Court's muscle protects public health

Man with HIV must practice safe sex or go to prisonDisc jockey must avoid dance clubs unless working and tell potential partners of infection

RALEIGH -- Wake County public health officials turned to the courts to tell a young man how he should behave in the privacy of his bedroom.

The court's power: the ability to send him to prison if he does not get in line.

Joshua Weaver, 23-year-old Raleigh resident, has HIV, the sexually transmitted virus that causes AIDS. Because of his illness, the state has the power to tell him how he must act in the most intimate of encounters. Weaver, a disc jockey who frequents the dance-club scene in Wilmington, didn't heed the county's orders to alert sexual partners that he has HIV or protect them by wearing a condom during sex, according to court records.

The indiscretions could have landed him in prison for up to two years. Weaver dodged that punishment, though, in a plea agreement struck Friday afternoon. According to the deal, he is on probation for 30 months and must steer clear of dance clubs unless he's working. He's ordered to practice safe sex and alert potential partners that he's infected. If Weaver falters, he'll head to jail for 40 days. A probation officer specializing in sex cases will track his case.

"Hopefully, this will serve as a wake-up call," said Boz Zellinger, the Wake County assistant district attorney prosecuting the case. "Somebody's life has been irreparably changed by this defendant's actions." Zellinger declined to elaborate on any potential victims.

Prosecutors and Weaver's defense attorney were discreet in court Friday. No one uttered "HIV." No one mentioned any victims or explained how Weaver had disregarded his duty to keep his disease to himself. Only the charges illuminated Weaver's indiscretions.

Weaver and his boyfriend slipped out a side door without comment; his attorney Evonne Hopkins brushed past reporters, declining to comment.

Weaver's troubles are rare. The state has the power to order those with communicable diseases such as HIV to shield others from infection. For HIV, the state insists that infected patients wear condoms during sex. The state also requires the person to come clean with any partner. Patients sign a form promising to comply.

If they stray time and again, health officials have a right to prosecute. It's a rare move, one health officials are reluctant to turn to.

Wake County hasn't turned to the courts to regulate the behavior of someone with a communicable disease in more than 15 years, said Gibby Harris, Wake County's public health director. Then, it was a mentally ill prostitute with HIV, who peddled sex on the streets to unaware customers, Harris said.

"It's our job to help them not hurt others," said Chris Hoke, head of regulatory and legal affairs for the Division of Public Health. "We give [people with HIV] support, counseling and medication. If it comes down to them intentionally hurting someone, though, we can ask that they be put in prison. In this disease, you are looking at punishment as a deterrent."

Catching those who stray is tricky, but health officials do find clues, Harris said. If a person is HIV positive and comes in later with syphilis, for instance, public health directors assume he or she has been having unsafe sex. And if a person is newly diagnosed and reports an existing patient as his only sexual partner, it's another clue, Harris said. She could not speak specifically about Weaver's case, citing patient privacy laws.

Across the state last year, health officials convicted only 16 people of violating public health law. Most were infected with tuberculosis, and a trip to jail or a hospital guaranteed they'd receive a treatment that would cure them.

Prison would have delivered no such relief to Weaver, because HIV has no cure. In prison, sex is commonly traded and demanded, and condoms are contraband.

Instead, Wake County officials hope Weaver will be more careful. Or, they at least want him to stay away from the nightclub scene -- prosecutors' priority in the plea deal.

He was picked up at one club in April by New Hanover County deputies who were serving the arrest warrant for this case.

On his myspace Web page, fans hail him and his prowess at the turntables. Weaver posts: "I am fascinated by the club and circuit party scene and I am working hard to get my sounds across the country."

(Database manager David Raynor contributed to this report.)