"Straight" Man with HIV gets life term

[Ohiospeedo]

Man With HIV Gets Life Term for Sex
AP
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (June 13) - A man who spent five years in jail for exposing sexual partners to HIV was sentenced to life in prison for knowingly exposing another woman to the virus.

Sean L. Sykes, 33, was sentenced Tuesday. He was found guilty in May of having unprotected sex with a St. Joseph woman without telling her he was HIV-positive. Testimony at his trial - which was closed to the public to protect witnesses - indicated that he had exposed at least eight women to HIV. At least three have tested positive.

"I think it's fairly clear he is a very dangerous individual," Buchanan County Prosecutor Dwight Scroggins said after the sentencing. "If he is not in prison, he would likely continue to spread HIV."

Sykes was convicted in 1997 of knowingly exposing someone to HIV. He was given the maximum sentence of 10 years, but was paroled in 2003.

Scroggins said Sykes has had "numerous" other unknown sexual contacts since he first tested positive 16 years ago.

"It's not an immediate death sentence," said assistant prosecutor Kathleen Fisher, "but that's what he's done to these people, his victims."

A 29-year-old woman who contracted HIV in the mid-1990s after having sex with Sykes testified at the sentencing hearing that her life had been destroyed by the virus.

The mother of two children - neither of whom has tested positive for the disease - said doctors have given her about two years to live.

"My family has left me - they're scared of me," she said. "When I found out that Sean was on trial again for this, it drove me crazy. The main question is why? Why is he doing this?"

Prosecutors said Sykes began having a sexual relationship with a St. Joseph woman in 2004, never telling her that he had HIV.

Sykes contended at his trial that the woman knew he was HIV-positive. He apologized Tuesday for his behavior.

"I will admit my behavior in the early '90s, and up until my first conviction, was not appropriate," he said. "Even though (the St. Joseph woman) was aware of my status, I should have seen nothing good would come as far as a sexual relationship."

 

[treanir]

Good. People who knowingly spread HIV around should be put away. There's just something not right with your head if you give it to others, whatever the reason.


Just one thing... why is the word straight in the topic title between quotation marks?

 

[HartfordGuy]

The mother of two children - neither of whom has tested positive for the disease - said doctors have given her about two years to live.

Two years? I think she needs a new Doctor! Todays meds are keeping HIV+ infected people alive an average of 24 years.

 

[Ohiospeedo]

Because the article originally said Man with HIV gets life term...so automatically everyone would assume, or at least me, that we were talking about a gay man.

 

[NickCole]

Good. People who knowingly spread HIV around should be put away. There's just something not right with your head if you give it to others, whatever the reason.

I agree.

But not only HIV.

It's just plain wrong to expose others to a chronic disease without giving them the information to decide for themselves if they want to risk their health.

 

[rotary]

A former CFL player here did the same thing, but the bugger was only sentenced to 5 and a half years.

 

[BlueLantern]

This remembered him of a tv program that talk about real crimes, one was about a doctor who infected a woman with HIV.

Anyway, both should be locked up, and stay locked.

 

[Just_Believe18]

Prison term sounds good to me.

 

[ahotjock71]

I am torn on this issue. While anyone knowingly infecting someone else deserves punishment, it seems to me that this kind of thing only re-enforces stereotypes and fear against people who are HIV+.

Someone could have a bf/gf/encouner, then become enemies with that person, and that person could have them put away just by lying & saying he "put me at risk."

That brings me to the point of why is nobody asking these women why THEY didn't take personal responsibility and make sure he wore a condom? It takes two to tango, you know!

It really opens up a pandora's box. What if someone infected you and didn't know they were infected at the time, but you want to put them in prison because you feel they have slighted you? But he didn't know he was infected at the time, so did he really commit a crime?

CONDOMS PEOPLE.....ALWAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also, does anbody know if the woman who had him prosecuted this time tested positive or not?

 

[treanir]

It really opens up a pandora's box. What if someone infected you and didn't know they were infected at the time, but you want to put them in prison because you feel they have slighted you? But he didn't know he was infected at the time, so did he really commit a crime?

Then that person is an idiot (assuming he got infected by consensual unsafe sex), but it wasn't a crime. I'd probably let him have it, but I wouldn't want to put them in prison.

But yes: Condoms. Always. Period.

 

[NickCole]

I am torn on this issue. While anyone knowingly infecting someone else deserves punishment, it seems to me that this kind of thing only re-enforces stereotypes and fear against people who are HIV+.

It's important to separate the disease from the behavior.

This man behaved immorally by exposing people to HIV without telling them. That deceitful behavior is what he's being punished for. He made bad choices and is responsible for hurting people through his selfishness and cruelty.

A lot of people with HIV --and other contageous chronic diseases that are spread through sexual contact like HPV-- tell their partners before engaging in any activity that could put the partner at risk. Those people behave responsibly and there's no reason to fear them, they're on the good side of the fence.

Someone could have a bf/gf/encouner, then become enemies with that person, and that person could have them put away just by lying & saying he "put me at risk."

The bad person, the person to fear and shun in that scenario is the person who lies. Again that's the person who hurts others through bad choices.

This is the reason it's dangerous to shrug off the fact that people are behaving more and more deceptively. A lot of people are lying more and more casually and too many in our society are saying well everybody lies so get off your high horse and stop being so judgemental about it. Well I have a news flash: everybody does NOT lie. It is wrong to be deceitful and there's a reason it's wrong: it's destructive. Those of us who are honest and forthright are the good guys, even if the truth is harsh and sometimes uncomfortable; those who lie and hoard secrets about who they really are, they're the bad guys even if they seem nice or fun or good looking. If we don't make that distinction then you're right -- good decent responsible people with HIV are easily stereotyped into being the bad guys, and that's not only unfair and cruel to innocent people, it's destructive to our society.

 

[Soilwork]

AH.. you got to love America where personal responsibility is a thing of the past.

NO, you no longer have to protect yourself... you need to sue people who don't do it for you. NO no, you don't have to wear a seat belt... sue the person who hits you.

don't bother to look both ways before crossing the street... leave that up to someone else.

If you jump out of a plane, no need for a parachute. Just sue the farmer who's field you land in.

(And that woman who's doctors gave her two years to live is probably full of shit. I dont' know a single doctor who'd give that prognosis in this day and age with HIV meds that can pretty much keep you alive indefinatly. HIV isn't a death sentence anymore. I'm not saying it's a walk in the park, but it's a fuck of a lot different from when I was 23 and people were dropping like flies. I know LOTS of people who are HIV+ and I don't know of anyone who's died in about 7 years.)

 

[NickCole]

AH.. you got to love America where personal responsibility is a thing of the past.

NO, you no longer have to protect yourself... you need to sue people who don't do it for you. NO no, you don't have to wear a seat belt... sue the person who hits you.

Well if the person hits you on purpose, or is speeding down the street in a car he got into knowing it has no brakes and no horn, and hits you, that's different from an innocent accident.

If the guy didn't know he had HIV that'd be a completely different story from knowing he has a contageous STD and failing to inform his partners. His behavior was disgusting, completely selfish and unconcerned with the well being of others, and I think he ought to be banished and shunned. Which, essentially, he was.

I don't see where anybody sued him. He was arrested, convicted and then sentenced to jail.

 

[Soilwork]

OH, I'm not saying he deserves to go to jail if he was intentionally spreading HIV.

I'm saying that the stupid women he infected deserve just what they got.

I've had sex with over 1000 people in my 25+ years of being a sexually active gay man, and I'm still HIV- because I dont' leave the precautions up to anyone else. I don't ask them if they're HIV+ because they might not know... I don't alter my behavior for anyone if they ARE HIV+ because I use the same precautions for everyone.

People in this country seem to expect everyone else to protect them so they dont' have to. THAT is what I'm on about.

 

[Soilwork]

no, your probably right.

But I noticed a HUGE difference when moving to America from Canada.

Personal accountability seems much lower here than it did back home. When I got in a motorcycle accident in Canada, the first thing everyone wanted to know was what I did wrong and was I OK.

In the US, the first thing people wanted to know was did I get the license plate of the person who hit me.

 

[pikespeak]

OH, I'm not saying he deserves to go to jail if he was intentionally spreading HIV.

I'm saying that the stupid women he infected deserve just what they got.

I've had sex with over 1000 people in my 25+ years of being a sexually active gay man, and I'm still HIV- because I dont' leave the precautions up to anyone else. I don't ask them if they're HIV+ because they might not know... I don't alter my behavior for anyone if they ARE HIV+ because I use the same precautions for everyone.

People in this country seem to expect everyone else to protect them so they dont' have to. THAT is what I'm on about.

I completely agree....with a lack of no responsiblity, you will notice that folks have no sense of consequence either. EVERYONE thinks it will never happen to them.

Now onto something completely different... 1,000 people, Soil?

You need to PM me some confidence lessons. I'm trying to get just one, and your bald-headed ass has had a thousand. LOL

 

[Soilwork]

I completely agree....with a lack of no responsiblity, you will notice that folks have no sense of consequence either. EVERYONE thinks it will never happen to them.

Now onto something completely different... 1,000 people, Soil?

You need to PM me some confidence lessons. I'm trying to get just one, and your bald-headed ass has had a thousand. LOL

to be fair, I was a washboard-ab'd, side-burn wearing, hunk-a-hunk-a burnin' love when I started.

But all you need to do is just... know you're worth it.

Men dig confidance.