Man Infects Teen With HIV, Gets 95 Years in Texas Prison
A man infected a teen with HIV two years ago, and on Wednesday he was finally punished for his heinous crime. Matthew Louis Reese of Dallas, Texas was sentenced Wednesday to a total of 95 years for knowingly transferring the deadly virus to a 15-year-old girl.
The man who infected the teen with HIV pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault of a child with a deadly weapon, aggravated sexual assault with serious bodily injury and sexual assault of a child. The charges carried sentences of 55, 20 and 20 years in prison, respectively, The Dallas Morning News reported.
Judge Pat McDowell heard the heartbreaking testimony of the girl, now 17, and her mother on Tuesday. She said that she called a chat line in December of 2012 and lost her virginity to Reese in the car at a movie theater in Garland in 2013. Reese never used a condom and knew since 2006 that he had HIV, but never informed her— although he had symptoms, Reese told the teen he didn't have HIV.
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Judge McDowell had the option to add on 20 years to the sentence Thursday, and did so. Reese's attorney, Allan Fishburn, asked for the sentences to be served concurrently.
"Yes, he committed statutory rape, he had AIDS or was at least HIV-positive, and he didn't tell her — that's why we got 55 years," the lawyer said, pointing out that Reese is unlikely to live to 81 and be paroled because of his condition.
But the prosecutor Soni Lewis said that Reese was too dangerous to ever be released.
"The only person he cares about is himself," she said in her closing statement. "And because of that, this defendant needs to go away for as long as the law allows, not because of the type of person he is, but because the community needs to be protected from Matthew Louis Reese."
This isn't the first time Reese has knowingly had unprotected sex with someone unaware of his HIV-positive status. An unidentified inmate, 40, testified that he had consensual unprotected sex with Reese last year while in jail and is now awaiting test results.
"I don't believe it's right what he did," the inmate explained. "He should have told me he was HIV-positive."
