Ohio Man Acquitted Of Stalking Actress Gwyneth Paltrow
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A jury Wednesday acquitted an Ohio man of stalking Oscar-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow.
Dante Michael Soiu sent the star 66 letters and packages between April 2014 and February 2015, prosecutors claimed.
He told jurors last week that his letters to Paltrow were "a matter of seeking forgiveness for what I'd done 17 years ago." It was "part of the AA program...making amends."
In 2000, Soiu was convicted of stalking the actress. But a judge determined that he was insane at the time of the crime and sent him to a mental hospital. In the previous case, the 66-year-old man was accused of sending Paltrow pornographic messages and sex toys in 1999 and 2000.
In the latest trial, Deputy District Attorney Wendy Segall called it "a case of a love-obsessional stalker that is never going away."
"He wants to marry her to save her. That is creepy and scary and he has never let go of that belief," Segall told jurors."Reject me or my words and God will curse you to your face. Vengeance is the Lord's," Segall read from one of Soiu's letters.
Defense attorney Lynda Westlund argued that Soiu sent Paltrow letters simply to express his Christian beliefs.
The 43-year-old actress testified that she has "been dealing with this for 17 years" and feared for her and her two children's safety.
