Gay-rights group protests HIV-positive man's sentence
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, and public health officials say the risk of contracting the AIDS virus from saliva is extremely low.
Prosecutors convinced a jury this week that the man's spit constituted a deadly weapon, making the long prison term appropriate.
Willie Campbell spit into the eye and open mouth of a Dallas police officer while he was being arrested for 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.
The Dallas County Health Department issued a statement Friday that said HIV is usually spread by sexual contact or sharing needles with an infected person or through a transfusion of tainted blood.
The notice said that federal public health officials consider "the risk of HIV transmission from such fluids as saliva and tears to be extremely low."
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.
"It's been 25 years since the virus was identified, but there are still lots of fears," he told The Dallas Morning News for Saturday's editions. "We are still facing people losing their jobs and fighting for their children because of fears that are unfounded."
Campbell was convicted of harassing a public servant for spitting on police officer Dan Waller. The officer has not tested positive for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
The Dallas County prosecutor who handled the trial, Jenni Morse, said any risk is sufficient to find that Campbell's spit could be considered a deadly weapon.
"No matter how minuscule, there is some risk," she said. "That means there is the possibility of causing serious bodily injury or death," the legal definition of a deadly weapon.
District Attorney Craig Watkins said "it was clear that the defendant intended to cause serious bodily injury."
While in prison awaiting trial in the spitting case, Campbell bit two inmates and attacked other officers.
Because of the deadly-weapon finding, Campbell will have to serve half his sentence before becoming eligible for parole. He was sentenced Wednesday.
An HIV-positive man was sentenced to 35 years in prison Wednesday, one day after being convicted of harassment of a public servant for spitting into the eye and open mouth of a Dallas, Texas police officer in May 2006. The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that no one has ever contracted HIV from saliva, and a gay-rights and AIDS advocacy group called the sentence excessive.

Scanning electron micrograph of HIV-1 (in green) budding from cultured lymphocyte 
A Dallas County jury concluded that Willie Campbell's act of spitting on  policeman Dan Waller in 2006 constituted the use of his saliva as a deadly weapon. The incident occurred while Campbell, 42, was resisting arrest while being taken into custody for public intoxication.

"He turns and spits. 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," said Waller to ''The Dallas Morning News''. 

Officer Waller responded after a bystander reported seeing an unconscious male lying outside a building. Dallas County prosecutors stated that Campbell attempted to fight paramedics and kicked the police officer who arrested him for public intoxication. 


Prosecutors said that Campbell yelled that he was innocent during the trial, and claimed a police officer was lying. Campbell's lawyer Russell Heinrichs said that because he had a history of convictions including similarly attacking two other police officers, biting inmates, and other offenses, he was indicted under a habitual offender statute. The statute increased his minimum sentence to 25 years in prison. Because the jury ruled that Campbell's saliva was used as a deadly weapon, he will not be eligible for parole until completing at least half his sentence. 


The organization Lambda Legal (Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund), which advocates for individuals living with HIV, says that saliva should not be considered a deadly weapon. Bebe Anderson, the HIV projects director at Lambda Legal, spoke with ''The Dallas Morning News'' about the sentence. "It's been 25 years since the virus was identified, but there are still lots of fears," said Anderson. 

The Dallas County prosecutor who handled the trial, Jenni Morse, said that the deadly weapon finding was justified. "No matter how minuscule, there is some risk. That means there is the possibility of causing serious bodily injury or death," said Morse. Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins stated: "If you look at the facts of this case, it was clear that the defendant intended to cause serious bodily injury."


A page at the CDC's website, ''HIV and Its Transmission'', states: "HIV has been found in saliva and tears in very low quantities from some AIDS patients." The subsection "Saliva, Tears, and Sweat" concludes that: "Contact with saliva, tears, or sweat has never been shown to result in transmission of HIV." On Friday the Dallas County Health Department released a statement explaining that HIV is most commonly spread through sexual contact, sharing needles, or transfusion from an infected blood product.