago, but this man was convicted of child molestation nearly 17 years ago.

  "It's wrong."

  The Missouri Supreme Court ruled he has a point.

  That law- and one passed in 2004 that prohibits sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of a school or daycare- is not retroactive.

   That means a half dozen charges in Webster County alone will be dropped.

  "With all the cases we've filed as a result of the Halloween statute, I can't pursue any.  They all have to be dismissed because the latest I have of the sex offenders charged is 2006."

  Webster County Prosecuting Attorney Danette Padgett says she understands the court's ruling, but her sympathies lie with potential victims.

 "There's a lot of things we didn't know about sex offenders in 1992, in 1980, and the laws have changed so much to adapt to the knowledge we've gained yet we can't make it retroactive with the sex offenders, and it just puts the children in our community at such great risk," Padgett explains.

  This man tells us if the laws had held up in court, the rest of his life- his freedom- would be at risk.

  "What's next? They're going to arrest me for going outside on a summer afternoon because there's kids outside, or I can't go to Wal-mart because there's kids in there, or I can't go to the McDonald's because there's kids in there or what?"

  This past August the proximity to a daycare law was changed from 1,000 feet to 500 feet, but again, this ruling means only those convicted after it was enacted have to abide by it.

  One Webster County man actually pleaded guilty to the Halloween violation; a judge will have to overturn his plea.