November 11, 2009

Positive Man Charged Under Anti-Terrorism Laws in Michigan Assault Case

Daniel Allen, an HIV-positive man from Macomb County, Michigan, faces a terrorism charge after he allegedly bit his neighbor Winfred Fernandis Jr. during an October 18 fight, The Michigan Messenger reports.  

Following the fight, Allen disclosed his status during an interview with a local Fox affiliate. Fernandis’s attorney, Eric Smith, then added “possession or use of a harmful device” to their complaint. The 25-year felony charge is part of a series of anti-terrorism laws created in response to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Smith’s office said that Allen’s HIV should be considered “a device designed or intended to release a harmful biological substance” and called his bite an attempt to spread the virus.

Clinton Township Court Judge Linda Davis agreed with Smith’s office during a November 2 preliminary hearing.

“[Allen] knew he was HIV positive, and he bit the guy,” Davis said. “That on its own shows intent.”

Other lawmakers and advocates questioned the terrorism charge.

State Representative Mark Meadows, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, called the terrorism charge “a stretch,” adding that “the other charges are more than sufficient to deal with the issues involved.”

Catherine Hanssens, executive director of the New York City–based Center for HIV Law and Policy, also said the charges were not warranted. “It’s cowardly. It’s the kind of thing that keeps kids [with HIV] out of day care and camps and allows kids [with HIV] to be kicked out of karate class.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the prevalence of HIV transmission via biting is 0.000000001 percent.

NEW! Scroll down to comment on this story.

Previous Comments:

Me, Washington, DC, 2010-01-05 10:44:48
Seriously..., what will they think of next wow...

Scott Hendrix, San Diego, CA, 2009-12-29 16:02:49
This is all the more reason to get HIV POSITIVE Ciminal Hate Laws off the books. This is obsurd. Now if you are HIV POS and you get into a disagreement with anyone, they can claim you tried to bite them, or bite them, spit on them etc.. and you can be charged as a terrorist. We are systematically having our rights taken away from us before our eyes. Someone has to mount a legal battle to stop this.

Mike, New york, 2009-12-17 16:08:43
Why dont they just kill us all at this point! Jesus are we ever going to get a break? This country is CRAZY !!!!!!

IamStone, Mulberry, AR., 2009-12-16 13:20:43
First I will say I dont agree with the anti-terrorism charge.I think that is a bit overboard.Having said that.I have over the years have heard of pos people biting others,trying to infect as many people as possible because they are hiv pos.It is my opinion that if a person is hiv positive they should know better then to try to do something that could potentially infect another person.the charge is overboard,but he shouldnt have bitten the person.I would feel guilty if I infected another person.

Me, indpls, 2009-12-09 20:22:06
The Goverment made HIV along with all there outher nasty little chem friends find the funded lab and the guy with the needles and the monkeys and file suit aginst them.

me, indpls, 2009-12-09 20:10:15
From the CDC you can not catch HIV from a bite from someone So Michigan is a wrongfull arrest,they want to take on the federal goverment and the CDC there stupid so is the judge.If someone puts there hands on you,you have the right to defend yourself with deadly force includeing shooting them in the head.What about all the polutid water and air the goverment has caused making and dumping chemicals everywhere,we wont evan go there about the ozone and spending 80 mil $ to throw a rock at the moon.

stanley tysarczyk, MJNNEAPOLIS, 2009-12-06 03:19:00
This is the stupidest thing I ever heard of. All I can say is they must be hard up for court appearances. Why would any one considered this an act of terrorism. A bite by a hiv+man, should not even be kinsiter a crime. Come onget your heads out of your asses

Maya, , 2009-11-16 12:42:20
Wow,what an example of the ability to twist laws in a way they were never meant to be used.Assault charges,sure,but this terrorism charge is going overboard.It is scary to think this can happen after all the knowledge of HIV that is out there.It is as ridiculous as me trying to get the patient who ended up having H1N1 charged with terrorism who coughed on me as I was handing her a mask,but evidently stupid stuff like that can also happen if this succeeds in setting a precedent.

Chris, Binghamton,N.Y., 2009-11-15 09:35:01
I have been positive for 17 years,I have seen and had many fights although I never intentionally tried to infect anyone! I did tell the police one time that I was HIV positive and if they touched me I would bite them(I was drunk at the time).I am now registered in the national police database as an infected person and to be careful aproaching me.I think this guy almost assuredly was intending on infecting his neighbor,and that in itself is intent to do harm!As it being a terorist charge,BALONEY!

wayne blake, madison, 2009-11-13 14:31:27
the judge on this case obviusly never had a real terorist in his court a bite dosent even mean that the individual will get hiv and hiv is not aids it is a precurser and can be managed thru drugs do they charge rabid dogs with terrorism if they bite someone there is a much higher chance of infection of rabies than hiv it isnt that easy to catch

Blaine, Dallas, 2009-11-13 01:38:04
Further proof that the justice system cannot be trusted. Any bigot in power can manipulate the law to destroy another person's life. This country, actually this planet, better consider itself lucky I don't have the power of a God. The world would change overnight.

Bruce McGuire, Miami, 2009-11-12 14:01:09
There are millions of people who are carying VD, there are millions of people with HEP-C, tuberculosis, Pneumonia, the flu, a cold all viruses or bacteria that can be passed. the Judge has shown true colors here. Now i am getting afraid for my life from the Government. Cuts, criminalization, am i not an American citizen? Dont i deserve the same protections as everyone else? I am ashamed of this type of propaganda atttempts that only divide and stigmatise the plight of these sick people.

Bruce McGuire, Miami, 2009-11-12 13:56:32
Judge HIV is not nec. a death sentence it depends on the inividual and the care they take of themselves, what you have done is a disgrace to your seat and the judicial system. We have been passing diseases from one another since the dawn of man. Eventually one of these transmissions may give us the cure. I know there are many strains of the virus and each one at a different severity than another. I have been positive since 1994. Self defence is what this sound like to me. Read the police report.

Bruce McGuire, Miami, 2009-11-12 13:52:05
From the story...The law makes it a crime to have a harmful device, which is defined as either biological, chemical, electronic or radioactive. Smith’s office is arguing that Allen being infected with HIV was “a device designed or intended to release a harmful biological substance,” and that his bite was thus an attempt to spread HIV. According to the story iread he might have been defending himself. Shameful cowardly attempt to outlaw another illness.

Michael, Haslett, MI, 2009-11-12 11:34:43
I agree with Sen, Mark Meadows and this is just going way to far. Both the Judge and the clients attorney need to be educated with the judge dismissing herself from the case because she is not educated in the HIV virus.