[Update]Canada: Day parole granted to man sentenced to 18 years in prison in 2008 for alleged HIV non-disclosure

Convicted sex offender X has been granted day parole for up to six months.

The Parole Board of Canada released its decision last Wednesday.

X was convicted of 15 counts of sexual aggravated sexual assault after he failed to tell his sexual partners that he was infected with HIV. Over the seven years before his arrest in 2004, at least 22 women were exposed to the virus, and five were infected.

Under Canadian law, anyone who is HIV positive has a legal duty to inform any sexual partners of their status, and X is believed to have exposed more women to the virus than anyone else in Canadian history.

A Windsor judge found him guilty in 2008 and sentenced him to 18 years in prison. He was eligible for parole after six years.

A report from the parole board says X will stay at a community-based residential facility pending the availability of a bed.

Among the many conditions of his parole, X is to avoid all contact with the victims and their families and not to enter the City of Windsor. He can only use the internet for employment purposes and only with the written permission of his parole supervisor, will have to report any relationships with women, sexual and otherwise to his parole supervisor, and not be in the presence of a sex trade worker.

X last applied for day parole in September 2016. At that time, he was denied but appealed the decision in January.

The parole board believes he is a low risk to re-offend.

Four HIV-positive victims of sex offender CL have settled their lawsuits against the city out of court. The victims had retained law firm Sutts, Strosberg LLP to sue Windsor police and the health unit for a combined total of about $40 million, alleging that those agencies were aware L was a danger to the public. Details of the deal aren’t being revealed. Sharon Strosberg, a partner at the firm, said the terms must remain confidential. “Our clients are pleased the matter has been resolved,” Strosberg said. Strosberg noted that the settlements are not an admission of liability by Windsor police or the health unit.

Windsor police and the local health unit have lost their bid to have lawsuits by victims of sexual predator CL thrown out of court. A Superior Court judge has ruled that the suits filed by four women L infected with HIV should be decided at trial.

Should police and health officials notify members of the public if a diseased sexual predator is on the loose? Should they warn everybody of the danger – or just some people?

The City of Windsor and its taxpayers could be on the hook for up to $40 million in damages because two of their public agencies did not warn four women they might become infected with HIV by notorious serial sex offender CL.

If the four win there could be even more lawsuits because at least 20 women were infected by him, Ontario Superior Court was told Monday.

Windsor’s Police Services Board and the regional Health Unit both asked the court to throw out the first lawsuits based on ample legal precedent.

Oddly, both sides are citing some of the same cases as support for their positions – including the famous Toronto Balcony rapist case known as Jane Doe vs. Board of Commissioners.

At issue in the complex motion heard by Justice A. Duncan Grace on Monday is the “duty of care” level owed by the two agencies to the public and to the women, whose identities are being protected by the court. They’re being referred to simply as Jane Roe – a pointed reference to the Toronto case – M.W., S.R. and L.R.

The city’s lawyers are arguing their clients simply owed a “public law duty of care,” which they discharged properly by investigating L’s sexual activities as far they could before his trail of sexual conquests ran cold.

The women’s lawyers argue that the two agencies and their officials owed their clients a higher level of protection – a “private law duty of care,” meaning police and medical officials should have gone farther to identify L’s potential victims and notify them of the danger he posed.

L is currently serving 18 years in Warkworth Prison near Peterborough for aggravated sexual assault. More than 70 people came forward for testing after L’s unprotected sexual rampage was uncovered and he was jailed to protect the public pending his trial. His motive appears to have been revenge for his own infection by an exotic dancer from Thailand employed by a West end Windsor strip club.

Police and the Windsor-Essex Health Unit have asked Justice Grace to toss the women’s lawsuits out of court in a summary judgment that would end the plaintiffs’ claims against Windsor taxpayers. If the judge rules a trial should take place it will go ahead in March of next year.

A trial promises to be lengthy and expensive for the public, lawyers for the public agencies told the court.

A crucial legal concept being weighed by Judge Grace is the legal “proximity” of the victims to police and the health unit. The agencies would have had to know the common thread linking L’s victims before they could have warned them. In fact they hailed from Windsor to Leamington, Detroit and Texas.

The group of women L chose to pursue “was unknowable,” said lawyer Brian McCall, representing the health unit. “We have no way of knowing who are members of that indefinable class.”

In the Jane Doe case, police knew a rapist was stalking only young Caucasian women in a particular neighbourhood, in specific apartment towers. Police lost their case when Jane Doe sued them for failing to notify her or the residents of her building. She won $220,000 in damages.

Windsor’s lawyers also compare L’s four HIV lawsuits to a class action lawsuit by Toronto-area victims of the West Nile virus. Ontario’s court of appeal overruled two lower courts in 2006 to say that the Ministry of Health could not be held responsible for the infections, or for failing to eradicate the virus.

The ministry had no “proximity” to either the infected mosquitos or their victims, and so it couldn’t stop the former or protect the latter, MCall argued.

Justice Grace leaped on that argument. If the ministry had had possession of the infected mosquito that caused West Nile virus, “would it have the duty to control that mosquito?”

L, Grace said, was “a specific mosquito. What if (they knew) the mosquito was in Room X?”

Bill Sasso, representing the four women, told the court that both the health unit and the police department had proof that L was infected with HIV, knew he was defying the law by having unprotected sex with women without disclosing his condition, and even knew some of the women he was sleeping with.  Yet they warned no one.

At the police department, front line officers properly recorded a public complaint from a former girlfriend of L’s that could have taken him off the street years before the law did. But someone higher up in the police bureaucracy mistakenly filed the complaint in a “closed” file, so detectives never followed it up.

At the health unit, L’s medical file mysteriously disappeared for four years, court was told, while several senior officials there remained mum about his HIV toxicity even to women they knew were having unprotected sex with him.

Several women told health unit officials they were having unprotected sex with L while being tested for other STDs they may have contracted form him, including gonorrhea and genital warts.

The motion for summary judgment continues on Tuesday.

Carl Leone, the Canadian who was sentenced to 18 years in prison in April 2008 after being found guilty of infecting five women with HIV and exposing ten further women, now has four of the HIV-positive complainants suing him – as well as the Windsor Police Services Board and the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit – in civil proceedings.

I reported a lawsuit from two of the women in January. Now, according to an article in the Windsor Star, a woman in her late twenties, known as A.P. has also launched a CAD$10-million lawsuit alongside an earlier, unreported lawsuit “launched on behalf of a woman known as ‘Jane Roe’ who reportedly met Leone when she was a 16-year-old virgin.”

All four women are “represented by high profile local law firm Sutts, Strosberg LLP.”

The paper reports

According to the latest statement of claim, A.P. had a sexual relationship with Leone for about nine months in 2003 and 2004, during which time Leone never informed her of his HIV-positive status. The claim says A.P. had vaginal, anal and oral sex with Leone and that he eventually insisted they not use condoms. “Carl repeatedly advised A.P. that he was not infected with HIV or any sexually transmitted disease,” the claim states. The claim posits that Leone’s actions constitute assault and battery against A.P. The claim further suggests that the police services board is liable for the negligence of officers who “failed to take timely and reasonable steps to investigate and arrest” Leone despite knowledge of the danger to the public he posed.

According to the statement of claim, a Windsor police detective was aware of allegations of Leone’s HIV-status as early as 2000. The claim says a woman who was once Leone’s fiancee contacted police on more than 100 occasions to tell them Leone was HIV-positive and having unprotected sex with other women. The lawsuit suggests that the health unit knew about Leone’s activities even earlier — in or about 1998. The lawsuit names the health unit as liable for failing to warn the public about Leone, failing to report him to police, and other forms of negligence.”They failed to report Carl to the WPSB because of a personal relationship with Carl and/or his family,” the claim states.

Like the other lawsuits, this latest one seeks $9 million in general damages and $1 million in special, aggravated or punitive damages — plus interest and legal costs.

Carl Leone, who was sentenced to 18 years in prison last April in Windsor, Ontario, after being found guilty of infecting five women with HIV and exposing ten further women, is now being sued for C$20 million (£11.2 m) by two of the HIV-positive women, according to a report from The Calgary Herald.

The suit, filed Wednesday in Superior Court, is on behalf of two women, both 29, known as J. R. and M. M. they each seek $9 million in general damages and $1 million for “special, aggravated and punitive damages.”

The suit names the Windsor Police Services Board, the Windsor Essex County Health Unit and Leone, who is in prison.

“As a result of the negligence of the defendants and the sexual assault and battery by Carl, J. R. and M. M. have become infected with the . . . virus,” according to the claim.

“J. R. and M. M. have also suffered permanent injury to their health and now face an increased risk of an early and painful death as a result of HIV, which will eventually develop into AIDS.”

Carl Leone was sentenced to 18 years in prison on Friday, the longest-ever sentence in a criminal HIV transmission case in Canada.

Update: Later news stories, such as the one in the Vancouver Sun, report that Leone was given 15 consecutive sentences, totalling 49 years in prison: five years each for the five women who were HIV-positive and two- and three-year sentences for the ten other women who were ‘exposed’ but did not become HIV-positive.

But Superior Court Justice Joseph Quinn had ruled that sentencing guidelines required that he not impose an unduly harsh sentence that would violate the ‘totality principal,’ and prison term was adjusted downward to 18 years.

An editorial in Leone’s local paper, the Windsor Star, is, of course, highly critical of Justice Quinn.

The bottom line? Leone emerges from this dismal exercise a clear winner. Instead of being declared a dangerous or long-term offender and facing an unknown but lengthy time in prison, as the Crown was seeking, he’s been handed a modest sentence that will likely be served in some low-risk institution, perhaps even in a coveted prison resort like Beaver Creek in Muskoka.

The previous longest sentence was 15 years given to Adrien Nduwayo of British Columbia in 2006, for five counts of aggravated sexual assault, one of attempted aggravated sexual assault, and one of sexual assault.

Leone’s sentence could have been worse – had he been deemed a ‘dangerous offender,’ he could have been imprisoned indefinitely – and a 30 years sentence would not have been unexpected. He will be eligible for parole in six years.

He had previously pleaded guilty to 15 counts of aggravated sexual assault.

He will not be appealing.

On the final day of Carl Leone’s sentencing hearing, Mr Leone himself gave a statement to the court in which he says his “crime was horrendous and despicable – I deserve all the time I get.”

He is likely to receive a minimum of 30 years in prison, and – if he is designated a ‘dangerous offender’, for which the Crown has argued – may receive an indefinite sentence, which in realistic terms, is imprisonment for life.

Mr Leone will be sentenced on April 4th.

Of note, in the comment section after the report in the Windsor Star (the local newspaper), is someone who appears to be one the complainants. ‘A very hurt woman’ writes:

one thing i want everyone to know is some of the women slept with him like one night stand wise.. Some as like myself was drugged in our drinks and raped and woken up and knew we were taken advantage of. so i want everyone to know I am the cleanest person you would ever meet i am the sweetest person you would ever meet and I thought he was my friend.. I had no intentions in being even close to Carl in any way and he did that to me……….I have never felt so sick in all of my life. For a chick who does not use public restrooms, to washing my hands everytime I pass a sink. I feel very very DISGUSTED! Sometimes I find myself to cry thinking why did this happen to me the person I was before this incident is taken from me and I dont think i can ever find myself again. One thing I can say is I did not contact the virus but I know for someone saying that they found jesus out of no where let me tell you something…. I had angels, angels who were over my shoulder and saved me from this virus. And I am able to be a mother I have always wanted to be and I can see them grow up.. But for those women who had gotten the virus I am so sorry that they have not the chance that I have gotten and I hope that happiness is in their eye.. I know nothing can change what you have to live with but I am so sorry words can not express my sincerity IM very sorry! This is horrible and I hope that this can turn into something better soon enough…

An excerpt from the Windsor Star report is below, followed by another report from the Toronto Sun/Canadian Press (the case has made national news each day of the week).

Leone admits what he did was ‘horrendous and despicable’

Doug Schmidt, Windsor Star

Published: Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Carl Leone told a court today he had no idea he was putting women’s lives at risk when he engaged in unprotected sex with multiple partners over a seven-year period after being warned he was HIV-positive.

“My crime was horrendous and despicable – I deserve all the time I get,” the Windsor businessman told Superior Court Justice Joseph Quinn at the conclusion of his dangerous offender hearing. The judge sentences Leone, 32, on April 4.

[…..]

Last week, four of his victims were ushered into a courtroom through a back door to read victim impact statements on how their lives had been drastically and permanently altered. Assistant Crown attorney Tim Kavanagh read into the record statements provided by the other women.

“It was a very painful experience,” Leone said of having to listen to the testimonials. “I feel no words can truly express my true remorse,” he added, reading from a prepared text.

His words were at turn remorseful for the victims but also self-pitying. The only time his speech began to break was when he described his own personal battle with HIV.

Forensic psychiatrists for both the prosecution and the defence testified earlier in the hearing that Leone was adept at crafting his responses to questions on what he felt the listener wanted to hear.

“Only God knows that I’m sincere in my remorse,” said Leone, acknowledging that “some may see this as a self-serving exercise.”

Leone said he’s now a “changed person” and that he has found Jesus.

The Crown wants the judge to impose a life sentence and declare Leone a dangerous offender requiring him to always be under supervision.

“There hasn’t been in our legal history a case with as many offences,” said Frank Schwalm, another assistant Crown attorney who fought the case. He called Leone’s crimes “an orgy of extreme behaviour.”

Defence lawyer Andrew Bradie didn’t recommend a specific number but has asked the court to be fair, take his client’s “fragile health” into consideration and to set a fixed prison term.

“I’m facing some serious prison time,” said Leone.

When he eventually gets out, Leone told the judge he’d like to “share my powerful, personal story” and lecture youngsters on his “sickening and criminal action.”

 

Man who kept HIV status a secret hopes he can be forgiven
By THE CANADIAN PRESS
Wed, February 20, 2008WINDSOR, Ont. – A man who pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual assault for having sex with 15 women without telling them he was HIV-positive told a court Wednesday he didn’t know he was putting people at risk.

Carl Leone pleaded guilty to 15 counts – one for each of his victims – for spreading the virus that causes AIDS, and five of those women are now infected with HIV.

The Crown is seeking to have Leone declared a dangerous offender, which means he could be jailed indefinitely. Leone is scheduled to be sentenced on April 4.

Leone’s dangerous offender wrapped up in court Wednesday with the 32-year-old’s statement, in which he expressed remorse and said he hopes he can be forgiven and one day return to the community.

Leone became choked up when he spoke about his shortened life expectancy due to his HIV status. He also said in the future, if he is released into the community, he will inform potential partners that he is HIV-positive and will wear a condom.

Defence lawyer Andrew Bradie said the sentiments were genuine and heartfelt.

“I think he understands, to some extent, the public (is owed) some explanation for this,” Bradie said.

“Hopefully there’s a lesson to everyone that this type of behaviour can result in disastrous consequences for everyone, and generally speaking, perhaps everyone should be more careful.”

Assistant Crown attorney Frank Schwalm said Tuesday if the dangerous offender designation isn’t granted, the Crown wants consecutive sentences for each of the 15 victims – amounting to between 30 and 50 years in prison.

The defence did not make any specific recommendations, but did agree with the consecutive sentences suggestion. Bradie said the defence would like to see Leone get more than a two-for-one credit for time served because of the poor conditions in the Windsor jail.

“In a range which is designed for 10 people, there are 15,” Bradie said.

“People are three to a cell (and) one person in each of the cells is sleeping on the floor.”

The Crown also said Tuesday that Leone is “overwhelmingly manipulative” and should be imprisoned indefinitely.

Leone cannot be trusted in the community because he lied to his victims about being HIV-positive when they asked if he had been tested, Schwalm said.

But Bradie said the Crown “utterly failed” to prove that his client should be declared a dangerous offender. He argued that Leone’s 15 guilty pleas were based on consensual relationships, which is not aggressive behaviour.

Sentencing hearings for Carl Leone continued this week. Today, psychiatrist for the defence, Dr Paul Fedoroff, testified that Mr Leone was in denial of his HIV status when he had unprotected sex with fifteen women, rather than intentionally deceiving them.

“His problem is one of not being aware of the nature of his (condition) and engaging in unsafe sexual activity.”

I’ve often wondered why the ‘denial’ defence hasn’t been used before. It seems obvious to me that many of the people prosecuted for ‘reckless’ HIV transmission have been in denial of their status and/or of their infectiousness. This is not the same as being an HIV denialist. Denial – the refusal to acknowledge the existence or severity of unpleasant external realities or internal thoughts and feelings – is a classic manifestation of grief.

Following diagnosis, HIV-positive people are likely to experience an initial period of shock often followed by confusion, social withdrawal and depression. It can take months, if not years, to adjust – depending on an individual’s own situation – and whilst it may seem that onward HIV transmission ought to be a priority, in reality it vies for importance with many other issues.

Heath advisor guidelines list some common issues that may need to be discussed in post-test counselling, including:
• Adjustment to living with HIV
• Beliefs: health, medical, religious, cultural
• Children / pregnancy issues
• Disclosure of status to friends and family
• Employment issues
• Fear and anxiety for the future
• Partner notification
• Personal and social relationships
• Risk reduction and behaviour change
• Shock and uncertainty
• Social/financial situation

In this situation, newly-diagnosed people are unable to take in more than a fraction of any information provided in a single post-test counselling session. In addition, although limited research has been conducted regarding the content and quality of post-HIV test counseling, one study found that it varied widely between clinics and between individual advisors .

After post-test counselling, information on HIV transmission, and how to reduce the risk (rather than eliminate the possibility of risk) is only provided to patients at HIV clinics on an ad hoc basis. Since there is no specific guidance provided to health advisors regarding the advice on specific sexual practices, what may be considered ‘high risk’ by one health advisor may be thought of as ‘low risk’ by another.

HIV carrier said in ‘denial’
by Gregory Bonnell, THE CANADIAN PRESS

WINDSOR, Ont. – A man convicted of knowingly spreading the virus that causes AIDS was in “extreme denial” of his HIV status until his trial a decade later, a psychiatrist testified Wednesday at Carl Leone’s dangerous offender hearing.

Crown prosecutors immediately took exception to Dr. Paul Fedoroff’s denial argument, calling Leone’s guilty plea an admission of the “dishonesty and deceit” that was at the root of his failure to tell his 15 victims he was HIV-positive.

Still, the psychiatrist said based on his two meetings with Leone last month he found “evidence of extreme denial of the seriousness of the disease he had been diagnosed with.”

“Mr. Leone’s problem is not an overly high sex drive,” said Fedoroff, who was called as a defence witness.

“His problem is one of not being aware of the nature of his (condition) and engaging in unsafe sexual activity.”

Leone, who helped run his wealthy parents’ music store, was told in 1997 by Windsor Essex County Health Unit workers that he was HIV-positive – seven years before his arrest on June 6, 2004.

“Mr. Leone himself came to the conclusion that the test must have been a so-called false positive,” said Fedoroff, a psychiatrist at the Royal Ottawa Hospital.

“He tells me that he has changed his opinion, that he now believes he is HIV-positive and requires treatment.”

That epiphany apparently came at Leone’s trial, which ended abruptly after several weeks of testimony last April when he suddenly entered a guilty plea – a clear admission, the Crown argued Wednesday, that he had knowingly spread HIV.

“What lies at the foundation of all this was the fact that there was dishonesty, there was deceit,” said prosecutor Frank Schwalm.

“Simply put, he defrauded them of the ability to consent, in an informed way, to have sexual relations with him.”

Schwalm cited an HIV pre-test counselling form dated March 3, 1997 as evidence that Leone “suspected something was wrong” some 10 years before his trial began in 2007.

“He suspected that he contracted, or was exposed to, some sort of sexually transmitted disease,” said Schwalm.

Despite the HIV diagnosis, Leone didn’t develop any symptoms of AIDS and concluded the test must have been wrong, said Fedoroff. To this day, Leone has shown no symptoms of full-blown AIDS.

“He never did anything to help himself. Most people, if they’re HIV positive, seek treatment,” Fedoroff said.

“It supports his version, that he believed he didn’t have HIV.”

The denial argument is also bolstered by Leone’s low scores on a psychopathy test, which would suggest he was not purposely out to harm others, Fedoroff added.

The Crown is seeking to have Leone declared a dangerous offender.

Such a designation would see Leone jailed indefinitely, with his detention subject to review after seven years and then every two years after that.

The judge can also opt to sentence Leone as a long-term offender, which would see him placed under community supervision for up to 10 years after his release from prison, or hand him a straight prison sentence.

Closing arguments were expected Thursday with the hearing concluding on Friday.

Sentencing hearings are underway for Carl Leone in Windsor, Ontario, who pleaded guilty in April 2007 to 15 counts of aggravated sexual assault.

I hadn’t begun this blog when his trial took place last Spring, so here is a recap of events, from The Windsor Star. There is also a Wikipedia page on Mr Leone.

CHRONOLOGY

– March 3, 1997 — Leone visits Windsor-Essex County Health Unit with Thai stripper girlfriend and tests positive for HIV (she tests positive the next day);

– April 3 — Leone meets director of Windsor’s HIV care program and is told he must use a condom for sex;

– August — The Thai stripper, unidentified in court, is ordered by health unit to abstain from unprotected sex;

– Nov. 19 — Leone, who never returned to HIV clinic despite calls by staff, goes there for flu shot and has HIV-positive status confirmed;

– Dec. 31, 1998 — Leone handed written order from health unit to abstain from unprotected sex;

– Jan. 23, 2000 — Windsor police respond to domestic disturbance; complainant reports her fiance is HIV-positive and having unprotected sex with women;

– April 7 — Leone is confronted with that allegation in meeting with Det. Laurel Boots, of the Windsor police sex assault branch; matter filed;

– Spring 2004 — A health unit director alerts police of a new complaint against Leone, triggering a probe;

– June 6 — Leone arrested;

– June 10 — Windsor police issue public health alert and release photo of Leone, sparking a flood of calls to police and the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit’s HIV testing clinic;

– June 11 — Leone and lawyers meet with detectives, go over list of at least 27 sexual contacts;

– Nov. 10 — Leone’s family meets with director of Windsor’s HIV care program and tries to argue he doesn’t have it;

– Dec. 8 — Leone released on $790,000 bail;

– March 5, 2007 — Trial starts;

– April 27 — Leone pleads guilty to 15 counts of aggravated sexual assault.

Today’s article, from The Windsor Star, includes fascinating testimony from a forensic psychiatrist, Dr Philip Klassen.

Klassen said he “struggled a little bit” with the assessment because Leone didn’t fit the conventional profile of a sex offender, and he told the court the crimes could also be seen as “fraud” which was perpetrated on his victims.

Is this a case of putting a square peg into a round hole?

Leone poses ‘substantial risk’ of reoffending: Doctor
Doug Schmidt
The Windsor Star
Monday, February 11, 2008

Convicted sex offender Carl Leone poses a “substantial risk” to reoffend and should be designated a long-term offender, a forensic psychiatrist who interviewed the Windsor businessman, his family and several of his victims, testified Monday.

“There is a likelihood of similar behaviour in the future,” said Dr. Philip Klassen, deputy clinical director of Toronto’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

Klassen conducted a court-ordered risk assessment of Leone, 32, found guilty last spring of 15 counts of aggravated sexual assault for engaging in unprotected sexual relations without advising his partners of his HIV-positive status.

Klassen said he “struggled a little bit” with the assessment because Leone didn’t fit the conventional profile of a sex offender, and he told the court the crimes could also be seen as “fraud” which was perpetrated on his victims.

Leone “lived in a sort of sex-drenched, drug-drenched environment,” Klassen said of the “after-hours lifestyle” of trolling strip clubs, using drugs and having casual sex. He said the way Leone, a salesman for a family-owned music business, presented his behaviour, it was “strictly business … he was doing his rock ‘n’ roll duty, so to speak.”

Five of the women he had unprotected sex with tested positive for the virus that can lead to AIDS.

Leone’s dangerous offender hearing resumed this week before Superior Court Justice Joseph Quinn after a seven-week break. The court is expected to hear this week from four of Leone’s victims and a psychiatrist testifying for the defence.

Having the Crown’s psychiatrist recommending a long-term offender designation “is a lot better than dangerous offender,” Leone’s lawyer Andrew Bradie told reporters outside court.

A dangerous offender tag carries with it the equivalent of a life sentence with an indefinite term of incarceration, while a long-term offender sentence comes with a period in custody (two years minimum) followed by a community supervision order of up to 10 years.

Klassen said that Leone — by not accepting responsibility, with his HIV-positive status and likelihood “he’ll want to resume sexual activities” in the future — represents a threat to the community.

“If there’s a slip, it can be serious,” he said, adding Leone lacks the ability to “self-manage” his sexual behaviour.

Klassen said he was “struck” in interviews with Leone and his father that both “separated legal from moral” in what Carl did, each telling the psychiatrist they were unaware that what Carl was doing was criminal.

At the least, Klassen testified, Carl displayed “a shocking lack of empathy for the people he was in relationships with.”

Some of those women are expected to testify today on the impact Leone’s behaviour had on them. Klassen suggested Leone may be suffering from “muted sexual sadism.”

Klassen, who has presented close to 100 risk assessment cases in criminal court proceedings, said he had “very little confidence I was getting full answers from Mr. Leone.”

He said Leone agreed to speak with him but was “guarded and evasive” and “did not give me permission to speak to persons outside his family.”

Klassen spoke with Leone’s father and sister, but said both interviews were characterized by “denial and minimization” of Carl’s crimes. He said a “major factor” in their behaviour may have been a pending civil suit against the family.

Last spring, Windsor, Ontario businessman Carl Leone, 32, pleaded guilty to 15 counts of aggravated sexual assault for having unprotected sex without disclosing his HIV-positive status. Five of those 15 women were later found to be HIV-positive.

The judge has three options: “sentence Leone to a set number of years for his crimes; designate him a long-term offender with a period in custody followed by a community supervision order with conditions for a period of up to 10 years; or designate him a dangerous offender, the equivalent of a life sentence with an indefinite term of incarceration.”

Full story from the Windsor Star on canada.com.

A second story with further details on canada.com (December 20th).