HIV-Positive Defendant
Your berating editorial of June 15 (“AIDS Watch--Injudicious Action”) is devoid of an accurate factual base and was irresponsible in the extreme. Had you checked the facts you would have discovered the following:
I have been an arraignment judge for nearly a year. During that time, I have arraigned approximately 15,000 people. Of those 15,000, several dozens have been brought to my attention by their lawyers as HIV-positive. Never in the past had I an occasion to take remedial action because of the person’s HIV status.
The defendant in this case had missed his previous court date because he was ill. He was coughing so loudly and profusely that he actually disturbed the court to the extent that the bailiff took the unprecedented step to ask him to wait in the hall until his name was called. When his name was later called, he was unavailable and was ill in the restroom. When he returned from the restroom, he was still coughing profusely. Since he had no handkerchief, he was compelled to wipe his hands on his clothing. He was actually in the courtroom for several hours.
It was his lawyer who kept him waiting in court and disclosed on the record that he was both ill and HIV-positive. Additionally, his lawyer made no request that this matter be confidential.
There was no discussion of his HIV status while this matter was pending before me. When the defendant returned to court for a hearing on June 20, he had been masked by the jail staff because they believed he had tuberculosis.
Whatever this poor fellow’s HIV status, he was clearly ill in my courtroom. His hacking and coughing was intensive, with sputum being projected into the air, into his hands, onto his clothes and onto the floor and seats in the vicinity. His case was handled fairly by me and after he left, the county staff came to clean the area directly affected by his presence.
Whether he was HIV-positive or not, his profusion of sputum was so pronounced that it would have been irresponsible of me not to take basic hygiene precautions.
Not even the experts know enough about AIDS or how it spreads. Even the apostles of AIDS education aver that prevention is all-important.
My conduct was appropriate for the protection of the rights of the defendant and the health and safety of the literally hundreds of people who file through that arraignment court daily.
JUDGE LARRY STIRLING
San Diego Municipal Court