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Query: UMLS:C0271276 (Hudson)
 1,066 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

New Jersey State Superior Court Judge Jose L. Fuentes has ruled unconstitutional a state law allowing victims of sexual assault to require their accused attackers to be tested for HIV. Fuentes says the 1993 law intrudes on defendants' right to privacy and constitutes an illegal search and seizure while leaving the victim with no useful information about her own HIV status. The decision resulted from a case involving an attack on a mentally retarded 10-year-old Hudson County girl by three boys, ages 14 and 15. The boys were charged with aggravated sexual assault by forcing oral and anal sex on the girl. The prosecution moved to have the boys tested for HIV under terms of the 1993 state law. On behalf of the boys, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) argued that the testing amounted to an unconstitutional search and seizure. In reaching his decision, Fuentes relied on defense testimony from experts in the field of HIV and sexual assault, who testified that the victim would receive little useful information from the HIV-antibody tests. The judge found that the state law involved a substantial intrusion into the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. A prosecutor for the case plans to appeal the decision.
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PMID:Judge voids N.J. law allowing testing of rape defendants. 1136 2