Court Throws Out Sentence For Criminal Transmission of HIV

Last month, the Iowa Supreme Court threw out the 25-year prison sentence of a man who pled guilty to criminal transmission of HIV for failing to inform a sexual partner of his HIV-positive status, ProPublica reports. The Supreme Court, 6-1, determined that the defendant's defense lawyer provided ineffective counsel when he allowed his client to plead guilty to a charge for which there was no factual basis. Many states criminalize HIV-positive people's sexual activity without informing their partners, even if there is no evidence if the exposure was likely to result in the transmission of HIV, ProPublica reports.