HIV-positive man sentenced 35 years for spitting at officer

[almaty 19]

DALLAS - An HIV-positive man convicted of spitting into the eye and mouth of a Dallas police officer has been sentenced to 35 years in prison.

Because a jury found that Willie Campbell used his saliva as a deadly weapon, the 42-year-old will have to serve half his sentence before becoming eligible for parole. He was sentenced Wednesday.

Campbell was being arrested in May 2006 for public intoxication when he began resisting and kicking inside the patrol car, Dallas police office Dan Waller testified.

Campbell was convicted of harassment of a public servant.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

It does seem a bit harsh...

I didn't think HIV was at all easily transmitted that way...

[almaty 19]

i do not think so either.. i know. in alton we had a female hooker, who had unprotected sex with clients..and got 2 years ...that was awhile back...

[SaadBell 0]

35 years, damn

[Nagishkaw 510]

Likely, he will appeal.

[Ban Hammer 12,901]

DALLAS - An HIV-positive man convicted of spitting into the eye and mouth of a Dallas police officer has been sentenced to 35 years in prison.

Because a jury found that Willie Campbell used his saliva as a deadly weapon, the 42-year-old will have to serve half his sentence before becoming eligible for parole. He was sentenced Wednesday.

Campbell was being arrested in May 2006 for public intoxication when he began resisting and kicking inside the patrol car, Dallas police office Dan Waller testified.

Campbell was convicted of harassment of a public servant.

no, it's not harsh. aids is present in the saliva and while it's supposedly not tranmittable via saliva, who would want saliva tainted with aids spit into their eye? the eye has a pretty thin barrier after all.

[Carlawarla 1]

Maybe they should have "tested" the officer to see if he did indeed contract HIV via the assault. Adjourned it until they did find out. I highly doubt he will contract it given the circumstances. Hopefully the man will appeal. This is a horribly long time for an assault, or resisting arrest.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

i do not think so either.. i know. in alton we had a female hooker, who had unprotected sex with clients..and got 2 years ...that was awhile back...

There are stories of people who attacked others with contaminated syringes - that carries a degree of obvious intent that removes the possibility of interpretation.

With spitting - you surely have to establish that the guy intended to spit directly into the man's eye - as opposed to any other part of him (its not exactly pin-point accurate after all) and that in doing so he mean't explicitly for the man to contract his disease as a result.

Hard to believe that this will stand.

[Fandango 1,439]

Maybe they should have "tested" the officer to see if he did indeed contract HIV via the assault. Adjourned it until they did find out. I highly doubt he will contract it given the circumstances. Hopefully the man will appeal. This is a horribly long time for an assault, or resisting arrest.

It can take up to 10 years to show up

[Ban Hammer 12,901]

Maybe they should have "tested" the officer to see if he did indeed contract HIV via the assault. Adjourned it until they did find out. I highly doubt he will contract it given the circumstances. Hopefully the man will appeal. This is a horribly long time for an assault, or resisting arrest.

It can take up to 10 years to show up

i've heard it's detectable by tests within 6 months.

[Sinergy 3]

DALLAS - An HIV-positive man convicted of spitting into the eye and mouth of a Dallas police officer has been sentenced to 35 years in prison.

Because a jury found that Willie Campbell used his saliva as a deadly weapon, the 42-year-old will have to serve half his sentence before becoming eligible for parole. He was sentenced Wednesday.

Campbell was being arrested in May 2006 for public intoxication when he began resisting and kicking inside the patrol car, Dallas police office Dan Waller testified.

Campbell was convicted of harassment of a public servant.

no, it's not harsh. aids is present in the saliva and while it's supposedly not tranmittable via saliva, who would want saliva tainted with aids spit into their eye? the eye has a pretty thin barrier after all.

I agree. and concidering if the cop comes up positive with AIDS, then this guys 35 yrs is nothing compared to the lifetime of HIV the cop will suffer thru.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

That's outrageous! You can't spread HIV from spitting on someone anymore than if you involuntarily sneezed in a room! How stupid.

[Ban Hammer 12,901]

That's outrageous! You can't spread HIV from spitting on someone anymore than if you involuntarily sneezed in a room! How stupid.

would you really care to be a test case for that?

[Sinergy 3]

That's outrageous! You can't spread HIV from spitting on someone anymore than if you involuntarily sneezed in a room! How stupid.

He spit in his MOUTH and in his EYE...yes it can be transmitted thru saliva. And the cop has saliva in his mouth, hopefully he spit right away to avoid HIV instead of swallowing

Edited May 15, 2008 by Sinergy

[HAL 9000 96]

It does seem a bit harsh...

I didn't think HIV was at all easily transmitted that way...

Unless that saliva comes by the gallon, no, you can't transmit HIV that way.

The sentence seems ridiculously harsh. But this IS Texas we're talking about.