Michael Johnson has received a 60 year prison sentence after being found guilty of knowingly infecting another male with the disease.

 

Back in 2013, the former college wrestler from the University in Missouri was accused of not telling a sexual partner he was HIV+. After the men found out, he went to the police; Johnson was arrested and also expelled from school.

 

Since the arrest, five other men have made similar claims. Police even found video recordings that Johnson had made of himself having sex with multiple men, which was included as evidence in the case against him.

 

Johnson, 23, has claimed throughout his trial that he was up front about his status. 

 

In less than three hours of deliberation, the jury found him guilty of infecting two men and of exposing four other men to the virus. The punishment: 60 years in prison.

 

AIDS activist Peter Staley said the sentencing was unfair, writing on Facebook:

And activist Charles Stephens, director of the Counter Narrative Project, said the whole case was anti-black. "What happened to Michael Johnson is a call to action. HIV criminalization is anti-black violence, period," he argued. "You can't be against the Prison Industrial Complex without being against HIV criminalization. You can't ignore the fact that the communities most vulnerable to HIV are also the communities most vulnerable to criminalization. We must fight the clinic-to-prison pipeline."

 

Of course, the men who had sex with Johnson and weren't advised of his HIV status feel differently.

 

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