An HIV-positive
man who prosecutors say secretly videotaped sexual
encounters with 131 young men was sentenced to life in
prison for attempting to entice a 15-year-old boy to
engage in sex acts.
During his trial,
prosecutors alleged that Willie Atkins knew of his
condition yet endangered dozens of partners by rarely using
condoms, and that there was no evidence that he warned
anyone he was HIV-positive.
Atkins was
sentenced Friday for attempting to entice a minor for sex,
which is punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Because
Atkins had two previous felony convictions, for
aggravated robbery and firearms possession, he was
eligible for the life sentence.
According to
authorities, Atkins lured young men to his apartment by
offering them jobs to work for his landscaping company, but
authorities have had difficulty identifying the men.
Jurors at his trial saw clips from 90 hours of
sexually explicit videotape.
His defense
attorney, Richard Franklin, said Atkins was being unfairly
targeted.
''They want to
say Willie Atkins gave all these people AIDS, spread HIV
all over the place,'' Franklin said. ''They can't be living
in some parallel universe where they've never heard of
AIDS. It can't be his fault alone, if he has any fault
at all.''
The ''dangerous
activity'' each side engaged in ''cancels each other
out,'' he said. (AP)