Michigan biter did not violate bioterrorism laws
A judge dismissed bioterrorism charges against an HIV-positive Michigan man who bit his neighbor during a fight; the prosecution argued that the defendant intended to infect the neighbor with the virus, thus violating Michigan bioterrorism laws
He may have assaulted his neighbor, but Daniel Allen is no bioterrorist, a Michigan court has ruled. According to the Detroit News, Macomb Circuit Judge Peter Maceroni dismissed a bioterrorism charge this week against Allen, an HIV-positive man who had been accused of biting his neighbor during an argument with the intent to infect the neighbor with the virus. He still faces two assault charges in connection with the incident, according to the Detroit News.
“I’m proud Judge Maceroni had the guts and courage to dismiss the unfounded charge,” Allen’s attorney, James L. Galen Jr., told the Detroit News. “This is just a first step in ultimately seeing my client vindicated fully in this matter.”
Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith could not be immediately reached by the newspaper.
Ted Purlain writes that the law was put on the state’s books in 1998 after the Oklahoma City bombing and an anthrax scare in Michigan.
“We have seen prosecutions for aggravated assault, assault with a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument. We haven’t seen any others that have used a bioterrorism statute,” Bebe Anderson, HIV project director for Lambda Legal, a New York-based gay rights organization, told the Detroit News in a previous article about the incident.
Other civil liberties and AIDS activists said the law “demonized” people with HIV and creates misconceptions about how the disease is spread, according to the report.
Some legislators have told the Detroit News that the law needs to be clarified.
