Thomas Miguel Guerra (born February 23, 1985), also known as Ashton Lucian Chavez and Tomii Guerra, is an American landscape architect who became the first person in the state of

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

to be convicted for intentionally infecting another individual with

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the im ...

. In 2015 prosecutors in the

San Diego County Superior Court The Superior Court of California, County of San Diego is the California superior court with jurisdiction over San Diego County, California. History San Diego County was one of the original counties formed when California gained statehood in 185 ...

presented 11,000 text messages and 36 audio clips to support their case against Guerra. Since then, Guerra has been accused of intentionally exposing dozens of other men to HIV. Guerra is the great-nephew of

labor leader A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

and

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...

activist

Cesar Chavez Cesario Estrada Chavez (; ; March 31, 1927 – April 23, 1993) was an American labor leader and civil rights activist. Along with Dolores Huerta and lesser known Gilbert Padilla, he co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), ...

HIV exposure conviction

Guerra's ex-boyfriend filed a complaint against him with San Diego police in August, 2013. On March 9, 2015, Guerra pleaded

no contest ''Nolo contendere'' () is a type of legal plea used in some jurisdictions in the United States. It is also referred to as a plea of no contest or no defense. It is a plea where the defendant neither admits nor disputes a charge, serving as an ...

to a misdemeanor charge of violating a California health code by failing to tell his former partner he was HIV positive. Guerra had previously pled not guilty and changed his plea the morning his trial was set to begin. According to

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

City Attorney

Jan Goldsmith Jan Ira Goldsmith (born January 26, 1951) is a Republican politician from San Diego, California, United States who served as the San Diego City Attorney from 2008 to 2016. Education He received his undergraduate degree from American University ...

, Guerra's case was the first prosecution of willful HIV transmission in San Diego. There had also been no previous successful prosecutions across the state since the California Legislature adopted the health statute in 1995. Additional victims came forward after the case received media publicity; they filed cases in various California cities stating that Guerra had lied to them about being HIV-negative. Some of those cases are still pending. Investigators found 11,000 text messages and videos in which Guerra laughed about lying to sexual partners about his HIV status. "Yay lol. Someone getting poz that day," Guerra texted to a friend. "Poor Sucka." On May 5, 2015, Guerra was sentenced to six months in jail. Despite pressure to file the case as a felony, which would have carried a term of up to eight years in prison, San Diego District Attorney

Bonnie Dumanis Bonnie Michelle Dumanis (born December 16, 1951) is an American attorney and former San Diego County District Attorney. She held the office from 2003 to 2017. Dumanis is a Republican, though the office she held was officially nonpartisan. She w ...

had twice declined to do so. At his sentencing hearing, Guerra told Judge Lewis that he had "no remorse" for his actions. He blamed the victim, who he said was "reckless" because they had met on the gay dating site

Grindr Grindr () is a location-based social networking and online dating application for gay, bisexual, queer, and transgender people. It was one of the first geosocial apps for gay men when it launched in March 2009, and has since become the large ...

. Judge Lewis said she would have liked to have given Guerra a harsher sentence, but California statutes prevented her doing so: "I don't think in my 25-plus years in law, I've ever seen somebody be so lacking of insight, blame or responsibility that you have demonstrated," she stated to Guerra before sentencing him to the maximum allowed per California statue, 6 months in jail. San Diego City Attorney Jan Goldsmith said in a statement that the sentence "was inadequate given the damage done to the victim and the danger to the public posed by uerra"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guerra, Thomas 1985 births Living people People with HIV/AIDS People from Delano, California American landscape architects American gay artists LGBTQ people from California LGBTQ architects LGBTQ Hispanic and Latino American people American people of Mexican descent Criminal transmission of HIV Criminals from California American male criminals