Michael Johnson, who is currently serving a 30 year sentence for "recklessly" infecting a man with HIV and risking the lives of four others, has been granted another trial.

 

Last week, the Eastern District Court of Appeals of Missouri admonished the prosecution for a “fundamentally unfair” trial. The lawyers withheld recordings of phone conversations Johnson made from prison, choosing to spring them on the defense at the last minute.

 

Johnson was arrested back in 2013. At the time he was a star wrestler at Lindenwood University. The fact that he was sleeping with men and that he was one of the few black individuals in the community seemed to work against him, as both these aspects of his life were emphasized by prosecutors. Johnson’s “huge" cock was also discussed, and the jurors were shown pictures of it.

 

Ultimately, the trial centered on whether or not his partners knew about his HIV status. He said they did, but the prosecutors said they did not. However, a taped telephone call while he was behind bars revealed that he was only "pretty sure" he had told them.

 

The appeals court said this could be misleading as it was “the only evidence in the record of Johnson stating to anyone that he was not certain about whether he disclosed his HIV status to his sexual partners.”

 

The court also complained that the incriminating tape was not even shared with the defense team until the morning the trial began, robbing Johnson of “a decent opportunity to prepare his case in advance of trial.” The judges found that the prosecutors did this deliberately.

 

Johnson will remain in prison until a new court date is determined and only then will he be able to apply to be released during the new trial.

 

Tony Rothert, legal director for the ACLU of Missouri, admitted that a new case may not result in a different verdict. "The problem remains that the prosecution is built on inflaming public fears about those individuals with HIV, gay people, and black men," he explained.

 

He added: “Based on what we currently know about HIV and what treatment and prevention methods are available, Missouri’s criminalization of sex is irrational and serves no purpose but to further stigmatize persons living with HIV.”

 

Man’s conviction in failure to disclose HIV-positive status to sexual partners overturned ... [The Washington Post]

 

The conviction of a black man jailed for infecting his partners with HIV has been overturned [Fusion]