Thread: TX-HIV-positive man gets 35 years for spitting on Dallas pol

HIV-positive man gets 35 years for spitting on Dallas police officer

08:10 PM CDT on Wednesday, May 14, 2008
By TIARA M. ELLIS / The Dallas Morning News
tellis@dallasnews.com

An HIV-positive man with a history of spitting at police officers and biting fellow jail inmates was sentenced to 35 years in prison Wednesday.

Willie Campbell's sentence came one day after the same Dallas County jury convicted the 42-year-old of harassment of a public servant for spitting into the eye and open mouth of Dallas Officer Dan Waller in May 2006.

As Mr. Campbell was being arrested for public intoxication, he began to resist and kicked at the computer screen in the police vehicle, Officer Waller testified during the two-day trial.

"He turns and spits," Officer Waller said. "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."

During Tuesday's guilt/innocence phase of the trial, Mr. Campbell testified in his defense and offered to enter his feet as evidence to prove he did not kick the squad car's computer screen, said Aja Reed, a prosecutor who worked on the case.

On Wednesday, as another Dallas officer testified about Mr. Campbell spitting on him in an unrelated incident, Mr. Campbell jumped up and began yelling at the officer and prosecutors, according to another prosecutor in the case, Jenni Morse.

"He said to the officer, 'You're a liar. You're all railroading me. I'm an innocent man.' "

Dallas County sheriff's deputies took Mr. Campbell into custody and placed him in a holding cell, where he listened to the remainder of his sentencing trial. But not before he said to prosecutors, "You're going to rot in hell," Ms. Reed said.

Russ Hendrichs, Mr. Campbell's attorney, could not be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon. Because the jury found that Mr. Campbell's HIV-positive saliva was a deadly weapon, he has to serve half of his sentence before he is eligible for parole.

Officer Waller said he was elated with the jury's decision.

"I know it sounds cliché, but this is why you lock someone up, so our streets are safer," Officer Waller said. "Without him out there, our streets are a safer place."

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... c6bdb.html

Gay-rights group protests prison term for HIV-positive man who spit on officer

Associated Press - May 17, 2008 3:35 PM ET

DALLAS (AP) - 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.

Public health officials say the risk of contracting the AIDS virus from saliva is extremely low.

Bebe Anderson of gay-rights group Lambda Legal says the verdict could create wrong impressions about how HIV is transmitted.

Willie Campbell got the 35-year sentence for spitting into the eye and open mouth of a Dallas police officer while he was being arrested for public intoxication in 2006.

Prosecutors convinced a jury this week that Campbell's spit constituted a deadly weapon because he is HIV-positive, making for a longer prison term.

http://www.kcbd.com/Global/story.asp?S=8341116

There was no other reason for him to spit except to try to kill the officer.

Bebe Anderson of gay-rights group Lambda Legal says the verdict could create wrong impressions about how HIV is transmitted.

Yea right Bebe, you wouldn't be saying that if the man had spit in your mouth.

Dixie