HIV-positive man sentenced 35 years for spitting at officer

HIV-positive man sentenced 35 years for spitting at officer

news.yahoo.com

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.

(visit the link for the full news article)

I'm extremely confused here. All I hear on the news and doctors on the news is you cannot get HIV by someone's spit. You can eat with them drink after them and kiss them. They say you can only get HIV through needles or sexual conduct with them.

So if this is true how can this man go to prison for 35 years? How can they declare this mans spit as a deadly weapon?

Have we all been lied too?

So can someone please explain this.

news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by Shar


Its considered a third degree felony under Texas state law:

tlo2.tlc.state.tx.us...

Its at the very bottom in section 22.11. Additionally, the maximum penalty appears to be only 10 years, so that may be problematic:

tlo2.tlc.state.tx.us...

reply to post by Shar


You kind of can. If the guy had a cut in his mouth, it would be technically possible, but not likely.

I'm assuming the officer didn't get aids. Sounds like a pretty lame trial if you ask me.

ahhhh mannnn. Why didn't this guy get a good lawyer?! HIS SPIT WASN'T A WEAPON!! Maybe this would be a remotely close/fair verdict if the guy had something contagious through spit, say...i dunno...mono? but seriously, this is just ridiculous. I'm disappointed in the court that sentenced this man to 35, isn't it bad enough that he's gotta simply live life with HIV, but now he's gotta sit in a cell all day? sad sad times i guess

reply to post by vor78



So if it is consider a felony under the texas law than that says a lot more than what they tell us.

I remember in the beginning of the hiv scare if a child got it they wouldn't let them in school with other kids then they came out and said it is safe. No one can catch it like this. I'm beginning to believe we have been seriously lied too.

edit for spelling

[edit on 15-5-2008 by Shar]

reply to post by screamo


Read my post above. It certainly IS a felony assault under Texas state law under the charge of 'harrassing a public servant'. No defense lawyer could get him out of that one if he actually did spit on the officer.

Now the length of the sentence? That may be questionable, though if he had a long rap sheet, there may be something in the section on repeat offenders that explains it.

Originally posted by Shar
Have we all been lied too?

Check out these statistics from the CDC. Does this look like a disease that can't be spread by relatively casual contact? In the US alone we averaged almost 40,000 new cases a year from 2001 thru 2005. And this was only for 33 of the 50 states. They probably left out the worst ones so it didn't look even worse than this. If you look at other countries in Africa and Asia, the numbers are astronomical.

HIV Chart

I vote for the 'being lied to' option.

I think it is bad enough that the defendant intended to spread his AIDs. He indeed used his disease as a weapon and is therefore a danger to society.

reply to post by dodgygeeza


If they can prove intent to use spit as a deadly weapon, then it becomes aggravated assault. That can land you in the lockup with a life sentence in some places.

More info on this lovely criminal:

www.marshallnewsmessenger.com...

"He turns and spits," Waller said. "He hits me in the eye and mouth. Then he told me he has AIDS. I immediately began looking for something to flush my eyes with."

Campbell, who was convicted of harassment of a public servant, has a history of spitting at police officers and biting fellow jail inmates, The Dallas Morning News reported."

He has a criminal history and obviously is trying to spread his disease. Whether or not it CAN be spread this way - he clearly believes it can and is trying.


Full Dallas Morning News story: www.dallasnews.com...

[edit on 15-5-2008 by greeneyedleo]

Thank you lone wolf. Yeah, that is a lot of people and I’m sure more than that. As you know they never post the whole truth.

But, somehow Magic Johnson seemed to get a clean bill of health. I really wonder how he managed to survive this, at a time when every one else was dying from it.

Any one got the answers to that one?


dodgygeeza,

I see your point here. However, putting him in prison would make me think that it would even spread there just as bad then these men get out and spead it even more.

Why should we not give them the same drugs we gave Majic Johnson that cured him or ship all of them to their own private island. To live where they won't be able to spread this disease any longer.

reply to post by greeneyedleo


And that answers the question. He's a repeat offender. Of course, it also begs the question: Why is this guy in the general prison population? Biting would indeed seem to make him a possible health threat to the other inmates and prison staff.

Then again, perhaps the state prison system simply doesn't care. That wouldn't surprise me, either.

AIDS or not, this bastard deserves to be incarcerated for spitting at a police officer.

Then again, 35 years seems way too harsh. Given that he has AIDS, thats basically imprisonment until death for him.

Transmission of the HIV virus is possible if the criminal had a cut or ulcer in his mouth, or even a sore throat. Transmission is more likely if it hit the policeman in the eye.

Regardless of whether the policeman had been infected or not, this criminal's attitude clearly shows that he has no respect for society or other humans and is willing to use his disease as a weapon. That alone warrants imprisonment.

The sentence says that he has to serve at least half of that time before he is eligible for parole. However, if he has a record of assaulting other cell mates....then I cant imagine he will be eligible for parole.

And I agree AIDS is imprisonment for him, but seems like he wants to take down everyone with him. He needs to be kept away from people

greeneyedleo


I agree also that he should be kept away from the other people. However, I don't think this will be the case. Does our government really want this over with? Honestly, I don't think so.

Ah no you misunderstood me Leo!

I meant that a 35 year sentence, compounded with him having AIDS means that he will be dead before he is released from prison (in all likelyhood).



[edit on 15-5-2008 by 44soulslayer]

So finally his sentence is a death penalty... because if he gets 35 years in PRISON he'll die there.

And this is SO RIDICULOUS. You cannot have AIDS by saliva. You would need to drink something like 20 liters of infected AIDS saliva before even considering a chance of having it.

And his trial is a freaking joke, he's treated like it's worse than an attempted murder. Are you kidding?

Originally posted by Vitchilo
So finally his sentence is a death penalty... because if he gets 35 years in PRISON he'll die there.

If this guy got AIDS through his own actions and not accidentally by transfusion, etc. then he gave himself the "death penalty". You cannot blame the state for trying to protect innocent people from monsters like this.

Originally posted by Vitchilo

And this is SO RIDICULOUS. You cannot have AIDS by saliva. You would need to drink something like 20 liters of infected AIDS saliva before even considering a chance of having it.

Are you sure? Cause this is what I was asking. The government says you can't but their reactions too things tell me you can.

Does anyone really know the truth on this?