DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An appeals court has refused to order a lower sentence for a former Iowa State University scientist who faked AIDS vaccine research results.
Dong-Pyou Han had been sentenced in July to serve 57 months in prison. The Des Moines Register reports that Han’s lawyer said in his appeal that the sentence was unreasonable. The appellate court disagreed in its ruling this week.
Han entered a plea agreement in February admitting guilt to two counts of making false statements.
A group of researchers at Harvard University found in January 2013 the promising results Han and his research team had reported were achieved with rabbit blood spiked with human antibodies.