The State - News from Sept. 15, 1988

An Orange County Superior Court jury acquitted a 34-year-old man who claimed he acted in self-defense when he strangled his gay former roommate because the man had threatened to infect him with AIDS. Dale David Dalton was accused of killing Edward Otto Ihling, 35, of Laguna Beach, in December, 1986. The defendant first met the victim several months earlier when he answered an ad in a local advertising tabloid for a room for rent. But Dalton said Ihling became increasingly drunken and abusive and made unwelcome sexual passes. Dalton testified that he feared contracting acquired immune deficiency syndrome when Ihling lunged at him during a fight and threatened to bite him. Ihling had AIDS, according to testimony.