Ark. Code Ann. » Title 5 Chapter 14
Arkansas Code Annotated

Ark. Code Ann. § 5-14-123 (2026)

Exposing another person to human immunodeficiency virus

✓ current as of May 2026
Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section JustiaArk. Code CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar
  1. A person with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome or who tests positive for the presence of human immunodeficiency virus antigen or antibodies is infectious to another person through the exchange of a body fluid during sexual intercourse and through the parenteral transfer of blood or a blood product and under these circumstances is a danger to the public.
  2. A person commits the offense of exposing another person to human immunodeficiency virus if the person knows he or she has tested positive for human immunodeficiency virus and exposes another person to human immunodeficiency virus infection through the parenteral transfer of blood or a blood product or engages in sexual penetration with another person without first having informed the other person of the presence of human immunodeficiency virus.
    1. As used in this section, “sexual penetration” means sexual intercourse, cunnilingus, fellatio, anal intercourse, or any other intrusion, however slight, of any part of a person's body or of any object into a genital or anal opening of another person's body.
    2. However, emission of semen is not required.
  4. Exposing another person to human immunodeficiency virus is a Class A felony.

History. Acts 1989, No. 614, §§ 1, 2.

Publisher's Notes. Acts 1989, No. 614, § 1, is also codified as §§ 20-15-904(a) and 16-82-101(a).

Research References

Ark. L. Notes.

Closen, The Arkansas Criminal HIV Exposure Law: Statutory Issues, Public Policy Concerns, and Constitutional Objections, 1993 Ark. L. Notes 47.

Ark. L. Rev.

Case Note, Criminal Liability for Attempting to Inflict the AIDS Virus: Possibilities in Arkansas' Future, 45 Ark. L. Rev. 505.

Criminalization of an Epidemic: HIV-AIDS and Criminal Exposure Laws, 46 Ark. L. Rev. 921.

U. Ark. Little Rock L.J.

Survey, Criminal Law, 12 U. Ark. Little Rock L.J. 617.

Case Notes

Evidence.

The trial court properly refused to allow the defendant to ask questions concerning the victim's past sexual encounters where the defendant did not proffer evidence that the suspected sexual partners had the virus or that the victim contracted the virus by anything other than the relationship she had with the defendant. Weaver v. State, 56 Ark. App. 104, 939 S.W.2d 316 (1997).

Where the evidence showed that defendant had vaginal sexual intercourse with a child, and he had been diagnosed with the Human Immuno-Deficiency Virus, there was sufficient evidence to support his conviction under this section. White v. State, 370 Ark. 284, 259 S.W.3d 410 (2007).

Severance.

Trial court was not required to sever a charge for exposure to the Human Immuno-Deficiency Virus (HIV) under Ark. R. Crim. P. 22.2 because the exposure to HIV was committed as part of a single scheme with a sexual assault in the fourth degree. It was discretionary whether or not to sever under Rule 22.2(b)(i). White v. State, 370 Ark. 284, 259 S.W.3d 410 (2007).

Subpoena.

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 does not limit a state's authority to investigate crimes; therefore, there was no error committed by the prosecution's decision to subpoena a nurse practitioner to testify that defendant had tested positive for the Human Immuno-Deficiency Virus. White v. State, 370 Ark. 284, 259 S.W.3d 410 (2007).

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 6 cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1997–2021 · leading case: Maxwell Todd Howton v. State of Arkansas, 2021 Ark. App. 86 (Ark. Ct. App. 2021).
Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment
Maxwell Todd Howton v. State of Arkansas, 2021 Ark. App. 86 (Ark. Ct. App. 2021). · cites it 34× “60CR-18-3051] STATE OF ARKANSAS HONORABLE LEON JOHNSON, APPELLEE JUDGE AFFIRMED STEPHANIE POTTER BARRETT, Judge Appellant, Max Howton, appeals from a judgment of conviction entered following his conditional guilty plea to two counts of knowingly exposing another person to human…”
White v. State, 259 S.W.3d 410 (Ark. 2007). · cites it 6× “See Ark. Code Ann. § 5-14-123 (b) (Repl. 2006).”
Fells v. State, 207 S.W.3d 498 (Ark. 2005). · cites it 4× “Fells wished to develop a defense at trial that was to show S.H.”
Weaver v. State, 990 S.W.2d 572 (Ark. Ct. App. 1999). · cites it 6× “Pierre Weaver was charged with three counts of exposing another person to HIV in violation of Ark. Code Ann. § 5-14-123 (Repl. 1993). He was found guilty of one count and was sentenced to thirty years in the Arkansas Department of Correction.”
Weaver v. State, 939 S.W.2d 316 (Ark. Ct. App. 1997). · cites it 2× “Appellant was convicted of exposing another to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in violation of Ark. Code Ann. § 5-14-123 (Repl. 1993) and was sentenced to thirty years in the Arkansas Department of Correction.”
Fountain v. State, 285 S.W.3d 706 (Ark. Ct. App. 2008). “performance by a child, § 5-27-403; (m) Promoting prostitution in the first degree, § 5-70-104; (n) Stalking when ordered by the sentencing court to register as a sex offender, § 5-71-229; (o) Indecent exposure, § 5-14-112, if a felony level offense; (p) Exposing another person…”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.