DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A man convicted of having unprotected sex with four people while knowing he carried the virus that causes AIDS was denied appeals by the Iowa Supreme Court Aug. 4.

“Just like the robber carrying a gun or a knife, a defendant infected with HIV is armed with a dangerous virus capable of inflicting serious injury or death on the victim,” the court said.

In coming to that conclusion, the court upheld the 50-year prison sentences for Adam Donald Musser, 25, of Iowa City.

Court documents indicate Musser learned in July 2000 that he carried HIV after being tested at a free health clinic. Knowing that he carried the virus and was taking medication for it, he proceeded to have unprotected sex on several occasions with different partners.

At least one woman who testified that she had sex with Musser reports she now carries HIV.

Musser was convicted in all four cases and sentenced to 25 years for each. The district court, however, ordered him to serve three of the sentences concurrently, in addition to the fourth case.

Iowa Department of Corrections documents said Musser is an inmate at the state prison in Newton.

Musser raised numerous constitutional arguments in his appeal.

For example, he attempted to use a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down a Texas state law that prohibited same-sex couples from engaging in sexual activity.

In that ruling, the nation’s highest court ruled that the Texas law attempted to control sexual activity among consenting partners, which violated citizens’ right to liberty.

The Iowa Supreme Court said Aug. 3 the cases differ in that the Texas case did not involve a person who might be injured.

“Surely it cannot be disputed that one considering having sexual intercourse with another would want to know whether the other person is infected with HIV prior to engaging in such intimate contact,” the court wrote. “Consent in the absence of such knowledge is certainly not a full and knowing consent as was present in [the Texas case].”

Musser also claimed Iowa’s law requiring a carrier of HIV to notify a partner violates the First Amendment protection against forcing speech against one’s will. The court ruled that the state law promotes a compelling state interest and is narrow enough in scope to be constitutional.

The court also ruled against claims that the state law is too vague or too broad.

Musser claimed the law is so broad that it chills the exercise of an infected persons’ freedom of association. It could, he said, prevent someone from sweating on another during a basketball game or from kissing.

The court said the statute clearly defines the contact as exchange of body fluids that could result in the transmission of HIV.

Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, a New York-based gay civil rights advocate, said 34 states have laws against the intentional transmission of HIV.

Musser’s lawyer, Linda Del Gallo, declined to comment.