Frederick Man Sentenced to 9 Years For Knowingly Transmitting HIV, Assault

Frederick – This morning, Frederick Circuit Court Judge Julia A. Martz-Fisher sentenced Rudolph Jericho Smith, age 37, of Frederick, MD to 30 years, suspending all but 9 years active in the Division of Corrections for assault and knowingly transferring HIV to three women. Upon release, he must serve 5 years of probation. Smith entered an Alford plea to 3 Counts of Second Degree Assault and 3 Counts of Knowingly Attempting to Transfer HIV on September 13, 2019. An Alford plea is a type of guilty plea, where the defendant does not formally admit guilt, but acknowledges that the State has sufficient evidence to convict them.

The Frederick Police Department began an investigation into Rudolph Smith during the summer of 2017, when separate women disclosed their belief that Rudolph Smith had infected them with HIV. Considerable time in the investigation was spent trying to determine whether or not Mr. Smith was HIV positive, and whether he was aware of that fact. It was eventually established that Rudolph Smith was aware that he was HIV-positive but continued to have unprotected sex with women without informing them of his status.

In response to today’s above the guidelines sentence, State’s Attorney Charlie Smith reacted, “While HIV is not what it was 15 years ago with effective treatments that now exist, these victims will be impacted by this defendant’s actions for the rest of their lives.”

The State was represented by Chief Counsel Joyce King and Assistant State’s Attorney Brett Engler.