UPDATE – HIV-positive Wrestler Sentenced To 32 Years For Not Disclosing Status
Andre Davis (left), with his defense attorney Greg Cohen during trial in November. (AP)
Monday, 32 year old former professional wrestler named Andre Davis was sentenced to 32 years in prison for failing to warn 11 people that he had sexual contact with that he was HIV positive. He was convicted back in November on 14 counts of felony assaults. Each count carries a maximum sentence of eight years.
Defense attorney Greg Cohen told the judge that Davis didn’t mean to harm the victims, but the fact that Davis didn’t tell a least a dozen women about his HIV status is what the prosecutors continue to put on the table. According to the law in the state of Ohio, it you test positive for HIV, you must reveal the information before having sexual contact with that person, due to the fact that it is a potential deadly virus.
Davis failed to tell his partners, which led to his conviction.
Davis was a former professional wrestler who went by the name Andre Heart until his contract was determined due to a physical he took that showed he was HIV positive.
He says that one reason why he didn’t tell them was due to his sexual addiction.
“I could not turn away from sex,” Davis said. “My addiction started in high school. I loved women more than anything. When I lost my job, the addiction got worse. I neglected my children. I didn’t realize that until I was sitting in jail. Sex addiction is probably the worst addiction you could ever have.”
Another reason he decided to withhold this pertinent information was because of family.
“I didn’t tell anyone because I didn’t want it to get back to my family,” he said. “Was I trying to hurt women? Absolutely not. I am a loving and compassionate man. I’m not a monster like the media tried to portray me as.”
Davis continues that he is not looking at this as a down moment. He is keeping his head up high and looks towards the future. He wants to get rid of the stigma that surrounds HIV and AIDS, and wants to be a motivational speaker to prevent the spread of the virus. He believes that sitting in prison is not going to help him. He wants to make a difference.
UPDATE:
Fox 19, Cincinnati reports: Butler County Judge Keith Spaeth sentenced Davis to 30 months in jail, which will be served concurrently with his sentence in Hamilton County.
Davis was sentenced to 32 years in prison in Hamilton County after he was found guilty of 14 of 15 counts of felonious assault last year. During that trial, several women denied ever being told by Davis that he had tested positive for HIV prior to engaging in a sex act.
Davis pled guilty in May to attempted felony assault in Butler County. He is also facing similar charges in Warren County. He has a trial scheduled for August in Warren County on nine counts of felonious assault.
