It didn't take a Chautauqua County jury long to determine that convicted HIV predator Nushawn Williams should remain civilly confined. The 12-member panel returned its verdict late Friday afternoon after just over an hour of deliberation. Court officials say the 36-year-old Williams was seeking to be released from state custody, citing a new test in Massachusetts that his defense lawyer says shows he's not HIV positive. In fact, his attorney claimed Williams was never HIV positive. He was found to have a "mental defect" after being convicted in the late 1990s for knowingly infecting nearly a dozen young women in Chautauqua County with the virus that causes AIDS. Williams, who now goes by the name Shyteek Johnson, completed a 12-year prison sentence in April 2010. But he will remain confined or heavily supervised by the state because he's deemed a "threat to society."
