L.A.P. v. State, 62 So. 3d 693 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2011)

This Florida District Court of Appeal decision reversed a conviction for violating Florida’s HIV criminalization statute. Florida criminal code’s section 384.24(2) makes it a crime for any person with knowledge of their HIV positive status to have sexual intercourse with another person without prior disclosure of their status. Defendant L.A.P. was convicted under this statute after she engaged in oral sex and digital penetration of the vagina with a female partner without informing her partner that she had HIV. On appeal, the court held that “sexual intercourse” is an unambiguous phrase that must be given its plain meaning, and that it necessarily entails penile-vaginal penetration. Since the relevant acts of this case occurred between two women and did not involve penile-vaginal penetration, the court found that L.A.P. did not violate the statute and reversed her conviction.