AIDS Victim Who Sold His Blood Cleared of Charges

Joseph Edward Markowski, the homeless male prostitute who sold AIDS-contaminated blood to make $9, was acquitted today of attempting to poison a pharmaceutical product.

Markowski, 29, who originally faced charges of attempted murder, smiled wanly as the verdict was read in Los Angeles Superior Court. His court-appointed attorney, Guy E. O’Brien, said Markowski, a diagnosed psychotic who takes psychotropic drugs to control his mental state, will be placed in a halfway house until a permanent home can be found for him.

Juror William E. Ferguson said the verdict, reached on the second day of deliberations, hinged on whether Markowski specifically intended to kill or injure someone by selling his blood.

“It was basically clear-cut, . . . “ said Ferguson, 36, of Echo Park. “He obviously was down there (the blood bank) for no other reason than to just get money, so he didn’t have that specific intent.”

Ferguson said jurors recognized that the law was inadequate to cover Markowski’s actions.

“We would hope that in the future someone will come up with a law that will prohibit people from doing that, but we had to try the case on the facts that we had, according to the law,” the juror said.

Reiner Disappointed

Expressing disappointment, Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner agreed the case highlights the need for new legislation.

“Mr. Markowski is today free to do what he did before he was arrested and charged with a crime, . . . “ Reiner said. “Will he do it again? The past as prologue? Perhaps.”

Markowski, who left the courtroom without speaking to reporters, originally was accused of 10 felony counts, including attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon for selling his blood to Plasma Production Associates last June 22 and attempting a second sale on June 25.

But Superior Court Judge Ronald S. Coen dismissed those charges last December after finding there was no evidence that Markowski intended to kill anyone or that anyone received a tainted blood product because of the defendant’s actions.

When charges were filed against him last June, Markowski was also accused of two additional counts of attempted murder for having sex with a fellow transient on two occasions while knowing he had AIDS. But those charges were dismissed at the preliminary hearing after the alleged victim refused to testify against him.

As a result, all that remained of the highly publicized case were two counts of attempted poisoning as set forth in a statute inspired by the Tylenol-tampering cases making it a felony to mingle “any poison or harmful substance with any food, drink, medicine or pharmaceutical product” if it is known or should be known that a person could be injured.