Mr. Tim Lohmar, Prosecuting Attorney 300 N. 2nd St. Suite 601 St. Charles, MO 63301 Email:pa@sccmo.org, Ph: 636-949-7355 Re: The Prosecution of Michael L. Johnson, case # 1311-CR05915-01 Dear Mr. Lohmar: We write to you in our capacity as health care providers and case managers, and representatives of Missouri’s faith communities, to urge you to consider adjourning the pending criminal prosecution of Michael L. Johnson in the Criminal Court for the 11th Judicial Circuit, in contemplation of alternative approaches to his case. Mr. Johnson is charged with Class A, B and C felonies under section 191.677 of the Missouri Criminal Code for allegedly infecting or risking the infection of others with HIV. We ask that you meet with us prior to the start of this trial to discuss our deep concerns with your office’s handling of his case and the implications for public health efforts in African American communities across the state. We believe that the prosecution and accompanying media reports of Mr. Johnson’s consensual sex life, based primarily on the fact that he has tested positive for HIV, are damaging important public health efforts addressing HIV in hard-hit communities across Missouri. It appears that your office and press reports are portraying Mr. Johnson as a predator, despite the fact that a number of Mr. Johnson’s accusers actively sought out sex with him. It also appears that he is being portrayed as irresponsible, despite the fact that he took the steps to get tested for HIV, where it is unclear if his accusers had done the same. The demonization of Mr. Johnson not only has destroyed his life, it is providing ample evidence that the best way to avoid prosecution is to avoid ever getting tested or treated for HIV. It is exactly this kind of fear of diagnosis that is driving the HIV epidemic in our state. Research demonstrates that roughly half of all transmissions, if not more, are caused by people who do know that they are infected. Encouraging our communities to take personal responsibility for their own personal and sexual conduct, and to be aware of the risks of not only HIV but unwanted pregnancy, treatment-resistant gonorrhea, syphilis, herpes, HPV and a variety of other sexually-transmitted diseases that, like HIV, can be severely harmful if untreated is fundamental to the promotion of community health. The Michael Johnson case and publicity is very damaging to this work. In fact, it represents spending of taxpayer dollars on a policy that is direct odds with HIV prevention investments that also involve significant citizen investment. It is cases such as Mr. Johnson’s that has led the American Medical Association, the HIV Medicine Association, the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, and the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors, among others, to issues statements calling for the reform of laws that allow this kind of witch hunt based on health status. Importantly, the U.S. Department of Justice has called for reform, through its July 2014 “Best Practices Guide to Reform HIV-Specific Criminal Laws,” which counsels states to end felony prosecutions of people living with HIV as contrary to the relevant science and national HIV prevention goals. Missouri currently spends about $700 million a year on incarcerating its citizens, at the cost of roughly $21,000 per inmate.1 Inmates who require administrative segregation, or whom corrections officials determine require separation from general population, as is the case with Michael Johnson, pose an even higher annual cost. Nearly three years ago, Governor Nixon stated, “Missouri's Prosecutors have long led efforts to ensure that violent offenders are given lengthy prison sentences, but that non-violent, true first-time offenders are afforded common-sense opportunities for treatment and rehabilitation while on probation and do not add to criminal justice system costs.”2 As a first-time, non-violent offender, at the very least Mr. Johnson’s case deserves treatment consistent with the administration’s policy of avoiding expensive incarceration for individuals whose situation does not warrant it. All available research to date has confirmed that prosecuting people living with HIV for consensual sex only increases stigma while doing nothing to change behavior or to decrease HIV transmission rates. This is just one of many reasons why more than 1000 organizations and individuals have endorsed the Positive Justice Project’s National Consensus Statement on the Criminalization of HIV, calling for an end to felony prosecutions based on an individual’s HIV status, rather than on intent to harm. Therefore, in the interests of justice and the public health of the people of Missouri, we respectfully request that you meet with us to discuss reasonable alternatives to the current criminal law handling of Michael L. Johnson that might better protect the community at large and avoid the destruction of this young man’s life. Mr. Johnson, his accusers or the state of Missouri benefit. Aaron M. Laxton should be used as a point of contact should you want to meet. He can be reached at 314-610-0999. Very truly yours, Fred Rottnek, MD, MAHCM Associate Professor Director of Community Medicine Department of Family and Community Medicine Saint Louis University School of Medicine Jeanette Mott Oxford, Empower Missouri Aaron M. Laxton, Social Worker & 4th Generation Missourian living with HIV Missouri AIDS Taskforce Missouri HIV Criminalization Taskforce Positive Women's Network – USA The SERO Project Sean Strub, Founder of POZ Magazine, The Sero Project Terry Lowman, Iowa Unitarian Universalist Witness/Advocacy Network Carrie E. Foote, Ph.D Associate Professor, Indiana University Reginald T. Brown, M. Ed. Unity Fellowship Church Movement (UFCM) Peter Staley, AIDS Activist Jay Blotcher, AIDS Activist JD Davids, AIDS Activist 1 American Legislative Exchange Council, http://www.alec.org/initiatives/prison-overcrowding/prison-overcrowdingmissouri/ 2 “Missouri Governor Nixon Signs HB 1525, Prosecutors Applaud Decision”, The Scoop Newspaper (7/12/12), available at http://www.thescoopnewspaper.com/node/3167 2