HIV-positive man sentenced 35 years for spitting at officer

[Guest josephga]

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.

[Lewis H]

That's absurd. You can't really get HIV from saliva, otherwise people would be contracting the disease left and right from kissing.

[Guest josephga]

i agree its to harsh.

[ariadne1880]

RE: HIV-positive man sentenced 35 years for spitting at officerIt

 

It does seem harsh. But the law is the law. If one doesn't like it, one can work to change it. In the meantime, one must obey it.

 

Mark

[Philly Guy]

RE: HIV-positive man sentenced 35 years for spitting at officerIt

 

>It does seem harsh. But the law is the law. If one doesn't

>like it, one can work to change it. In the meantime, one must

>obey it.

>

>Mark

 

Agreed, but the laws vary by Jurisdiction. I am sure he would not get that sentence in NYC. Clearly the guy wasa an idiot but at least now his medical care (if needed) will be paid by Texans.

[ariadne1880]

RE: HIV-positive man sentenced 35 years for spitting at officerIt

 

Of course, law vary by jurisdiction. You must obey the ones in the jurisdiction you reside or are visiting.

 

I'm not sure I understand the point of a sentence like this one. I suspect that if the person spat upon was a "civilian" it would have been treated very differently. I'm guessing that is the part of this law that caused the harsh sentence.

 

Mark

[Guest zipperzone]

>i agree its to harsh.

 

It's not only harsh - it's downright stupid. Another example of the ignorance shown by a goodly portion of the public.

[Guest]

>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.

>

While I would have to agree that the sentence is stupid, given that saliva doesn't transmit HIV, I can't say that it's such a bad thing to take assholes like this off of the streets. There are a lot of worse people walking the streets, though.

[Guest Wetnwildbear]

>It does seem harsh. But the law is the law. If one doesn't

>like it, one can work to change it. In the meantime, one must

>obey it.

>

>Mark

 

 

The Statute in question which forms the basis for the prison sentence

 

is Not "HARSH" - It is based in a flawed

 

legal assumption, which is anchored in ignorance, fear and stupidity.

 

 

The sentence is based on a flawed premise that HIV = AIDS = Death.

 

It continues on a flawed premise that HIV is tranmitted

 

in a communicable form in the siliva of an HIV positive person.

 

 

The flaw continues in that it supposes any contact with the saliva

 

of an HIV infected person constitutes an assualt with an intent to

 

kill or inflict other bodily harm.

 

 

It is a statute and a premise anchored in the ingnorance and fear

 

incited by Born-Again-Bigoty-Bastards-Supported-by-Neo-Facist-Xtian

 

Conservatives of the Reagan Era Republican Party - Who used a Public

 

Health Crisis to empower a political movement based on

 

fear/ignorance/obedience/suspension of disbelief/societal

 

fragmentation and isolation/and used as the FIRST of many

 

wedge issues to distract the American Voter from substantive matters

 

which affect their lives directly/ to instead created the Politics of

 

Fear.

 

In Summation - ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST!

[Guest Wetnwildbear]

>It does seem harsh. But the law is the law. If one doesn't

>like it, one can work to change it.

 

In the meantime, one must obey it.

>

>Mark

 

-It seems the founders of our Nation Disagree with the

 

-Oracle of Anal Retentive,

 

-The Judgemental Jurist or Jerkdom,

 

-The Self-Hating-"UsedtobeStraight/Married for 18yrs" Closet-Clinging

 

Cunt-Licker who doesn't know/care what Homophobia/Discrimination/hate

 

inspired violence entail in the Real World of Gay Men.

 

 

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

 

— That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,

 

— That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."

 

The Declaration of Independence