HIV-positive man guilty of 11 felonies
MOSCOW, Idaho – A Moscow man has been convicted of 11 felony counts of having consensual sex with women without telling them he was infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
A jury Thursday found Kanay Mubita, 31, of Zambia, guilty of violating a state law that requires a person who tests positive for HIV to notify sexual partners.
Mubita is to be sentenced May 24 in 2nd District Court. He faces up to 165 years in prison – 15 years on each count – and a possible fine of $55,000.
During the three-day trial, all 11 women testified Mubita never told them of his HIV status and that he never used a condom.
The jury of nine men and three women reached a verdict after deliberating about three hours, the Lewiston Tribune reported.
The 11 women will also be able to speak at Mubita’s sentencing. No information in the trial or in court files indicates whether any of the women has tested positive for HIV.
Mubita originally faced 13 counts, but two were dismissed at the beginning of the trial because one woman couldn’t be found and another refused to cooperate.
Latah County Deputy Prosecutor Michelle Evans told the jury the case was simple: Mubita knew he was HIV positive but didn’t tell his sexual partners.
But Charles Kovis, Latah County public defender, told the jury that a 2001 medical document showed that Mubita tested negative for HIV, and that reasonable doubt existed whether Mubita knew for certain he had been infected.
Lewiston physician L.D. Harries testified that he made an error and read the wrong test report when he made the document that said Mubita tested negative.
Evans said that subsequent tests showed Mubita tested positive for HIV and he knew those results.
Jenny Ruppel, a caseworker at the North Central District Health Department, testified she told Mubita he was HIV positive and worked with him for four years on a treatment for the infection.
Mubita received medical treatment, medications, rent, utility payments, groceries and travel expenses from the health department.