Man sentenced to 30 years in prison for “recklessly” transmitting HIV
By Will Stroude
A former college wrestler has been sentenced to 30 and a half years in prison after “recklessly infecting” a number of sexual partners with HIV.
23-year-old Michael Johnson testified that he had informed the partners of his HIV status, but was found guilty earlier this week by a court in Missouri, where it is a criminal offence to fail to inform a partner if you are HIV-positive.
During sentencing, Judge Jon Cunningham told Johnson he had committed “very severe” crimes. Prosecutors said he didn’t tell the partners he had HIV. “The main thing is the profound effect your actions have had on the victims and their families,” the judge said.
Johnson was expelled from college after his original arrest in 2013, after a one-time sexual partner reported him to the police after contracting HIV. Five more men later brought charges against him, alleging that he had failed to inform them of his status while using gay hook-up apps, KMOV reports.
The 30-year sentence has sparked outrage from HIV campaigners, who argue that such severe punishments discourage people from getting tested to find out their status, and stem from a time when contracting the virus was still a death sentence.
According to Towleroad, Director of the Health and Education Alternatives for Teens (HEAT), Dr. Jeffrey Birnbaum, said of the judgment:
“HIV criminal laws have no positive impact on the spread of HIV. Sentencing people living with HIV to prison for having sex will, based on decades of HIV clinical experience, only drive people away from health centers where they can learn their HIV status and get the medical care they need.”
Meanwhile LaTrischa Miles, of the Missouri AIDS Task Force, said in a statement:
“The state of Missouri spends significant resources encouraging its citizens to be tested for HIV. The state then prosecutes people who test positive for HIV and are unable to prove that they disclosed this to their sexual partners. That just doesn’t make sense.”
‘Reckless’ HIV transmission remains a crime in England and Wales if done so on purpose, while in Scotland knowingly exposing someone to HIV at all is an offence, even if transmission did not take place.
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