Nick Rhoades, an Iowa man sentenced May 8 to 25 years in prison for failing to disclose his HIV status to a male sexual partner, had his sentence reduced to five years of probation without jail time in a September 11 reconsideration hearing, The Iowa Independent reports.
Rhoades believes that his case highlights “inconsistencies” in Iowa’s HIV transmission laws, which penalize intimate contact with another person regardless of whether transmission takes place. The law also does not consider transmission determinants such as condom use and viral load.
“When compared to other crimes and other laws on the books, it seems [my sentence was] a stiff penalty—especially considering the fact that it wasn’t considered a violent crime, that it was a consensual situation between two adults and that there was no infection [of the unnamed partner] showing up to this day,” he said. “I think that is a problem considering the law and how it is imposed and the sentences provided in conjunction with it.”
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