I received an email last Summer from a woman claiming she’d been infected with HIV by a minister in her church and she wasn’t the only one… he was allegedly sexing several members of the congregation.
[READ: HIV Church Scandal: Did Clayton Minister Knowingly Spread HIV Throughout Congregation?]
Craig Lamar Davis, the defendant in question, was a married minister at Bishop Paul Morton’s Clayton county church when he had affairs with members of his congregation. He now faces two felony charges of ‘Reckless HIV,’ that could land him 20 years in prison after being accused of knowingly exposing at least 2 women to HIV.
Davis was once tested for HIV and came up positive, however his defense to the criminal accusations is almost laughable. His defense challenges the validity of HIV tests and says prosecutors will not be able to prove he is HIV positive or that he even had sex with those women.
You’ve got to hear this for yourself!
News footage + additional court details below…
WGCL-TV reports:
One of Davis’ accusers, Ronita McAfee, alleges she had sex with Davis several times but he didn’t tell her he was HIV positive until after their second sexual encounter.
“I think that somebody was very angry with me and that’s how this came about. Some very vicious things were said about me that are untrue,” said Davis.
Davis also has a similar case pending in Fulton County.
Turner said both accusers will testify in the Clayton County case.
During an exclusive interview with CBS Atlanta, Davis denied the allegations.
“This young lady is attempting to basically spread lies about me. I’ve never been a pastor. I wasn’t a pastor when I met her,” said Davis.
The District Attorney got straight to the point in her opening statement though, explaining to jurors that Davis was HIV-positive for almost a decade before a doctor diagnosed and began treating him in 2005.
You’re going to see in 2012 that 38-year-old Ronita McAfee wasn’t told about the deadly weapon of HIV that the defendant carries with him,” said Clayton County prosecutor Kathryn Powers.
“He wasn’t just HIV-positive, by the time she [the doctor] saw him in 2005 he was in full-blown AIDS,” said Powers.
Prosecutors said Davis, who is now divorced, was a married minister when he had an affair with two women and didn’t tell them he was HIV-positive.
Davis is now claiming he’s not a minister and will defend the allegations in both Fulton County and in Clayton County courts.
“As Ronita was upset, panicky, thoughts running through her mind, the defendant’s reaction was to tell her, ‘don’t worry about it. It’s not a death sentence. Don’t you worry about it. There is medicine you can take if you catch it early,'” said Powers.
Two women claim Davis exposed them to HIV. Ronita McAfee, the woman at the center of the Clayton case has yet to test positive. The other, a Fulton County warehouse employee and mother of two grown daughters, was not so lucky.
The defense contends that Davis stuck by the Fulton County woman even after she told him she had contracted the virus. At one point, the defense called for a mistrial, which the judge prompted denied, after the woman mentioned Davis had been in prison, saying the word was prejudicial. Davis, in fact, had been in jail.
She said that despite their intimacy, he never told her he had HIV, and it wasn?t until a routine checkup with her doctor in Jan. 2012 that she learned she had contracted the HIV virus.
The woman on Thursday recalled the volatile conversation she had with Davis in her doctor?s office shortly after learning she had the virus.
She asked him: ‘Are you HIV positive?’
He said ?What are you talking about??
Woman: ‘I?m here at the doctor?s office. Are you (HIV) positive? What have you done to me?
Davis: ‘The test can?t be right.’
Woman: ‘Why didn?t you tell me this. You had no right to do this to me’, she recalled.?I haven?t been active with anybody else I haven?t had a blood transfusion . He?s the only one,? the witness told the jury. ?It was mind-blowing. He was so calm. He kept saying ?you?re not going to die?.
Only much later did he admit to her that he had contracted the virus in July 2011.
At that point she said ?whatever you do don?t do it to anyone else.? He was dismissive.
?He?d always be like ?Girl, whatever?,? she testified.
The women decided to go to the Atlanta police after her daughter brought Davis’ Facebook page to her attention. The page showed him with numerous women.
?I thought he was a minister,? she recalled her daughter telling her.
It was then, after she approached the authorities about her situation, that she learned about the Clayton County case against Davis.
This man needs to be UNDER the jail!! He admits he tested positive for HIV now his defense is that there are no accurate tests for the HIV virus? I’m so done right now! This is insane.
RELATED: HIV Church Scandal: Did This Minister Knowingly Spread HIV Throughout Congregation?