adminA New York policeman dubbed the “Cannibal Cop” after plotting to kidnap, rape, and eat women has been freed, after lawyers argued people have the right to fantasise.
Thirty-year-old Gilberto Valle was awaiting sentence following his conviction last year, after a trial heard how he had talked of eating “girl meat” in online chats and kept a database of women he plotted to rape, kill and cook.
Prosecutors also said he had searched the internet for homemade recipes for chloroform to subdue victims, and recipes for cooking human flesh.
But his conviction was overturned by a judge after his defence team argued that the US Constitution gives people the right to fantasise free from government interference.
Prosecutors said Valle crossed the line from fantasy to reality by taking specific action in conspiring to kidnap women, but his lawyers had argued that Valle was merely engaged in online fantasy role playing.
“The evidentiary record is such that it is more likely than not the case that all of Valle’s Internet communications about kidnapping are fantasy role-play”
They added he had never acted after almost a year of fantasising about kidnapping, murdering and eating around two dozen women, including his estranged wife, and District Judge Paul Gardephe acquitted him on a charge of conspiracy to kidnap.
Judge Gardephe said: “The evidentiary record is such that it is more likely than not the case that all of Valle’s Internet communications about kidnapping are fantasy role-play.”
A lesser charge of improperly accessing a law enforcement database – which prosecutors said Valle used to help find an intended victim – was upheld. That could carry a one-year prison sentence, although Valle has already spent more than 18 months in jail.
Following the ruling Valle, wearing jail-issued blue trousers and top, hugged his lawyers and nodded to family members. His lawyer Julia Gatto said her client was “guilty of nothing more than very unconventional thoughts”, adding: “We don’t put people in jail for their thoughts.”
Valle’s mother, Elizabeth, said after the hearing that she planned to spend a lot of time with her son and “cook him his favourite meal.”
The judge ordered Valle to be released on a $100,000 bail, and said he would be subject to home detention with GPS monitoring, mental health treatment and could have no access to the internet. – DailyMail.
derick.khumalo