The Associated Press - 3 Aug 95

Cyndi Potete -- a 40-year-old AIDS activist who has lectured to some 20,000 children about how to avoid getting infected -- was accused after a man who allegedly saw the couple having sex reported her to authorities.

But at a hearing on whether prosecutors had enough evidence to charge her, the witness said police misunderstood him and in fact he never saw them having sex.

East Central Judge Cynthia Rothe-Seeger dismissed the case.

"Based upon the testimony that we heard today there didn't really seem to be a lot of choice for the judge to make," prosecutor Brett Schasky said. "We can't control what the witnesses say."

Potete says she was so drunk that she can't remember whether she had sex with her former boss, Tim Martin, during a weekend of binge drinking in April.

Martin, who had boasted about having sex with Potete to the investigator, testified "that was just bragging."

Martin said he was drunk when the investigator interviewed him in a jail cell after he had been arrested for drunken driving. Martin did not willingly come forward and had to be subpoenaed to appear.

Before the hearing began, he apologized to Potete.

"I don't want to be here," he said. "They forced me in here."

Joe Johnson, Potete's lawyer, said he was pleased the complaint was dismissed.

"I think justice was served," he said.

Prosecutors had said Potete "intentionally, knowingly or recklessly engaged in sexual intercourse." She could have gotten 20 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

"They can't give me 20 years," said Potete, a recovering alcoholic and a former prostitute and intravenous drug user, before Thursday's hearing. "I don't have it to give."

Prosecutors don't know if Martin has the AIDS virus and did't have to prove that in court.

Potete said she ran into Martin in a bar April 30. She said one drink led to two, and the next thing she remembers is waking up naked in the back of Martin's pickup.

"If it happened, I didn't consent to it. I don't know that I didn't tell him" about having AIDS, Potete said. "I tell everybody."

It was rape if Martin took advantage of her when she was drunk, said Robert Halfhill, a spokesman for ACT-UP, an AIDS protest group, and Gay Liberation Front of Minnesota.

"If she feels like she's been raped, just like anyone else, she should report that," said prosecutor Mark Boening.

Potete said she has no plans to file rape charges.

Potete learned she had the AIDS virus after being admitted to a treatment program in 1987. She developed full-blown AIDS five years later.

Since 1993, she has taken part in an award-winning education project called Positive Voices, telling schoolchildren how to avoid AIDS.

Copyright 1995/The Associated Press. Reproduced with permission. Reproduction of this article (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the Permissions Desk, The Associated Press, 50 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10020.

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Copyright © 1995 - Associated Press. Reproduction of this article (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the AP Permissions Desk.

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