A Texas jury just handed down a 35-year sentence to an HIV-positive man convicted of harassing a public servant by spitting into the eye and mouth of a police officer.
Because his saliva was considered a deadly weapon, he will have to serve half of the sentence before he becomes eligible for parole.
The incident happened while the ill man was intoxicated in public. It seems that if he did not have HIV, a minimum 17 years in jail would be very extreme for a stupid drunken night. Is it still?
Considering that contact with saliva has never been shown to spread HIV, is this sentence an irrational response to the offense? Or, is society justified in taking such a reckless man off the streets?
Alberta Ferretti
by Terry
D&G
Something seems left out of this story. Saliva does carry the virus, but you would need so much of it, literally gallons, that is the reason it can't be transferred from kissing or oral sex.
1Cine I was thinking the same thing! I remember learning that in health class in HS!
Are we sure we're getting the whole story here? It seems so far fetched...
2Ladies it is not far feched,if he can spit at someone knowing his HIV status what can he do to women or men who don't know his stauts. I feel no smpathy because I have had at least 40 aunts and uncles die due to HIV/AIDS , it's not a joke. with the way HIv mutates and strengthens you never know what will happen, maybe his saliva has HIV as every strain mutates according to country, town, and person which is why it is next to impossible to find a cure. IDIOT!!!
3nyara, I am sorry to hear about your family.
4I'm sooo sorry Nya!
5cine it's not even sad half of them brought it upon themselves but I feel sorry for my aunts who were infected unwittingly by their idiot husbands and the kids they left behind.
6One other comment. When you give an option saying that this is a case of discrimination, what exactly do you think people are discriminating against? People with HIV? I don't think it is discrimination, because he does in fact have a disease that is communicable and is deadly. So how exactly are the discriminating?
7The whole thing is confusing, I'm not quite sure to think. But since HIV is classified as a blood-born pathogen, I don't see how this legally holds up. I'd think any defense attorney would have an easy time fighting this one, apparently not.
8This one seems fairly obvious to me. Of course such a man should be put in jail. I don't care if it can be transmitted with spit or not, the man still TRIED to give someone else his disease. What a dangerous attitude.
9Well, if he goes to jail, you know he'll be spared from some of the things that happen to men in jail...
10i feel like there's more to this story than meets the eye. was it really the man's intent to try and give someone the HIV virus if he was being drunk and unruly? i don't really buy that and it seems like an extreme sentence.
11If he is going to be raped Jude C then I can't say i feel sorry for the rapists. If they are cruel enough to rape someone then they can darn well live with the consequences.
12I knew it had to be Texas or Florida when I saw the headline.
I can see the potential for discrimination here: the law appears to be saying that the HIV-positive person's very being is a deadly weapon. Otherwise, if the government's position is that HIV isn't transmitted through saliva, how did this person do anything more egregious than a non HIV-positive person spitting? Sentencing him more harshly definitely says there's something worse about him than anyone not HIV-positive.
13This sentence is outragious. There is also just to much left out of the story to form a solid judgment as to what's going on. Did the guy spit on the person just out of a reaction to simply spit and be rude? Or did the guy spit and say there I have HIV or Aids? If he said that along with the spit then you have intent, but with out that if he was just spitting for the sake of being rude all you have is a rude @$$ #o!&
14HA! True Jude, although, who really knows...
I'm just surprised by his sentence. It's a little tough..for spitting at someone? I dont know...There are so many worse crimes out there that have much more weaker punishments.
15This is scary, the news showed a video yesterday with a man bragging that he is giving away AIDS to as many as he can. No one knows where the video originated but the man looks crazy and he didn't mind saying he would give it to anyone b/c he has it and he will take many with him. He drives around looking for women and men; and he doesn't mind passing it on to children as young as 15 he said.
16Agreed with that completely, nya.
17nyaradzom2001: you said "it is not far feched,if he can spit at someone knowing his HIV status what can he do to women or men who don't know his stauts"
You can't convict someone on what they might do in the future.
18Bella, that is just sick.
19that seems a little bit harsh. did he really intend to give the police officer his disease? I think there is too much left out of this story. I do think he should have been punished, although this seems excessive.
20stephley there is something worse he carries a rapidly mutating, incurable disease and he's sitting like that? HIV research is not conclusive as it reacts differently to each person so unless they have tested every single HIV+ person out there, i'm not taking my chances with recklessness like this.
21Bella that disgusts me. That man is dangerous
22My friend just got diagnosed.
23oh that's terrible Harmony!
24He looked sick in the video. I don't know if he wants to get caught or if it was a cry for help. I just don't see how you can know and not be careful. I just wish more people would wake up because I am sure that he has infected a lot of people in his spare time.
25well, I agree he should be punished, but not 17-35 years in prison! Holy crap!
26hypnotic I know it seems harsh what i say and yeah i agree the sentence was way harsh but i would sentence him to time in jail as well. I am so so sick of morons walking around with HIV acting like it's nothing, infecting people. Ain't nothing attractive about coughing up lumps of blood, or having a chunk of skin just fall off while you are bathing or your skin turning gray or so thin you can see the pulse beating in the temples, so when it comes to this, future or not, I don't care, punish him.
27Oh Harmony. That is horrible.
28Ohh HF, that is horrible but at least they now know. Were they diagnosed with AIDS or HIV?
29Oh wow Harmony. my heart goes out to your friend.
30Thank you. It's HIV. He's handling it really well it seems, but he doesn't want to talk about it. I think he's in denial.
31I can't even imagine how he must be feeling.
32Please disregard the big smiling avatar next to these statements.
33HF, well give him time. He just may need some time alone to digest everything. I wish him well and hopefully the cocktail they give him won't make him overly sick.
34Thanks bella.
35i agree with bella he probably just needs time, at least he knows now. all you can do is be a good friend and beig HIV+ is not the end of the world, he can still do anything anyone else can do he just has to be more careful. i don't envy you though I wouldn't know what to say I'd probably end up with my foot in my mouth.
36Nya, I sympathize with your family, and I'm not trying to defend this guy just pointing out the potential for discrimination.
Bella has a story of a scary guy threatening to spread the infection:
37You say I don't want to take any chances:
The government doesn't think saliva transmits HIV:
This guy spits and his whole body is considered a deadly weapon, despite the fact that the government says spit doesn't spread HIV.
Fear leads to hysteria which leads to unreasonable rulings which leads to unreasonable jail time for an HIV-positive person who did something bad but not necessarily felonious.
He was drunk. I don't know about the long sentence, some people who kill don't get that long. I guess that made him an example. Sad. There is also a high number of infected people in jail, I hope he still gets adequate care.
HF- your friend will be find. Once he realize what this means for his life he will adjust and it will be fine it's not a death sentence anymore.
38Nya's right, your friend's diagnosis isn't the end of the world. There is a whole lot of life to be lived even after such a diagnosis. Hopefully he can grow to accept it and maybe turn it into something positive where he can help others. Or maybe he doesn't want to do that. He can just live his life to the fullest!
39I hope so too guys. He's an absolute sweetheart and a talented performer.
40This seems ridiculous. If HIV can't be transmitted through saliva, then how is his spit a deadly weapon? How is that any different from a garden variety assaulting a police officer charge?
I suppose if the guy said something like I have HIV and I'm going to give it to you patooey, then maybe... But, otherwise, this seems like old school uneducated fear and discrimination.
41nyaradzom2001: I agree that anyone who knowingly/maliciously spreads any virus be it HIV or other should be punished as well.
As it pertains to HIV/Aids here in the U.S. the picture you paint yes does exist but it is a very narrow view of people who end up with the worst symptoms. I've volunteered with Aids Project Los Angeles and Foothill Aids Project in Los Angeles County for 10 years I found that those that experienced the worst symptoms were those who did no adhere to their drug regimen. Once you start medication you can not be missing doses here and there. If you do yes the risk of that is the virus mutates and becomes resistant to the drug.
There are only so many drug cocktails out that can control HIV and if one misses enough doses they could quite conceivable go through all the cocktails and none of them will work. I have seen this happen by people who were infected and had a dooms day approach to their health once they were infected. They didn't care anymore and so they missed their doses until the meds were for all intents and purposes useless. The majority of people who get tested and adhere to their drug regimen are doing quite well here in the U.S.
42
patooey is a funny word.
43Why isn't that emoticon working?!? Grrrrrrrrr
44hypnotic definitely, once you miss a day or even take the drug cocktail at a different time you are messing with your life. Back home if you are lucky to work for a company which provides free ARVs or you are filthy rich then your chances are great, but if you aren't rich which is about 80% of the population the drugs they give you can actualy burn you inside out, it's awful. a lot of people just eat as healthily as they can and as many "rural" foods they can to keep healthy. it's tough and Iknow how lazy I am with my meds I can't imagine havig to down 20 at the same time everyday. It kills me though when children have HIV.
45My goodness nyaradzom2001 what state are you living in?
I've been positive for going on 11 years now. Just started taking meds for the first time a year and a half ago. Three pills once a day and I've been undetectable for almost as long. I've never had any illness related to my status. I don't pay anything for my meds either because ADAP covers what my employer does not and even if I wasn't working ADAP would cover the whole thing if I couldn't pay. My Dr. tells me if it wasn't for your previous tests before you came to me I would never know your positive. He says I'm in perfect health.
46that's awesome hypnotic that you are doing so well!
47I, too, think something is missing. What exactly was his intent? To infect the police officer or just to make him mad?
48I, too, think something is missing. What exactly was his intent? To infect the police officer or just to make him mad?
49oops sorry
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