Judge rules 2nd time: prosecutors don't have sufficient evidence that unprotected sex with someone with HIV creates a "grave risk" of death

By Jim O'Hara, The Post-Standard 
Syracuse, NY - For the second time in as many months a judge has ruled Onondaga County prosecutors don't have sufficient evidence that unprotected sex with someone with HIV creates a "grave risk" of death.

In a 13-page decision made public today, state Supreme Court Justice John Brunetti ruled the District Attorney's Office did not have evidence to support a felony reckless endangerment prosecution against Terrance Williams for knowing he had HIV and having unprotected sex with another man.

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Instead, the judge ordered the felony charge of first-degree reckless endangerment reduced to a misdemeanor count of second-degree reckless endangerment. The judge also ruled there was sufficient evidence to support a prosecution for a misdemeanor charge of third-degree assault.

Williams, 23, has been indicted twice on felony reckless endangerment charges based on allegations he created a grave risk of death to another man from July to October 2010 by engaging in consensual sex without revealing he had been diagnosed as HIV positive in December 2009.

Judge rules prosecution must show that HIV is dangerous

By Jim O'Hara / The Post-Standard 

Syracuse, NY - A Syracuse man accused of infecting a consensual sexual partner with HIV cannot be prosecuted on a felony reckless endangerment charge, a local judge ruled today.

In a 12-page decision, state Supreme Court Justice John Brunetti said the prosecution did not have sufficient evidence that Terrance Williams' conduct created a grave and unjustifiable risk of death to his sexual partner.

To pursue such a prosecution, the District Attorney's Office would need to present expert testimony as to the prognosis for a person who contracted HIV now, Brunetti concluded.