Has Charlie Sheen Committed A Crime Not Revealing His HIV Status To Partners?

Well, Charlie Sheen made his appearance on Today with his doctor and Matt Lauer to discuss his HIV status, but more questions were raised then were answered. Sheen acknowledged that he has known that he is HIV positive for at least four years, and he has been taking medication without missing a day for that period of time, but he did not say whether or not he disclosed his status to all of his partners in that time period.

According to the Inquisitr, Charlie Sheen decided to go on the Today Show in order to stop the barrage of lawsuits stemming from Sheen’s status and the keeping of the secret. It is reported that Sheen divulged his status to a few friends, and the story started leaking out to several of his former sexual partners, who hired lawyers. Sheen also admitted that his former wife, Denise Richards, has known for years, and she has tested negative for the virus.

While Charlie Sheen’s appearance on the Today Show was illuminating, he seems confused between the idea of the virus not being detectable to a blood test with not being able to pass along the virus. Charlie Sheen has HIV, and despite a strict regimen of drugs, it is still possible for him to pass along the virus, even when having safe sex, as nothing is 100 percent effective. TMZ is reporting that Sheen could be facing some serious legal problems in addition to the ones he has already encountered. Sheen came out in public, admitting he has the virus to stop former lovers from extorting money to keep his secret, but has now opened himself up to a whole host of new suits by former partners (many of whom also participated in high risk behavior with others) who can claim Sheen put them at risk, and did not tell them about his positive status.

“The law is clear… anyone with a communicable disease who ‘willfully exposes another person’ is guilty. There was a case this past March in which a San Diego man was convicted of the crime for willfully exposing his boyfriend to HIV. He was later sentenced to 6 months in jail.”

Then, there is someone who knows they have the virus, and has sex with the intent to transmit the disease. This is obviously harder to prove, but the stakes are higher, and nobody is suggesting that this is the case for Charlie Sheen.

“The stakes are higher if someone knows they have HIV and has sex with another person with the intent to transmit the disease… then it’s a felony punishable by a maximum of 8 years in prison.”

The San Jose Mercury News has posed the question, can Charlie Sheen be jailed for exposing others to HIV? There is no doubt that in the coming days, viewers will be presented with a parade of women, many of which make a living in adult films, who will say that they had sexual contact with Charlie Sheen over the last few years. As Sheen is a California resident, the law about knowingly having a communicable disease and not informing a partner doesn’t leave much to different interpretations.

“California Health and Safety Code 120290 says:… any person afflicted with any contagious, infectious, or communicable disease who willfully exposes himself or herself to another person, and any person who willfully exposes another person afflicted with the disease to someone else, is guilty of a misdemeanor.”

However this shakes out, Charlie Sheen can expect to have a team of lawyers at the very least fielding documents from a variety of former lovers, and potentially others.

Given Charlie Sheen news, worth re-upping this @cerealcommas piece: When What You Don’t Tell Your Partner Is a Crime https://t.co/KHgRTosthC

— Charles Ornstein (@charlesornstein) November 17, 2015

Do you think Charlie Sheen will be criminally prosecuted for not disclosing his HIV status?

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