Trial starts this week in HIV-exposure case

The first of four trials for a Lawrence man charged with knowingly exposing women to the HIV virus is scheduled to begin this week.

But Judge Stephen Six on Monday dropped Missouri’s request to extradite Robert W. Richardson II for a similar crime across state lines. Johnson County, Mo., prosecutors had 60 days to send a governor’s warrant, but they did not meet the deadline.

Richardson will stand trial starting Wednesday in the first of four cases in Douglas County, each of which involves sexual contact with a different woman. A hearing for pre-trial motions is scheduled for this morning.

Richardson’s attorney, Thomas Johnson, has filed a motion to dismiss the case. He argued the law his client is charged with breaking is unconstitutional and overly broad.

“The statute has created a class of people, carriers of ‘life-threatening’ infectious diseases, and prohibited them from having sex if exposure to the life-threatening disease occurs, yet the statute fails to define the key concepts,” Johnson wrote.

Richardson is being held in the Douglas County Jail.