AKRON, Ohio -- A registered sex offender got a break and won’t have to move.

The man filed a lawsuit after he was ordered out of his home because he lived near a school.

On Tuesday, a federal judge in Akron ruled in his favor. The judge said Ohio’s sex offender residency law is unconstitutional when applied to crimes committed before the law went into effect.

The man served 16 years in prison for raping a woman in 1986.

It wasn’t until 2003 that the Ohio Legislature banned sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of schools.