Man’s Death Puts AIDS Ruling in Limbo : Precedents: Lawyers expect an appeal court to leave unanswered the question of whether someone can be charged with assault for spreading the disease.

A Santa Barbara man found guilty by a Ventura County judge of assault for knowingly spreading the AIDS virus through sex has died of the disease, possibly preventing an appeal court ruling on whether the charge had merit as legal precedent throughout the state.

The controversial 1992 conviction of David Scott Crother, a 47-year-old former carpenter believed to be the first Californian prosecuted for assault for transmitting the AIDS virus, had gone to the state 2nd District Court of Appeal before his death Feb. 3.

Now lawyers on both sides of the case say they expect the appeal court to throw out the case and leave unanswered the question of whether anyone can be charged with assault for spreading acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

But Ventura County prosecutors say they are searching for Crother’s victim--a former girlfriend who along with the couple’s baby has since tested positive for the virus that causes AIDS--and are weighing whether to ask the court for a ruling anyway.

“If there’s any way we legally can, we’d want to press on with this just to get the issue resolved,” said Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Kevin J. McGee. “It’s a situation that, given the present circumstances, is likely to happen again, and it’d be best to have a law in place.”

Robert Sanger, the Santa Barbara attorney who represented Crother, said Tuesday, “I don’t know that we really need to go to the appellate court and push the issue.”

He added, “But sure, I’d like to see it resolved, I’d like to see the court come back and say, ‘No, you can’t do that, you can’t expand the law at times of emotional crisis beyond the bounds of the law.’ ”

Crother’s family would rather see it end here, said his mother, Betty Crother of San Luis Obispo County.

“He’s just gone now,” she said Tuesday. “It’s better to forget that and let that drop. That’s all over and done with.”

In a statement read in court last August before Crother was sentenced to five years of probation and 3,000 hours of community service, the unidentified Ventura County woman who was the victim in the case said:

“This is not an assault. It is murder. . . . All I wanted is someone to love me, and now I’m going to die for that. I don’t think I should have to die for that.”

The woman said she pressed charges against Crother because “I was tired of women being expendable receptacles for men. I made up my mind that I was not going to allow myself to be victimized by men.”

In 1991, a Ventura County grand jury indicted Crother on 15 counts of assault with a deadly weapon--one for each sexual liaison that he had with the unidentified woman without using a condom or telling her that he carried the AIDS virus. Crother pleaded not guilty.

A round of appeals by defense attorney Sanger failed to bring the case to a Municipal Court preliminary hearing that would have aired the woman’s allegations in open court.

Then, in June, the ailing Crother reversed himself, forfeiting his right to a jury trial in an unusual legal move aimed at forcing a speedy appellate court ruling on whether the California assault law applies to his conduct.

On July 10, in a court trial lasting less than five minutes, Ventura County Superior Court Judge Lawrence Storch convicted Crother of two assault counts, and Sanger quickly appealed the case to the 2nd District Court of Appeal.

The court was to have heard the case sometime this spring.

On Tuesday, Deputy Atty. Gen. Arthur Auerbach expressed surprise at the news that Crother had died.

“Really? Oh, what a shame,” said Auerbach, who was handed the case file a week ago. “That was going to be a precedent-setting case. . . . I was going to do the appeal on whether or not AIDS can be considered a dangerous and deadly weapon. At this point, I guess it’s not going to be ruled on.”

Auerbach added, “I feel sorry for Mr. Crother, but as far as case law goes, this would have been very useful as far as a prosecutorial tool.”