Misdemeanor Filed in Alleged AIDS Spit Case

Misdemeanor assault charges were filed Monday against a San Clemente man who claimed that he had AIDS when he allegedly spat in the eye of a 73-year-old woman protesting outside a rally for then-Gov. Bill Clinton.

Prosecutors rejected a request by police that a felony charge of assault with intent to commit murder be filed against David Mazer, 45, saying there is no evidence that saliva alone can transmit the deadly virus.

“There are varying opinions, but the majority opinion is that transmittal through saliva is very, very unlikely,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Delbert L. Wright, who filed misdemeanor assault and battery charges after consultation and research.

Wright said this is apparently the first case in Orange County in which a defendant claimed to be using AIDS as a weapon in an assault, officials said.

Last October, Elizabeth Mimm of Mission Viejo was standing outside a Clinton rally at the Pacific Amphitheatre in Costa Mesa, holding a placard supporting former President George Bush, when Mazer approached her, officials said. Mazer screamed that Bush was the reason he was infected with the virus that causes AIDS and then spat in her eye, police said.

“Studies have found that the virus is present in saliva, but there is no documentation of a transmission by saliva,” said Hildy Meyers, epidemiologist at the Orange County Health Care Agency. “It’s just highly unlikely.”

The human immunodeficiency virus, which causes AIDS, is transmitted primarily through unprotected sexual intercourse and the sharing or use of needles contaminated by the virus.

The Centers for Disease Control also contends that spitting is not a viable way to transmit AIDS, said spokesman Kent Taylor.

Mimm has tested negative for the HIV virus that causes AIDS but lives in fear that she will contract it, her attorney said. She has filed a civil suit against Mazer alleging that he intentionally inflicted emotional distress and harm during the assault.

She filed suit in part to force Mazer to reveal his HIV-status, said attorney Thomas G. Reinecke. Mazer has refused to reveal whether he carries the virus that causes AIDS, but prosecutors will seek a court order for that information, Wright said.

“This woman is just frightened, she wants to find out if she is OK and get on with her life,” Reinecke said.

If convicted, Mazer faces a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. Mazer did not return a phone call seeking comment, and his attorney was unavailable for comment. Defense attorney Marshall Schulman has said in the past, however, that his client never intended to harm Mimm.

UCLA law professor Peter Aranella said he knows of no case in which a defendant with AIDS was convicted of attempted murder for allegedly trying to transmit the virus.

“Even in cases where a person with AIDS bites another person, it is difficult to prove intent that the person was trying to kill someone by biting them,” Aranella said.