Trial Set for Dad of AIDS-Infected Boy

A hospital worker accused of injecting HIV-tainted blood into his son because he wanted to avoid paying child support must stand trial, a judge ruled in St. Charles. Judge Jon Cunningham made the ruling after a two-day hearing for Brian Stewart. Prosecutors say the trial will likely begin late this year or early next year. Stewart, 31, accused of first-degree assault, could get life in prison if convicted. If the child, now 7, dies and the charge is upgraded to murder, he could get the death penalty. Prosecutors believe Stewart sneaked a syringe filled with tainted blood under a lab coat and into the hospital room of his son, then 11 months old, in February 1992.