AIDS Victim Gets 4 Years for Assault in Biting Case : Courts: A plea agreement avoids a jury decision based on medical testimony on how the deadly disease can be transmitted.

A North Hollywood man who prosecutors say knew he had AIDS when he bit and spit bloody saliva on law enforcement officers and a nurse pleaded no contest to assault Tuesday and was sentenced to four years in prison.

The plea agreement avoided what attorneys said would have been the first trial in which a California jury decided whether the deadly acquired immune deficiency syndrome virus can be transmitted through bites and spitting.

Michael L. Newbrough, 24, had faced four counts of assault with intent to commit great bodily injury and could have received a prison sentence of up to eight years if convicted. He pleaded no contest to a single count in San Fernando Superior Court on the day jury selection was scheduled to begin.

Although AIDS victims have been charged with assault for biting people in incidents in California and other states, the attorneys involved in the Newbrough case said they found no prior record of a California trial deciding the key issue of whether the disease can be transmitted in such assaults.

Jacquelyn Lacey, Los Angeles County deputy district attorney, cited the difficulty in proving the disease can be transmitted in such a way and Newbrough’s lack of violence in his past as reasons the plea agreement was offered.

None of the four men who were victims in the attacks May 15 and 16 have contracted the disease. Newbrough’s attorney, Dwight Lee Corum, said there are no known cases of the disease being spread through biting and spitting.

Although Lacey had an expert witness prepared to testify that Newbrough could have transmitted the virus during the assaults, she said, “AIDS research is still uncertain. It would have been a real tight jury case.”

“This would have been a test case,” Corum said. “But I really felt that we should look at what would best serve justice.”

In sentencing Newbrough, Judge John H. Major ordered that a psychological report on the defendant be made in 120 days. After reviewing the report, Major could shorten Newbrough’s sentence.

Lacey said all four of the victims in the case approved the plea agreement and will undergo periodic testing for AIDS symptoms for several years.

“They were relieved,” Lacey said of the plea agreement. “They were anxious to get it over with. They live with nightmares over this. The anxiety . . . has completely changed their lives.”

Lacey said the incident began May 15 when Newbrough was taken from an alcohol rehabilitation center to Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital in Valencia after suffering seizures. Newbrough began fighting and bit male nurse Chris Eisenring on the forearm, breaking the skin, Lacey said.

Newbrough was then arrested for assault by Sheriff’s Deputy Del Green. During the arrest, Newbrough bit his own lip, then spit bloody saliva on Green, Lacey said.

Newbrough was taken to the Olive View Medical Center psychiatric center and the next day got into a struggle with Los Angeles County Safety Police Officers Renaldo Chavez and Elisio Guzman, Lacey said. The prosecutor said Newbrough bit Chavez and spit bloody saliva at Guzman, hitting him in the eye.

Corum said Newbrough was on medication at the time. “I know Michael has some empathy for those people for what he did,” he said.