Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Associated Press - December 9, 2003
The ruling by Superior Court Judge Kay Tsenin marked the first-ever judicial review of a 1998 state law against knowingly and deliberately infecting partners.
Prosecutors alleged that Ronald Gene Hill solicited sex with men on the Internet and falsely told them he wasn't infected with the human immunodeficiency virus.
At least two men infected with HIV told the grand jury that they had had sex with Hill and that he had repeatedly told them he didn't have the virus. Prosecutors said that Hill took advantage of his position as a health commissioner to stave off questions about his HIV status.
But Hill's attorney, Peter Fitzpatrick, argued that there was insufficient evidence to show his client had intended to infect anyone.
Fitzpatrick said that the contacts between Hill and the two alleged victims were "normal relationships" and that even if Hill had lied about his HIV status, such deception did not meet the threshold of proof required by the law that he had deliberately intended to infect others.
In the end, Tsenin said prosecutors did not meet the legal burden in the face of a "very marginal amount" of evidence against Hill.
Hill, a one-time registered nurse, former florist and funeral home director, was appointed to the city Health Commission by Mayor Willie Brown.
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