Minnesota Supreme Court: Transmitting
HIV To A Partner After Telling Them You Have It Isn’t A Felony
On Wednesday, the Minnesota
Supreme Court unanimously decided to drop the criminal case against Daniel James Rick, an HIV-positive man who transmitted the
virus to a sexual partner after disclosing his HIV status. The Court upheld a
lower decision that overturned Rick’s felony conviction.
In 2011, Rick was convicted
with attempted first-degree assault after he had multiple sexual encounters
with a man who eventually tested positive for HIV. Rick said that he disclosed
his HIV status to the man before they engaged in sexual activity, and assumed
that his partner probably also had the virus if he was willing to have
unprotected sex. But the man said that Rick never told him he was HIV-positive.
Even though the jury agreed that Rick was telling the truth about disclosing
his status to his partner, they still convicted him of a felony under state
law.
The Supreme Court agreed
with a lower court’s decision that the current state law regarding the transfer
of communicable diseases is too vague, and Rick shouldn’t be convicted under
it. The opinion urged lawmakers to reconsider and amend the legislation.
Lambda Legal, as well as
other LGBT advocacy groups, say that improperly using criminal law to prosecute
HIV-positive individuals ultimately violates the rights of those people to
engage in consensual sex after they’ve told their partners about their
infection.
“We’re relieved that the
Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled in favor of liberty and justice, rejecting
the government’s misapplication of its communicable disease law to the facts of
this case,” Christopher Clark, a senior staff attorney for Lambda Legal, said in a statement.
“The State should not dictate with whom and how people choose to engage in
intimate sexual relations.”
Multiple states have HIV
criminalization laws on the books to discourage HIV-positive individuals from
knowingly spreading the virus. But when it comes to ensuring public health and
preventing the spread of HIV, that legal tactic largely backfires. Several studies have found that criminalizing HIV doesn’t actually help lower
transmission rates, but actually makes it less likely that HIV-positive
individuals will get themselves tested out of fear of prosecution. They also disproportionately harm transgender people. The Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS
has recommended repealing them,
saying they’re based on an outdated scientific understanding of the virus.
LGBT advocates agree. “The
rabid prosecution of Mr. Rick — regardless of the facts presented at trial —
shows that people living with HIV are vulnerable and will continue to be
unfairly targeted until laws like this are reformed to reflect the shared
responsibility for the prevention of disease transmission,” Lambda Legal’s HIV
Director explained.
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