Nushawn Williams
{{Short description|American convicted sex offender}}
{{Infobox criminal
| name = Nushawn Williams
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| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1976|11|1}}
| birth_place = Brooklyn, New York
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| alias = Shyteek Johnson
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Nushawn Williams (born November 1, 1976), also known as Shyteek Johnson, is an American convicted sex offender who admitted in 1997 to having unprotected sex with numerous girls and women after having been told that he was HIV positive. New York state and local public health officials stated that Williams had sex with up to 47 women in Chautauqua County and 50–75 in New York City. Williams said in a news interview that his actual number of sexual partners was up to 300.{{cite news |first=Michael |last=Cooper |title=Drifter Says He Had Sex With Up to 300 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/29/nyregion/drifter-says-he-had-sex-with-up-to-300.html |work=The New York Times |date=July 29, 1999 }}
Case history
Williams, a native of Brooklyn, led a life of crime since his childhood.{{cite news |first = Joe |last = Sexton |author-link = Joseph Sexton |title = After Childhood of Violence, A One-Man H.I.V. Epidemic |url = https://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/30/nyregion/after-childhood-of-violence-a-one-man-hiv-epidemic.html |work = The New York Times |date = October 30, 1997 }} The son of a drug-addicted mother, Williams dealt drugs and robbed from the elderly. Prior to his HIV-related conviction, he had three previous convictions for various street crimes. He used several aliases, including the name Shyteek Johnson, under which he was jailed for a drug offense before he faced the HIV transmission charges.{{cite news|last=Barron|first=James|title=Officials Link Man to 11 Teen-Agers With H.I.V.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/28/nyregion/officials-link-man-to-11-teen-agers-with-hiv.html|access-date=June 26, 2013|newspaper=The New York Times|date=October 28, 1997}}
Numerous reports indicate that Williams was a crack dealer who bragged of his gang-related activities and had a history of violence against women, including many of the women he infected.{{cite news |first = Jennifer |last = Frey |title = Jamestown and the Story of 'Nushawn's Girls' |url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/features/jamestown0601.htm |newspaper = The Washington Post |date = June 1, 1999 }}{{cite news |first = Jennifer |last = Tanaka |author2=Gregory Beals |title = The Victims' Stories: He Charmed The Lost And The Unwanted |url = http://www.newsweek.com/id/97360 |work = Newsweek |date = November 10, 1997 }} Williams' braggadocio and violence belied the ease with which he attracted women of all races and socioeconomic classes, though most of his victims were those with socioeconomic or emotional problems. News reports make numerous mentions of his charming interpersonal style with women. Women quoted in news stories often pointed to Williams' ability to make them feel special and loved, even while exercising violent control over their actions. In the case of his youngest victim, who was 13, Williams reportedly pursued a relationship for several months.
Williams stated that he believed health officials had lied to him when they informed him of his HIV status in 1996. He was arrested on drug charges in September 1997.
He was the primary cause of an HIV micro-epidemic in Chautauqua County. He infected at least 14 women in Chautauqua County with HIV, including numerous teenagers. In 1999, he pleaded guilty to two counts of statutory rape (two of his victims were underage) and one count of reckless endangerment in the first degree for having unprotected sex with a woman who did not know his HIV status. He received a four-to-12-year sentence. Two of Williams' children in Chautauqua County were born with HIV, raising the number of known cases linked to Williams to 16.{{cite news |first = Richard |last = Perez-Pena |title = Two Births Lengthen List In One-Man H.I.V. Spree |url = https://www.nytimes.com/1998/01/29/nyregion/two-births-lengthen-list-in-one-man-hiv-spree.html |work = The New York Times |date = January 29, 1998 }} Many of these women continued to have unprotected sex after their diagnosis, spreading the disease to new boyfriends. An additional 10 of Williams's sexual partners in New York City have been found to be HIV-positive, though it is unclear if Williams is the source of these infections, since the city's population makes it harder to track.
Case impact
His case received widespread media attention and ignited a debate over whether knowingly spreading HIV could be viewed as a crime as well as debates over the promiscuous sexuality of U.S. culture and the role of sex education in American high schools. Many stated that the maximum sentence Williams could receive was unduly light, leading then-New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani to call for Williams to be tried for "attempted murder, or worse."{{Cite news|title=Trail of Arrests, H.I.V. Fears And a Woman's Tale of Love |first=Jane |last=Gross |date=October 29, 1997 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/29/nyregion/trail-of-arrests-hiv-fears-and-a-woman-s-tale-of-love.html}}
The case also raised questions as to whether the state should continue to respect the anonymity of those who test positive for HIV. Prior to the Williams case, health officials believed that publicizing the names of HIV-positive individuals would result in a reduction in HIV testing and subject HIV-positive individuals, particularly members of the gay community, to increased social stigma.
As a result of the Williams case, New York passed a law that mandated doctors and laboratories to report the names of individuals who test positive for HIV. Reporting of partners to physicians is voluntary, but doctors are mandated to report the names of any known partners to the NYS Department of Health. Partners may be notified without the permission of the patient, but the patient must be informed that their partners will be notified.{{cite web |url=https://www.health.ny.gov/diseases/aids/consumers/hiv_basics/100_questions/publichealthlaw.htm |title=Public Health Law Relating to HIV Reporting and Partner Notification |date=October 2013 |website=NYS Department of Health |access-date=March 29, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160404061742/https://www.health.ny.gov/diseases/aids/consumers/hiv_basics/100_questions/publichealthlaw.htm|archive-date=April 4, 2016}}
Continued imprisonment
In April 2010, New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo moved to block Williams' release from prison after 12 years and place him under civil confinement under a statute aimed at predatory sex offenders. A judge ordered him remanded to custody pending an outcome of a civil proceeding.{{cite news |first=Danny |last=Hakim |title=Man Who Spread HIV May Be Held |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/14/nyregion/14nushawn.html |work=The New York Times |date=April 13, 2010 |access-date=April 14, 2010}} By 2010, he had adopted the name Shyteek Johnson again.{{cite news|last=Martinez|first=Edecio|title=Nushawn Williams Spread HIV To 13 Women, and Did His Time; Will He Be Locked Up Forever?|date=April 30, 2010 |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nushawn-williams-spread-hiv-to-13-women-and-did-his-time-will-he-be-locked-up-forever/ |publisher=CBS News|access-date=August 10, 2020}}
{{As of|2020}}, he remains in civil commitment under Article 10 of New York's Mental Hygiene Law.{{cite news |url=https://www.thebody.com/article/nushawn-williams-served-his-time-prison-why-is-he-still-civilly-confined |journal=The Body |author=Ryan Lee |date=June 3, 2020 |title=Nushawn Williams Served Out His HIV-Related Sentence in 2010. Why Is He Still Not Free? |access-date=August 10, 2020}}
References
{{Reflist|2}}
Further reading
- {{Cite book |title=Notorious H.I.V.: the media spectacle of Nushawn Williams |last=Shevory |first=Thomas C. |year=2004 |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |isbn=0-8166-4339-3}}
External links
- [http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/w/nushawn_j_williams/index.html Nushawn Williams news archive] at The New York Times
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Nushawn}}