Judge Frees Prostitute With AIDS
A judge who also chairs the county AIDS Commission on Tuesday dismissed a case against a prostitute who faced three years in prison for allegedly continuing to solicit sex for money after being told he tested positive for AIDS.
The case was the first filed in Los Angeles County, and believed to be the first in the state, under a 1988 law designed to stem the spread of the disease.
Municipal Judge Rand Schrader, acting on a defense request on behalf of Demitri Santangelo, 29, of Hollywood, granted the dismissal, the prosecutor said, after concluding that Municipal Judge Jessica Silvers failed to properly inform Santangelo when she sentenced him last May on a misdemeanor prostitution conviction that if he was arrested again for the same offense, he would be charged with a felony.
Hours after Schrader dismissed the case, however, Silvers sentenced Santangelo to 222 days in County Jail for violating probation on prostitution and joy-riding convictions.
Deputy Dist. Atty. Vivian Davidson said she would appeal Schrader’s ruling, but not on the basis of his position with the AIDS Commission. “I think he (Schrader) just made an erroneous call on the law,” Davidson said.
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