mens rea and public welfare

People v. Jensen ,Michigan Court of Appeals No 210655, (1998)

The defendant in this case was charged with three counts of knowing that she was HIV positive in the case of People v. Jensen, 222 Mich. App 575; 564 NW2d 192 (1997)

She was found guilty of engaging in sexual penetration with a partner without informing them of her HIV infection based on MCL 333.5210; MSA 14.15(5210) and was sentenced to concurrent terms of two years and eight months to four years imprisonment on each of the three counts.

The defendant in this case argues that MCL 333.5210; MSA 14.15(5210) is unconstitutional because it does not specify that an intent or mens rea is required. She also argues that because the statute does not specify and intent to harm, one who does not understand the consequences of their actions cannot be found criminally responsible.

The Michigan Court of Appeals upheld the conviction handed down to the defendant in her trial.

The court finds that knowingly engaging in sexual conduct without informing the partner of the risks they are taking is the culpable state of mind that can lead to the partner’s death. In the case of People v. Lardie,452 Mich 231,256;551 MW2d 656 (1996) the Supreme Court found that a person who operates a vehicle while intoxicated can be held criminally responsible for causing the death of another, based on the fact they knew they were intoxicated while driving, even without a specific intent to cause harm. The court has used the same rationale to uphold their decision here in this case of People v. Jensen.

I support the decision of the court in this case. If a person who is HIV infected is going to engage in sexual penetration with another, they should understand that there is a chance of causing that person to become infected with the deadly virus. In the interest of public welfare I believe that state statutes are constitutional in banning an infected person from engaging in sexual penetration without notifying the partner of the risks involved.

Police Ride Along 08/20/09

I went out for a partial shift ride with my buddy John in CO last night. I spent all day unloading a trailer of firewood so I wasn't able to make it for the whole shift, but I would not have been able to anyway because he went in early for some supervisor meeting stuff, so it would not have mattered anyway.




















After going back to our company terminal and showering up, he came by and picked me up at 1800 and we stayed on until midnight.

Since my last ride along John has got a brand new 2010 Crown Victoria police interceptor. It's all nice and shiny too because John's 10 year old daughter had been acting up, so he saw this as an opportunity to teach her a lesson and get the car waxed, so he made her wax the patrol car. (with his help of course) She did a wonderful job, it looks great! Now he is hoping she will act up again soon because his F-150 is getting a little dull... As we're cruising around we got off of I-25 and we noticed a tractor trailer parked in a very odd spot, just up in a grassy area next to the off ramp, so we drove up to investigate. The windows were cracked and the vents on the sleeper were open but nobody responded. The music was still playing also and the driver had new messages on the qualcomm. We peeked inside the tractor the best we could, but did not see anyone in the sleeper. We called the company and they said the driver was a very responsible driver and he was supposed to have picked up a load nearby at 1800 and they were unable to reach him also. The trailer had no seal and we opened it to verify it was empty. We drove to the restaurant across the street to see if he had walked over there but he had not, the waitress gave us a description of the driver and she said she had seen him get out of the truck and walk up into the a residential area, not a very good one at that. We went back on patrol and the company called John back awhile later and said they had made a mistake dispatching him on a load because he had requested time off here even though he didn't live here. John told them we thought there was a girl involved in this somewhere. lol We went back and checked and the truck was still there, John told them it was not a problem really, just odd that he left the windows and vents open and also the company had a yard only a few miles away. The truck remained there for the rest of the night though.


















After going back out on patrol we responded to a call for a family fight. We are thinking it's going to look like a Cledus Judd song. Grandpa punching the cousins, brothers bashing each other over the head with wooden chairs, you know...no such luck. A father kicked his son out of the house, and on the way out the son stole his puppy. So we didn't waste much time on this.

We then responded to assist some other officers in making an arrest on a warrant, but unfortunately the individual had already vacated the premise, for whatever reason, maybe he knew we'd be coming. LOL

Next we got a call of what sounded like it was going to be a good domestic! Neighbors called and said there was loud music playing and then when the male showed up they heard a loud scream from the woman and then the radio went silent. So we headed over there with a few other cops and we went around the back of the house in the alley and we met with the neighbor who told us what happened. John went around the back of the house with another officer to the door that the woman said belonged to that part of the duplex. Anyway the people they were looking for ended up being around the front side of the house. John came back and got the cruiser and we drove around the front, it was nothing more than a little party with some drunk chicks and a dude. John asked the woman if she would call him later and she said sure, whats your number, he said 1-800-BIG-HUNK! LOL

Also way back in the winter this year John sent me a picture from his phone of roll call, and I had made a joke about the one guy in the back left corner, I said "he looks like he could use a few foot chases." Nothing personal, I was just goofing around.


















Every time I've rode with John we always run into him, and the funny thing is every time I see him he says lets go get in a foot chase! He didn't even know what I had said, but John kept threatening he was going to tell him, I'm like oh no don't do that, he's going to kick my ass! LOL
Well we ran into him again and John just couldn't hold it in any longer, he had to tell him "hey my rider said you were fat..." So I was left explaining the whole story to him, luckily he is a pretty nice guy. He says the camera adds ten pounds. LOL Although he did say he knew what I drove, so I may want to stay out of that area now. He's not really a big guy, I think it was the camera, or maybe it was a cold day and he was padded up.

Overall it was a pretty dead night for this district, the next district south of us at one point had twenty calls on hold, and since John's guys weren't really doing much they started sending them down there to answer calls. We were cruising down the Ave. where all the whores hang out and we heard a guy parked in a driveway just off a side street honk his horn as a girl walked by and she looked at him and kept walking, so I guess she wasn't what he thought. So we flipped around and went back there and we turned on the lights just as the guy was attempting to back out of the drive. Now he gets out of his car and pops the hood open before John even gets up to him, and he asks him what he was doing and he claimed his car had been overheating and he was just working on it. So we cleared his name and John told him he knew exactly what he was doing and he needed to just get out of here. So John comes back to the cruiser and we are getting ready to leave, the man is still pretending to be looking under his hood. He just wouldn't give up on his story.

Next call we took was for a drunk man at a motel way up on the north end of the district causing problems. This is cool because with the new computer aided dispatch they are testing out in this district, we actually were able to see the call and head there before it was ever dispatched to an officer. We showed up with the other officer and as soon as we went in the motel the man tried to make a break for the door, but John and the other officer quickly grabbed him and cuffed him. There was a man in the bar who claimed he had punched him in the face three times, but he refused to press charges because he wasn't hurt and he said the guy just needed to sober up. The motel also refused to file a complaint because he was an employee of a contract they had, and they didn't want to hurt any relationships. The man was giving the other officer a hard time getting in the back of his cruiser, and he really wasn't happy the motel refused to file a complaint, he wanted to take him to jail. But he just went down to detox to sober up and be released, all this at his own expense though. That bill should be enough to make him think next time before he gets drunk and stupid in public.

I noticed later as were driving a car with a headlight out and I told John and we went to check it out, I also saw her make a left turn onto the main Ave. with no blinker, she got away from us a little bit but we chased her down and pulled up beside her. John is like "do you REALLY want to stop her? She looks like she just came from church." So he let her go, petty stuff I know but we were really running out of things to do. LOL John is a pretty nice guy, me I would have stopped her just to make contact and see if anything comes up, I wouldn't write any tickets for that stuff.

Awhile later John spots a van with out of state plates make an illegal turn and with a taillight out, so he pulls him over, and the guy stops right on the side of the main road, but whatever, lights freak people out I guess. Anyway turns out he had a revoked license! See that's what I tried to tell him before, LOL just kidding, he knows what he's doing. So we tried and tried to write out a summons using the new laptop software. In John's new cruiser he has a printer in the middle arm rest, pretty neat. But the software is just loaded with problems and doesn't work very well, so we just gave up and he went "old skool" with the handwritten summons. In CO you can't arrest someone physically for this, a summons serves as an arrest. Then you instruct them to park the vehicle, then you turn your head and drive the other way...

It was getting late so we went to a local taco joint and John ordered me something, I don't remember what they were called but they were delicious!! Some little miniature tacos, very filling though.

To end out the night we decided to go cruise the Ave. for hookers and clean up the town. We contacted several hookers up and down the strip, and of course they were all just walking somewhere, waiting for a ride, were from out of town and had "no idea" why we were stopping them, they had no clue this area was used for prostitution, meanwhile standing in skin tight shorts up to their pubic hair and very small shirts. It cracks me up the stories we get out on this strip are the funniest. The last girl we contacted gave us a name, but John asked her for her SSN # and it didnt match the name, well turns out it was her sister. So she finally came clean with the truth and she said she had a $10,000 warrant. She was right, it was for a public health order. When someone is arrested for prostitution they are ordered by the court to submit to STD tests.
If they fail to appear, they get a huge price on their head. John felt bad for her because she had a pretty rough life, her baby had just died and he knew her father who had ran an escort service and made her work for him. He didn't want to arrest her, but had no choice with that kind of bond. So he kicked me to the back of the car and let her ride up front. We took her down to the jail, which was cool it was my first time getting to see the city jail. Usually when I ride with John his guys take care of most of the arrests. Well that was about it, John took me back to my truck at midnight and he headed home. Funny thing is he told me Saturday night, two days later they had a shootout and a car chase. That figures...used to be every time I rode with John there would be a car chase, even though we never got into one ourselves. We almost did that one time, we were on the way at a high rate of speed and the bad guys had been shooting too. But it ended quickly. Well maybe next time...I'm headed back to CO right now, so maybe I'll get a chance to grab another ride.