Gay-rights group protests long prison term in spitting incident
Public health officials say the risk of contracting HIV from saliva is extremely low
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sunday, May 18, 2008
DALLAS — A gay-rights group is protesting a 35-year prison sentence given to an HIV-positive man who was convicted of spitting on a police officer.
Prosecutors persuaded a jury this week that the man's spit constituted a deadly weapon.
Willie Campbell spit into the eye and mouth of a Dallas police officer while he was being arrested on a charge of public intoxication in 2006, the officer testified.
Campbell, 42, had been in prison twice before, making him a habitual offender subject to a sentence of at least 25 years.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says no one has ever contracted the AIDS virus from spit.
Bebe Anderson, the HIV projects director at Lambda Legal, a gay-rights group, said the verdict could create wrong impressions about how HIV is transmitted.
Dallas County prosecutor Jenni Morse said any risk is sufficient to find spit could be considered a deadly weapon.
Hat-Tip Ball & Chain
A mixture of law, politics, autobiography and humour. Once described as "The Devilish Advocate" (Guardian), I do have the ability to provoke a response. Sometimes it comes from someone who uses a thought process, and sometimes from jerks usually associated with the knee.
The fact he is gay is irrelevant. The fact he is HIV positive and spat however is and he deserves to go to jail, as does any filthy sod who spits and does so knowing they carry the virus.
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