Local News in Brief : AIDS Blood Trial Starts
Opening arguments began Tuesday in the trial of Joseph Edward Markowski, 29, the homeless male prostitute accused of attempted poisoning for selling his AIDS-contaminated plasma to a Los Angeles blood-processing firm.
Deputy Dist. Atty. Antonio Barreto Jr. told a Superior Court jury that Markowski “in some respects is a tragic figure” who was depressed and moved to Los Angeles because so many of his friends in San Francisco were dying of AIDS. But, Barreto said, Markowski knew he had the AIDS virus when he sold his blood plasma and should be found guilty of attempted poisoning.
Markowski originally was accused of attempted murder when he was arrested last June. Superior Court Judge Ronald S. Coen dismissed that charge in December, saying there was no evidence, as required by law, that Markowski intended to kill anyone.
His attorney, Guy E. O’Brien, told reporters that Markowski has been taking medication for mental problems that existed before he learned he had the AIDS virus. Markowski sold his blood plasma simply to earn $10, O’Brien said, and assumed that laboratory tests would turn up the AIDS indications and the plasma would be destroyed.
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