Court reverses conviction in HIV case

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- The Minnesota Court of Appeals has reversed the conviction of an HIV-positive man who was accused of passing the virus on to another man through unprotected sex.

Thirty-one-year-old Daniel James Rick was convicted last October of attempted first-degree assault under a statute that makes it a crime to knowingly transfer a communicable disease.

Rick was acquitted under one part of the statute -- because the jury found he disclosed he was HIV positive before having sex -- but he was convicted on a second section that says it's illegal to spread a communicable disease by the "transfer of blood, sperm, organs or tissue."

Rick's attorneys argued that section applies to medical procedures. In the majority opinion, the appeals court found the statute was ambiguous, and conviction was reversed.