The lawyer for Daniel Hay Lewis—a Florida man charged with criminal transmission of HIV—said his client is HIV negative, The Florida Independent reports. Assistant public defender Jason Blank claims that Lewis was tested for HIV while in custody and that jail medical records show that the test results were negative. Blank claims the criminal transmission charge is part of an effort by police to cover up the excessive use of force during Lewis’s arrest for alleged shoplifting.

To read the Independent article, click here.