Man Convicted for Injecting His Son

A father accused of injecting his 11-month-old son with HIV-tainted blood in order to avoid paying child support was convicted of first-degree assault. Jurors in St. Charles, Mo., returned their verdict against Brian Stewart, 32, of Columbia, Ill., after deliberating for about eight hours. They recommended life in prison, and sentencing was set for Jan. 8. The boy’s mother, identified only as Jennifer to protect the boy’s identity, wept briefly after the verdict was read. Prosecutors used circumstantial evidence to convince the jury that Stewart, who worked as a hospital technician at the time, stole HIV-infected blood from his workplace and injected it into the boy during a hospital visit in 1992. The boy, now 7, has AIDS. Prosecutor Ross Buehler called the injection a “death sentence” for the child.