The Associated Press - Tuesday, November 28, 1989

Butterworth, while acknowledging that apparently no one in Florida has contracted AIDS from a sexual assault, said the legislation was important to ease the fears of already traumatized women.

"Rapists do not use condoms. Rapists do not practice safe sex," Butterworth said. Testing "puts the victim as ease."

The proposal is part of victims' rights legislation Butterworth will introduce in the 1990 legislative session. Its sponsors are Sen. Bob Johnson, R-Sarasota, and Rep. Ron Silver, D-North Miami Beach.

Under current law, rape victims can ask a court to test their alleged assailants for exposure to the acquired immune deficiency syndrome virus, but only if other blood tests are also ordered. Otherwise, victims cannot obtain results of the attacker's AIDS tests, and could live with the threat of the disease for years.

Butterworth said his proposed legislation would require mandatory testing for exposure to the human immuno-deficiency virus, or HIV, on a person indicted for rape or sexual assault and give the victim the right to share in the confidential results.

"Right now the present law . . . puts the burden on the rape victim to have to have the tests taken," Butterworth said. "This will take the burden off the victim."

Debbie Beville, president of the Florida Network of Witness-Victim Assistance, said women who are raped often worry that they might develop AIDS. If the man tests positive, she said, the victim can take steps to help herself and stop the virus from spreading.

"It allows a victim to make informed decisions about a medical problem they may face in the future," Beville said.

Butterworth said the emergence of the drug AZT as an effective means of slowing the advance of AIDS is another reason victims want to know as soon as possible whether their alleged attackers carried the virus.

Under the proposed legislation, Butterworth said, a person would not have to be convicted for the tests to take place. The tests could be conducted by the state Department of Health and Human Services as soon as the defendant is arraigned.

While that could raise questions about violation of the defendant's constitutional rights, Butterworth said it was a necessary trade-off.

"You have to balance the rights of the state and the victim versus the rights of the accused," he said. "There's a great benefit right now for the state to know and the victims to know whether or not a person who has been indicted for rape has AIDS or tests positive for HIV."

Butterworth said about 6,000 people in Florida were victims of rape and sexual assault last year. The bill would apply in any sexual assault case in which AIDS could be contracted, including those involving children.

In addition, the legislation would allow victims to put in a standing request for results of any AIDS virus tests conducted on the offender while in prison.

Other measures in Butterworth's victims' rights package would:

* Allow a criminal conviction to be used as proof in a civil suit -- including a racketeering influenced and corrupt organization, or RICO, suit -- against an assailant.

* Allow victims easier access to police reports of crimes perpetrated by juveniles, making it simpler to file insurance claims.

* Prohibit a criminal from suing a victim for injuries received when the crime was committed.

* Allow a child's statement made outside court to be used in any kind of abuse case.
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