Jeffrey Boatright cried Wednesday morning after being sentenced to five years in prison for felonious assault for failing to tell a sexual partner he had HIV.
Behind him, his mother sobbed.
Boatright, 27, of Akron, claims he didn’t know he had HIV until his sexual partner contacted him in late 2014 to say he had contracted the disease after their one-time encounter.
Summit County prosecutors, however, say Boatright tested positive for HIV after donating plasma in 2012 and was notified by the plasma-donation center. Boatright said he didn’t receive this notice.
Boatright was convicted of felonious assault, a second-degree felony, by a Summit County Common Pleas Court jury and faced up to eight years in prison. He plans to appeal his conviction.
The case has caught the attention of gay-rights groups who think it could be used to test this area of case law in Ohio, said defense attorney Pat Summers.
“This could clarify what is the standard,” Summers said. “Do you have to have actual knowledge?”
Boatright’s is one of only a couple of HIV-contact cases that have been litigated in Summit County since Ohio adopted the law in 2000.
Assistant Prosecutor Nik Buckmeier urged visiting Judge James Kimbler to sentence Boatright to six years in prison. He noted the harm Boatright’s sexual partner has faced and will continue to endure because of having HIV.
“When you look at the impact for the victim, it really is a lifelong sentence,” Buckmeier said.
The victim, 23, from Akron, was in court Wednesday but didn’t speak. He filed a statement with the court, though, that said he has suffered “physically, emotionally, financially and psychologically” since his diagnosis. He said he is taking a cocktail of drugs to keep the disease in check that makes him tired and weak, has suffered embarrassment on social media and has contemplated suicide.
“If there is anything I want Jeff to take away from this ordeal, it would be the fact that he has caused lifelong pain and suffering in the lives of me and my loved ones,” the man wrote. “I hope that he has learned the responsibility that must be upheld to protect others from the same fate.”
The victim urged the court to impose the maximum eight years in prison, noting that this is the average time a person with HIV survives without treatment.
Summers told the court Boatright has led a “law-abiding life” and has counseled people in the past who have HIV. Knowing Boatright and his family, he said he doesn’t believe he would have had unprotected sex with someone if he had known he had HIV. He urged Kimbler to consider giving Boatright probation.
Boatright, who removed his glasses and wiped away tears during the sentencing, reiterated his innocence to the judge.
“I’m not somebody who goes out of his way to harm another person — I would not purposely try to harm someone,” he said.
Kimbler noted Boatright’s lack of an adult record until this case, but also the fact that he was convicted of a serious felony. Unlike victims in other felonious assaults, he said a victim who contracts HIV won’t recover.
“In this type of case, the victims live with the results until they die,” Kimbler said. “This has had a negative impact and will have a negative impact.”
Summers urged Kimbler to consider releasing Boatright on bond pending his appeal. Kimbler said he will leave this decision to the appeals court. A deputy immediately put handcuffs on Boatright after Kimbler imposed the sentence, prompting Boatright and his mother, seated in the audience with several other family members, to weep.
Summers said after the sentencing that the subject of whether Boatright knew he had HIV will be explored further in his appeal. He said Boatright wasn’t exhibiting any signs of HIV or undergoing treatment when he had his sexual encounter with the victim, who was an acquaintance. He said Boatright got tested after being contacted by the victim, confirming he had HIV.
Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at 330-996-3705 or swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter: @swarsmithabj and on Facebook: www.facebook.com/swarsmith.