The bill brings sentencing in line with punishment for other communicable diseases
The prospect of being purposefully exposed to HIV is a terrifying one, and it is understandable in many respects that California had a strict law on the books against doing so. Yet California’s current law against knowingly exposing another person to HIV was so much more harsh than knowingly exposing a person to other types of communicable diseases that it created unnecessary stigma.
Recently, Governor Brown signed a bill that reduced the penalties for knowingly exposing a sexual partner to HIV, bringing the punishment in line with the crimes for exposing people to other types of communicable diseases.
As experienced Los Angeles criminal defense attorneys, we know that the current sentence for knowingly exposing a sexual partner to HIV is extremely strict. It is a felony offense, punishable by three to eight years in California state prison. By contrast, knowingly exposing another person to any other kind of communicable disease, such as hepatitis or herpes, only exposed a person to a misdemeanor charge, a six month jail term, and/or a $1,000 fine. This new law also reduces the penalty for knowingly donating blood infected with HIV from a felony charge to a misdemeanor charge.
This bill was sponsored by Democrats Scott Wiener and Todd Gloria, and backed by more than 130 advocacy organizations. The goal of the bill was to modernize the law with regards to the advances in treatment for HIV. Today, people with HIV can live long, productive, healthy lives with appropriate medical treatment. The bill will also help to change the social perceptions about the reality of HIV in this country. This bill ensure that HIV is greatly equally with all other communicable diseases, and will go into effect on January 1, 2018.
Knowingly exposing another person to a communicable or infectious disease is a crime in California. In order to be charged with the crime, you must have a serious and incurable disease, know about it, and willfully expose another person to it. For example, if you have a disease — such as HIV — that is spread through sexual contact, and you fail to prevent transmission of the disease by wearing a condom, you could potentially be charged with this crime.
As a Los Angeles criminal defense attorney will tell you, lack of knowledge that you had a communicable disease could be a defense to this charge. However, if you had symptoms of the disease and/or knew that you had been exposed to it, then you would not likely be able to claim lack of knowledge.
If you have been charged with spreading a communicable disease or any other crime, the Chambers Law Firm can help. Contact us at 714-760-4088 or dchambers@clfca.com to schedule a free initial consultation today.
