Smallwood v. State

Facts

Dwight Smallwood was diagnosed as infected with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) on August 29, 1991. Medical records showed he had been told of his HIV-positive status by September 25, 1991. In February 1992, a social worker made him aware that he needed to practice safe sex to avoid passing the virus to sexual partners. In July 1993, he told health care providers he had one sexual partner and that they always used condoms. He tested positive again in February and March of 1994. On September 26, 1993, Smallwood and an accomplice robbed a woman at gunpoint and took turns raping her in a grove of trees. On September 28, 1993, he and an accomplice robbed a second woman at gunpoint and took her to a secluded location, where he had sexual contact with slight penetration. On September 30, 1993, they robbed a third woman at gunpoint and took her to a local school, where she was forced to perform oral sex on him and he raped her. In each episode he threatened to kill the victim if she did not cooperate, or to return and shoot her if she reported the crime. He wore no condom in any of them.

Issues

1. Can a trial court infer the specific intent to kill, needed for attempted murder and assault with intent to murder, solely from the fact that a defendant who knew he was HIV-positive had unprotected sex with his victims during rapes?
2. Before an intent to kill can be inferred from exposing a victim to a risk of death, what must be shown about how likely it is that death will result from the defendant's conduct?

Holding

The evidence was insufficient to infer that Smallwood intended to kill. The State offered no evidence that death by AIDS was a sufficiently probable result of a single exposure, and nothing else showed an intent to kill beyond his intent to commit rape and armed robbery.