14 men deliberately injected with HIV at sex orgy...
dan...@rocketmail.com
2 Dutch men guilty of injecting 14 with HIV: All victims tested
positive after being drugged, assaulted at a sex party
Associated Press
updated 10:59 a.m. PT, Wed., Nov. 12, 2008
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - A Dutch court convicted two men Wednesday for
attempting to infect 14 victims with HIV in a bizarre sex case.
The Groningen District Court found the two guilty of severe assault
for injecting semiconscious men with HIV-infected blood at sex parties
between January 2006 and May 2007.
Peter M., 49, who was also convicted of rape, was sentenced to nine
years in prison and Hans J., 39, received a five-year sentence. Under
Dutch privacy laws, the surnames of convicted criminals are not
released.
Prosecutors said they would appeal for higher sentences.
"By committing these acts, (Peter M.) has shown himself to have a
serious lack of respect for the rights of others," the three-judge
panel's written ruling said. "While he knew from his own experience
what far-reaching consequences are tied to an infection with HIV, he
repeatedly attempted to bring this same hurt to others."
Prosecutors had argued that the two men, along with a third who was
acquitted of major charges, had drugged the 14 victims and
intentionally infected them.
But in Wednesday's ruling, judges said while the victims all had HIV,
it could not be proven that they were infected by the injections
because they willingly took part in orgies where gay men unprotected
sex.
The judges also said allegations the victims were given GHB, known as
a "date rape" drug, were also unproven.
The suspects were not charged with attempted murder since Dutch courts
have held that HIV is a chronic illness rather than an inevitably
fatal one.
Death
dan...@rocketmail.com
> <dank...@rocketmail.com> wrote in message
> >http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27681660/
>
> http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081113/ap_on_he_me/eu_med_hiv_laws_2
The original news article mentioned that Holland reduced the charge
for intentionally infecting someone with HIV from attempted murder to
"serious assault." I think most jurisdictions in the USA also refuse
to file attempted murder charges because it takes too long for the
victim to die. You can assault someone and put them in a coma and
when they die 30 years later you can be charged with murder, but
infect someone with HIV and cause them to die 30 years later and you
are unlikely to face any criminal charges at all.