cjusa.org

ATLANTA ? A panel of federal judges appeared skeptical Wednesday of the Atlanta police department’s decision to reject a job application from an HIV-infected man.

The 40-year-old man sued the city in 2010, claiming he was denied a police officer job solely because he has the virus. Atlanta attorneys argued there are other officers on the force with HIV, and said the police department does not have a blanket policy disqualifying candidates with the virus. Gay rights groups and police agencies are closely following the case.

One of the three judges signaled the lawsuit would likely be sent back to a lower judge to reconsider.

“I don’t see how we can avoid a remand in this case,” Circuit Judge R. Lanier Anderson said.

The judges will issue a ruling later.

The man sued under the pseudonym Richard Roe and has requested anonymity because he believes his medical condition could prevent him from other job opportunities. He said in an interview he was a former criminal investigator with the city of Los Angeles who discovered he had HIV in 1997, but that it didn’t hinder his ability to perform his duties.

Roe moved to Atlanta to find a better job and joined the city’s taxicab enforcement unit. In January 2006, he decided he wanted to join the police force. He passed a series of tests, but hit a snag when a blood test revealed he had the virus that causes AIDS.

The doctor didn’t do any more tests, according to records, and recommended to the city that he have “no physical contact or involvement with individuals.”

Atlanta attorneys said the city follows the recommendation of the physicians who examine candidates, and in this case, the doctor advised the department to limit Roe’s interaction with the public.

“We’re told that he can’t do the job,” said Robert Godfrey, a city attorney. “We have to assume when a doctor tells us this, he can’t perform the essential duties.”

Roe’s attorney, Scott Schoettes of gay rights group Lambda Legal, said there was no evidence that Roe posed a threat to the health and safety of others. The city violated the federal Americans with Disabilities Act by not fully vetting his client, Schoettes said.

Roe’s advocates said the city’s position perpetuates myths about HIV that have persisted for three decades. Modern medical advances have made the disease a manageable condition that in many cases won’t affect job performance even in the most demanding fields, they said.

“I really see an opportunity for the city of Atlanta to make some drastic changes and move forward,” Roe said. “I think that’s what this whole case is about.”

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/aids/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_re_us/us_police_hiv_lawsuit

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LONDON (AP) ? News of the World journalists used phone hacking, harassment and lies to secure scoops on missing British schoolgirl Milly Dowler, police reported Monday, detailing a litany of abusive press practices.

In one incident, someone impersonated the teen’s mother and called a potential witness to ask for information about the 13-year-old, who was found dead months later in September 2002. British police did not specify who made the bogus call.

The new details about the News of the World’s relentless pursuit of information about the Dowler case, revealed in a letter to lawmakers released Monday, illuminate one of the most sordid episodes of the British phone hacking saga.

The scandal over illegal practices at the now-defunct tabloid exploded in July after the Guardian newspaper reported that the News of the World had intercepted Dowler’s voicemail messages while she was still considered missing.

The revelation that journalists had invaded a murdered girl’s privacy to score scoops horrified Britons and led to a cascade of lawsuits, resignations, arrests and official inquiries.

Surrey Police Deputy Chief Constable Jerry Kirkby, whose force investigated the girl’s disappearance, said in the letter that the News of the World freely admitted to police that they’d broken into Dowler’s voicemail, saying they had obtained her cell phone number and password from fellow schoolchildren.

Kirkby also said a potential witness called his force to complain that a News of the World reporter was harassing him for information. He said the reporter claimed to be working in “full cooperation” with police.

Kirkby said the “reporter’s assertion that he was working with the police was untrue.” The reporter’s name was redacted from the letter.

The most troubling incident outlined in Kikby’s letter was a pair of phone calls made to a recruitment agency by someone claiming to be the teenager’s mother, Sally Dowler, on April 13, 2002.

At the time, the News of the World wrongly believed Dowler had run away to find work with the agency and was staking out the premises with what one employee described as “hordes of reporters.”

Dowler family attorney Mark Lewis said in an email that Sally Dowler never made the call.

“No doubt there will be current investigations as to who that was,” he said.

Lewis also asked why Surrey Police did not act sooner to investigate the deception, saying that “no thought seems to have been given to the effect on the Dowler family.”

An email seeking comment from News International, the News of the World’s former publisher, was not immediately returned.

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Online:

Kirkby’s letter: http://bit.ly/wX8Nhn (PDF)

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-23-EU-Britain-Phone-Hacking/id-fa8380f875a44ef6b18bad3dd5ada079

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Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/44081731#44081731

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