AIDS Virus Raises Legal Questions in Robber’s Sentencing

When Paris Shaerrell admitted taking $30 in a strong-arm robbery last spring, he expected to remain in jail a few more weeks and then be released on probation.

But along came the highly publicized arrest of Joseph E. Markowski, a reputed street hustler charged in June with attempted murder and six other felonies in connection with selling AIDS-contaminated blood and transmitting the disease by having sex with a fellow transient.

The complaint against Markowski named Shaerrell, 45, as the transient with whom Markowski had sex.

Suddenly, Shaerrell was no longer an ordinary defendant in a routine robbery.

And society’s choices about what to do with him were no longer ordinary, either. His case became the latest in a growing string of examples about how acquired immune deficiency syndrome is forcing all segments of society into tortuous choices between individual rights and community protection.

Sentencing Delayed

After Shaerrell was named in the Markowski case, his sentencing was delayed twice by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert T. Altman so that Shaerrell could be tested for AIDS.

Shaerrell was found to be a carrier.

All the while, he remained in the county Hall of Justice jail in lieu of $6,000 bail, despite objections by his attorney that he was not being treated with appropriate compassion. “He’s being made to suffer all the more because of his condition,” Shaerrell’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Victor Salerno, complained to Altman on Friday at a hearing in which Altman delayed sentencing for a third time--this time to determine whether Shaerrell, who has a history of mental problems, would be adequately supervised if he was put on probation.

Altman acknowledged that the crime to which Shaerrell had pleaded guilty would not normally require a state prison sentence. But he said he was still troubled by the idea of releasing the suspect.

“I can’t put you out in the community knowing what I know now,” Altman said. “I have a responsibility to the people of the community.

“The court is troubled, and that’s an understatement of that word, to permit someone with a mental illness in the community with a communicable disease.”

Given a Choice

In a report filed with the court, psychologist Michael P. Maloney said Shaerrell has never been regularly employed, is “basically illiterate” and also has a serious drinking problem.

“He gravitates to the Hollywood area, lives on the street and drinks,” Maloney wrote.

Shaerrell tried to defend himself.

“My intention is not to damage nobody else’s life,” he told the judge.

Finally, Altman gave Shaerrell a choice: He could agree to a probation hearing or he could change his plea to not guilty and stand trial on the original charge, which involved the robbery of a government employee in a park restroom.

“Do I have a choice in anything?” Shaerrell asked the judge. “I don’t have a choice over my own life.”

Altman then ordered the guilty plea withdrawn. He set a trial date for Sept. 11, a week and a half after Markowski is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on his attempted murder case in Los Angeles Municipal Court.

Outside the courtroom, Salerno criticized Altman’s remarks about protecting the community against Shaerrell.

“He is assuming a role and a responsibility that is not entirely his,” the lawyer said.

“I don’t think my client poses any danger,” he added. “His outlook on life has obviously changed as a result of the bad news.”

Mental History

Paul L. Hoffman, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the criticism might be justified it not for Shaerrell’s mental history.

In general, he said, judges do not have the right to order AIDS tests, nor are they allowed to treat people infected with the virus “differently and adversely.”

In this case, however, “the clash between the interests (of the public and the individual) become much closer and harder to resolve,” Hoffman said, citing the “specific dangers that have come to the court’s attention.”