A Carroll County grand jury yesterday returned an indictment charging a Carroll man accused of raping his 8-year-old stepgrandson with assault with intent to murder.
The 18-count indictment, expected since last week, marks the first time that county prosecutors have used the charge against a person they claim knew he was carrying the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS.
The man, whose name is being withheld to shield the identity of the boy who accused him, had already been charged in Carroll District Court. The grand jury indictment moves the case to the Circuit Court and allows prosecutors to avoid a preliminary hearing, where they would have had to convince a judge that they had probable cause for prosecution.
The 46-year-old Upperco resident is being held on $100,000 bail at the Carroll County Detention Center. He has twice unsuccessfully argued for a lower bail. He will be given another bail review hearing once the indictment is served.
According to charging documents filed in District Court, the boy wrote a note to his mother in which he described sex acts in the man's attic. The boy told police that he had been assaulted for four hours.
The man married the boy's grandmother in September, said his lawyer, Judith S. Stainbrook. She said the two had known each other for some time, and the man proposed marriage so that when he dies of acquired immune deficiency syndrome, his wife would be the beneficiary of his life insurance policies.
If convicted of all charges against him, the man could be sentenced to more than 80 years in prison.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys say charges such as attempted murder and assault with intent to murder are becoming more common in cases involving people infected with HIV, nationally and in Maryland.