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The Minnesota Supreme Court
unanimously decided this week that an HIV-positive man found guilty for having
sex with a man who later developed the infection was convicted wrongly and
sided with an appeals court to overturn the original decision. The defendant
was convicted more than two years ago under an obscure law that discussed
transfer of sperm, blood, or tissue, but did not refer to sexual intercourse.
AIDS activists and the American
Civil Liberties Union had followed the case closely. The man maintained he
informed his sexual partner that he was HIV-positive. The original jury
believed that assertion and found him not guilty by reason of sexual
penetration; the jury did find him guilty of attempted assault under the second
part of the law. “If this conviction had been upheld, it would have been saying
that sex is a lethal weapon,” said Dr. Michael Horberg, chair of the HIV
Medicine Association. “Obviously, the original intent of the law was
specifically for organ and tissue donation, including sperm. That is a vastly
different situation than what two consenting adults do in the privacy of their
own home.”
The Supreme Court agreed the wording
was ambiguous. The 16-page opinion also stated that the term “transfer” in the
second section of the law did not include sexual conduct. “While sperm might be
characterized as an asset of property in a medical context, such as with
respect to fertility, that characterization is not applicable to sperm
transmitted to another through sexual conduct,” Chief Justice Lorie Gildea
wrote.
Hennepin County Attorney Mike
Freeman said that in spite of his displeasure with the final ruling, he
encouraged Minnesota lawmakers to clarify the law. “We need clear tools to
prosecute folks who have serious communicable diseases not necessarily limited to
HIV and AIDS, but others that can cause serious harm,” he said.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus.
To learn more about The Friends of
AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
