The New York Times - Monday, May 6, 1991 -

IN FULFILLING CIVIC DUTY, JUROR FINDS NEW CASE

San Francisco, May 5-

In the drug-infested corners of this city, where AIDS advocates have for years exchanged clean syringes for dirty ones, an airline mechanic new to civil disobedience recently joined the rank of those breaking the law in the name of public health. He is Spero Saridakis, converted to the cause of needle exchange for AIDS prevention while serving as the jury foreman at a trial of two people charged with the misdemeanor offense of wrongfully distributing syringes. The case, in nearby Redwood City, finished in a mistrial on April 15 after jurors deadlocked 11-1 for acquittal. But that did not end the matter for Mr. Saridakis, a young man with bulging biceps and big ideas, who says he was so overwhelmed by the testimony that he had no moral choice but to do something about it. "I can't hide from what I learned," he said. "When I was chosen to be a juror, I was doing my civic duty. I feel now I am doing my civic duty again." In donning an "AIDS Brigade" T-shirt and taking to the streets, both here and in Redwood Ci

ty, Mr. Saridakis joined a loose network of people across the nation, many of them public health professionals, who openly defy the law because, they say, needle exchange prevents the spread of AIDS among intraveneous drug users, their sexual partners and their unborn children. The largest such effort, Prevention Point, distributes more than 8.000 syringes each week in San Francisco. When the program began, here in 1988, there was a flurry of arrests but no prosecutions. Lately, those passing out needles here have been allowed to do so with little more than a nod and a wink from law-enforcement officials.

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A JURY FOREMAN JOINS THE DEFENDANTS' GROUP AFTER THE TRIAL

Mr. Saridakis's first experience in Prevention Point was an eye-opener. In the shadow of San Francisco City Hall, in a park frequented by the homeless, the first man to approach the Prevention Point workers dumped 92 syringes in the red haz-ardous-waste bucket in exchange for the same number of sterile ones. He also accepted a fistful of condoms, a bottle of bleach, and cotton balls, all tools of AIDS prevention that the volonteers transport from corner to corner in an old baby buggy. :What we're doing in Redwood City is such a small thing," Mr. Saridakis said, marveling. "But to see some guy walk in with 92 rigs...". Mr. Saridakis, who is 33 years old, knew little about AIDS when he was summoned for jury duty. "I'd see things in the newspaper," he said. "But quite frankly, I was repulsed by it, and therefore I ignored it. A lot of mainstream people do that because they think they're not affected." "Mainstream" is a word Mr. Saridakis uses often to describe himself, but his résumé tells a more complicated st

ory. Ten years after high school, determined not "to pull wrenches for the rest of my life", Mr. Saridakis earned a philosophy degree at the University of California at Berkeley. This fall, he will begin law school, studying at night anf repairing the flight control systems of United Airlaines 747's and DC-10's during the day.

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ONCE REPULSED BY AIDS, HE NOW SWAPS NEEDLES TO FIGHT IT.

He brought his intellectual curiosity to the jury box. The prosecution called four witnesses: the two arresting officers, an official at a methadone clinic who objected to the needle exchange near her door and the head of the San Mateo County AIDS program, who testified under subpoena that needle exchange worked in limiting the spread of AIDS. The defence team used an unusual strategy, arguing that its clients, Joey Tranchina and Camille Anacabe, broke the law to prevent a greater danger. Among those testifying were public health officials and epidemiologists, former addicts and prostitutes, all of whom described the failures of drug treatment and AIDS education and the successes of needle-exchange. Mr. Saridakis said that he was won over by the unanimity of testimony and the absence of "even a scintilla of evidence that needle exchange was bad." After 10 hours of deliberation, all but one juror, an elderly man with a drug-abusing son, were on Mr. Saridakis's side. Mr. Saridakis tried everything to convert t

he holdout. He cut his finger in a demonstration of how the blood-borne disease is spread. He quoted Carl Jung on the origins of fanaticism and Albert Camus on the plague. All to no avail. Finally, Mr. Saridakis told the judje that the jury was hopelessly deadlocked. He said he decided at that moment to join the defendants in their illegal needle distribution. Now, Mr. Saridakis said his mother is worried that he will be dismissed from his job because of his stand, and she is alarmed by a series of crank telephone calls. His sister is unhappy about what he is doing because she believes that needle give-aways encourage drug abuse. And a few of his co-workers have made bigoted comments about AIDS. "They are just ignorant about the facts," Mr. Saridakis said. "I was like that too. Just give me five minutes with them. When they know what I know, they will agree with me."

by JANE GROSS - Special to the New York Times -