US: Georgia man gets two years for HIV exposure

A 38 year-old man from Macon, Georgia has been jailed for two years and must also serve 200 hours of community service whilst on eight years probation following his release, for having sex with a woman he planned to marry without telling her he was HIV-positive. The woman has not tested HIV-positive.

The details of the case are unusual in that the complainant met the man whilst he was living in housing specifically for people with HIV, which is where they had sex. Yet he didn’t disclose his HIV status, and she didn’t ask (or look around her). She still called the police when she discovered his status, and since Georgia has HIV-specific HIV disclosure laws, he’s paying dearly for his silence. He claims he was going to disclose his status when he married her.

Of course, the Assistant District Attorney Greg Winters asked for a five year prison sentence because…

“This is reckless conduct,” he told the court. “It’s basically playing with a loaded gun, playing Russian roulette.”

Fortunately, this tired cliché didn’t wash with the judge who gave a relatively mild sentence – but then since there was only one complainant, who hasn’t since tested positive, what exactly was the ‘crime’ anyway?

 

Canada: Another heterosexual migrant charged with HIV exposure

[Update]US: Charges dropped in Wisconsin ‘HIV exposure’ case

US: New York man faked HIV test, charged with reckless endangerment

Canada: Toronto man gets a year in jail for HIV exposure after Crown appeals lenient sentence

An HIV-positive Toronto man found guilty in May of HIV exposure, has had his one year suspended sentence increased to one year in prison, following an appeal by the Crown at the Ontario Court of Appeal.

Apparently, “the sentence imposed by a Superior Court judge last May was outside the range of sentences for other HIV-positive offenders who’ve knowingly had unprotected sex and it failed to take into account the breach of trust.”

This is one of those cases in which incarceration is the only way to express society’s outrage, said Justice Eleanore Cronk, who wrote the decision.

“The respondent’s non-disclosure of his HIV-positive status meant that (his girlfriend) was essentially duped, for a prolonged period, into having sexual relations with (X), she said.

Interestingly, the original case failed to make the papers first time around. Article from The Toronto Star, below.

 

[Update]US: Another Michigan man sentenced to 2 months in jail for HIV exposure

 

 

 

[Update]Canada: HIV-positive hemophiliac with cancer imprisoned for 14 months for HIV exposure

Canada: Ontario man imprisoned for a second time for HIV exposure

Canada: Zambian migrant gets eights years, deportation, for HIV exposure in Winnipeg