(UPI) Sentence in AIDS confidentiality breach
(UPI) Sentence in AIDS confidentiality breach
United Press International;
Thursday, September 25, 1997 - 12:59 PM EDT
CLEARWATER, Fla., Sept. 25 1997(UPI)-A former
state health worker has been sentenced to one year of probation after pleading
no contest to charges stemming from the nation's largest breach of AIDS
patients' confidentiality.
William Calvert tracked AIDS patients for the state, and a former lover obtained a list of more than 4,000 patients' names that was in Calvert's possession and mailed it to two Tampa Bay, Fla., area newspapers.
The former lover, Gregory Wentz, is appealing his earlier conviction and 60-day jail sentence for the second-degree misdemeanor of violating the confidentiality of those whose names were on the list.
Calvert had initially pleaded not guilty because his attorneys claimed the confidentiality law was an unconstitutional violation of their client's right to freedom of speech.
But Calvert changed his plea Wednesday less than a week before his trial was to begin becuase of a threat that Court TV would air the proceedings.
Calvert says he has lined up another job in the health profession, but the position is conditional based on his not becoming a source of embarrassment.
His attorney, Lee Fugate, says, "We could try this case and win an acquittal and still, because of the publicity, (Calvert) would be stigmatized."
Calvert will continue his legal battle in an appeals court. Fugate plans to challenge an earlier ruling that the confidentiality law is constitutional.
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