They're Trying to Call HIV-Positive People Bioterrorists?

The body of a 44-year-old man is a bioterror weapon, according to a Michigan county prosecutor who is charging Daniel Allen, with "possession or use of a harmful biological device" for biting his neighbor during a neighborhood fight. Allen is African American and HIV-positive; his case is believed to be the first in the nation where prosecutors are linking anti-terrorism laws to an individual's HIV infection.

On October 18, Allen and his neighbor, Winfred Fernadis Jr., got into an argument that quickly turned violent. Allen contends he was the victim of a hate crime -- Fernandis allegedly taunted him about his sexual orientation after a stray football landed in Allen's yard -- and he has filed a complaint with the FBI. (He also filed a personal protection claim against the Fernandis family.)

Fernandis, however, suffered a severe bite through his lip, as well as bites on his ear, nose and neck; he was hospitalized for his wounds. Allen too suffered injuries. At an early hearing on the case, Allen's lawyer presented 37 photographs of his wounds, including bite marks on his body. Allen was initially arrested on assault charges, but when Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith discovered he was HIV-positive from his disclosure on a local news broadcast, he decided to additionally charge him with using his body as a terrorist weapon.

In court on April 8, Allen refused a plea deal offered by the prosecution, which would have obligated Allen to plead guilty to "assault with intent to cause great bodily harm less than murder," a charge that carries a 10-year-sentence. In exchange, Smith would have dropped the charges of "assault with intent to maim" (another 10-year felony), and "possession or use of a harmful biological device" -- the "device" being Allen's own body. This last charge -- a 15-year-felony -- would apply a state anti-terrorism law that was broadly rewritten in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan has filed an amicus brief in Allen's case that urges the terrorism charge to be dismissed. The Macomb Daily reports that Allen's lawyer, James Galen, intends to further file a motion to dismiss the charges. The case returns to court for final pre-trial hearings at the end of April.

HIV-Positive People as WMD

Contracting HIV through a bite is exceptionally uncommon, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In fact, the CDC has only reported one case that suggests any possibility of blood-to-blood transmission of HIV by a human bite. Other possible cases all have involved "severe trauma with extensive tissue tearing and damage and presence of blood." What's more, the small number of these possible cases are dwarfed by the more than one million people in the U.S. who are living with HIV/AIDS. According to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, 33 million people live with the virus around the world.

While the terrorism charge against Allen is unprecedented, it comes in the context of public policy that increasingly characterizes people with HIV as "weapons of mass destruction." More than 30 states criminalize consensual sex when one of the individuals has HIV (even when no transmission occurs). Federal law requires each state to have a criminal procedure in place for people who fail to disclose HIV status before engaging in activity that could transmit the virus.

Willie Campbell, an HIV-positive man in Texas, was sentenced to 35 years in prison in 2008 for "harassing a public servant with a deadly weapon" when he spat on a police officer and taunted him, despite the fact that, in the entire history of the HIV epidemic, there has never been a case of the virus being transmitted via saliva. (In fact, saliva that is uncontaminated by blood inhibits the transmission of HIV.) Nevertheless, Campbell, who is African American and was homeless at the time of his arrest, must serve at least half his sentence before he is eligible for parole.