A federal judge tossed a convicted robber’s lawsuit after finding he couldn’t prove prison officials were malicious when they mistakenly told his wife he was infected with HIV, ending his marriage.
Jeffrey Miner, a Bronx native who is serving 16 years at Green Haven Correctional Facility, sued the state Health and Correction departments and prison health officials for $350,000 after a nurse gave the wrong letter to his wife, Norma Miner Vellon, during an overnight visit in January 2002.
Miner, who has hepatitis C, had agreed to allow health officials to inform his wife about his sexually transmitted disease. But nurse Cathy Metzler accidentally printed out a form letter saying Miner had HIV.
Metzler discovered her mistake, and prison officials wrote Vellon to set the record straight.
Five months later, Vellon filed for divorce, on the grounds that her husband had been locked up more than three years.