Jack R. O’Neill; Judge Backed AIDS Victim
Jack R. O’Neill, 53, the Indiana judge who enabled AIDS victim Ryan White to attend school. White, a hemophiliac who contracted AIDS through a blood transfusion in 1984, had been banned from school in 1986 out of fear he might contaminate classmates. O’Neill dissolved a temporary injunction that had kept the boy out of classes at Western Middle School in Russiaville, Ind. White died in 1990 at age 18. O’Neill served as Clinton County Circuit judge for 12 years before he was defeated in the 1994 Republican primary by former Indiana Atty. Gen. Linley Pearson. On Wednesday in Frankfort, Ind., in a one-car automobile accident.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
