South Dakota: Student Charged in HIV Case Gets New Lawyer; AIDS Advocates Watch Case

A Chicago attorney who specializes in constitutional law has taken over the case of an HIV-positive Chicago teen charged with deliberately exposing his girlfriend to HIV infection at a South Dakota college. Nikko Briteramos, 18, a freshman at Si Tanka-Huron University in Huron, S.D., pleaded not guilty to charges that he had sex with his girlfriend without telling her that he was HIV-positive.

The case has drawn questions from national public policy groups and HIV/AIDS activists about the effectiveness of state laws that make intimate contact illegal for those who know they have HIV. "There's no question people are taking notice of this case," said Ann Fisher, executive director of the AIDS Legal Council of Chicago, one of several groups following the case.

James Koch, who said he has taken the case pro bono, now represents Briteramos. Koch made no other comment because of a judicial gag order. Legal scholars agree that central to the discussion is whether it is counter-productive to make it illegal to expose others to HIV only after being diagnosed with it. The best defense then, opponents argue, is never to be tested for HIV.

More than 30 states, including Illinois, now have such statutes in place. Most were adopted in the 1990s; now HIV criminal statutes are being debated in other states as well. Prosecutors generally prefer other criminal statutes, like aggravated battery or attempted murder, to prosecute deliberate HIV transmission. The Illinois law, enacted in 1989, has been used only a handful of times, and a little more than 100 HIV transmission cases have been prosecuted nationwide.

Once convicted under such statutes, defendants are hard-pressed to have the case overturned, said Carolyn McAllaster, professor of AIDS law at the Duke University School of Law. "When all they have to show is that you knew you were HIV infected, and presumably they have the testimony of a victim [that they weren't told about a risk of HIV exposure], I think it's tough to beat," she said.

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