Published November, 2015

Ginn v. State, 667 S.E.2d 712 (Ga. Ct. App. 2008).

The Court of Appeals of Georgia affirmed Ginn’s eight-year sentence for reckless conduct under Georgia’s HIV criminalization law. Her sexual partner, who did not use a condom, claimed Ginn never told him of her HIV status. At trial, Ginn and two other witnesses testified that her sexual partner knew her HIV status. Moreover, her HIV status had even been published in a local newspaper, which ran a front-page story and then a follow-up on her. Nevertheless, the court was convinced by the testimony of two other witnesses, who claimed they heard a conversation, between Ginn and her sexual partner, in which Ginn denied twice that she was living with HIV.