Posted on 02/11/2003 11:07:42 PM PST by CounterCounterCulture
Edited on 04/13/2004 3:30:20 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
Minutes before he was to be jailed, a Sunnyvale man slashed his neck and wrist with a knife he smuggled into a Palo Alto courtroom Tuesday, screaming ``Don't touch my blood! I have AIDS!''
Deputies struggled with Kevin James Stevenson as the man's blood splashed on them from the opened artery in his neck.
(Excerpt) Read more at bayarea.com ...
Minutes before he was to be jailed Tuesday, a Sunnyvale man slashed his neck and wrist with a small knife he smuggled into a Palo Alto courtroom and screamed, ``Don't touch my blood! I have AIDS!''
Stunned deputies struggled with Kevin James Stevenson as blood splashed on them from an opened artery in his neck. Judge Diane Northway pressed a panic button alerting courthouse security to the chaos in Department 89.
Minutes later, Stevenson, 38, was rushed from the Santa Clara County Superior Court's north county branch on a stretcher. Stevenson, who has AIDS and hepatitis B and C, was in critical but stable condition and under police guard at Stanford University Hospital late Tuesday.
Court officials and the county sheriff's department promised to investigate how Stevenson managed to carry the knife past metal detectors and guards at the courthouse door.
``I've been practicing law for 30 years and I've never seen anything like this,'' said his attorney, Kent Russell. ``Blood was just pouring out of him. There were puddles and puddles of blood.''
Until about 2:30 p.m., it was a typical afternoon felony court session. There had been five appearances. Stevenson was up. His lawyer was arguing what looked to be a lost cause.
Stevenson had already been convicted of a 1999 drug felony. He had been sentenced in 2001 to serve four years in prison. But Stevenson had AIDS, dementia and drug problems. His lawyer had argued that any prison time would kill him. So Northway had agreed to allow him to remain free -- monitored by an electronic ankle bracelet -- while awaiting the results of his appeal.
But on Jan. 4, Stevenson was arrested for allegedly passing a counterfeit bill at a Home Depot and pushing a cashier.
Although Northway had told lawyers before the hearing that she had decided to send Stevenson to jail, Russell and prosecutor Max Zarzana were arguing in court over whether he should be freed. Suddenly a defense attorney in the courtroom shouted, ``Bailiff! Bailiff! Oh, my God!''
Everyone looked up and saw Stevenson, standing up in the front of the gallery section of the courtroom, vigorously slashing his throat.
``No! No! No! I'm not going to jail! Don't touch me! I have AIDS,'' he yelled.
Russell stood there, shocked. Zarzana backed away, horrified.
Sheriff's Deputy Paul Jensen ran to Stevenson and grabbed his hands as the defendant's blood splattered all over his beige uniform and hands.
Los Altos police officer Mark Thomsen, who was there for a preliminary hearing, jumped in to help. Blood splashed everywhere.
After changing their bloody clothes, the officers were checked by medical personnel. Doctors were recommending that people in the courtroom disinfect the bottoms of their shoes.
Although the chances of AIDS transmission are statistically small -- less than 0.09 percent if the person's skin has not been cut, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta -- there is still a risk.
``The later the stage in the disease, the more out of control it is, the greater the risk because there's more virus circulating in the blood,'' said Dr. Mark Lillo, an infectious disease specialist at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Santa Clara.
Prosecutor Zarzana and others praised the quick reactions of the officers.
``This man was covered in toxic blood and these deputies leaped up and stopped it from spreading to anyone,'' Zarzana said. ``They risked their lives.''
No one could explain late Tuesday how Stevenson, who carried a metal cane, had managed to smuggle the metal knife into the courthouse.
The bizarre incident comes four months after metal detectors were installed at the Grant Avenue courthouse, as part of a larger courtwide security improvement project.
Superior Court Judge Jack Komar, who heads the local bench's courthouse security committee, said the judges will conduct an inquiry into what happened. But Komar, as well as Presiding Superior Court Judge Tom Hansen, said at this point they do not believe there are any shortcomings in the security setup.
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Mercury News Staff Writers Joshua L. Kwan and Howard Mintz contributed to this report.
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