Jurors Review Testimony In 'Cannibal Cop' Deliberations
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) - Jury deliberations continued Monday in the conspiracy case of the so-called "cannibal cop," Gilberto Valle.
The jury deliberated straight through the day without making a single request for evidence. The only request from the jury on Monday was for more coffee, WCBS 880's Irene Cornell reported.
The jury has had the case since Thursday and the deliberations have focused on the testimony of four women who the former NYPD officer spoke of as targets in his online chats about kidnapping and cannibalism, Cornell reported.
Valle named his wife Kathleen Mangan as a possible target for his macabre plot. As Cornell reported, Valle's wife testified that was so terrified in discovering his obsession with the Dark Fetish Network website that she turned him in to the FBI for wanting to kill her.
Jurors Review Testimony In 'Cannibal Cop' Deliberations
In his online chats, Valle, 28, also listed a college friend Kimberly Sauer as a possible first kidnapping victim. Other possible targets included another college friend who is a prosecutor in Ohio and Kathleen's schoolteacher friend.
The jury has already been given the transcripts of testimony given by his wife and the three other women.
The jury must weigh whether Valle was serious when he talked online about becoming a professional kidnapper, or if he was just engaging in fantasy and role-playing with like-minded individuals on the Internet.
Jurors were told they would have to determine that Valle committed at least one overt act and took real steps to carry out a kidnapping plot like the ones he discussed online in order to find him guilty of the most serious charge of kidnapping conspiracy.
Prosecutors argued the evidence proves this was a real plot, while Valle's defense team argued during the trial that this was all just an online fantasy.
Valle has been held without bail since his October arrest.
The government has conceded that Valle never met the purported Internet co-conspirators and no women were harmed.
Jurors heard testimony from Valle's estranged wife and from former classmates and other women who testified they knew Valle on a casual basis and never considered him dangerous. Their testimony was followed by evidence that all of them were the subjects of emails and chats describing how they could be snatched away and eaten.
In addition to the threat to kidnap, kill and eat women, Valle is also charged with improperly accessing a police database to track potential victims, officials said.
Valle had allegedly created a computer catalog with records of at least 100 women with their names, addresses and photos, according to the criminal complaint.
A conviction on the kidnapping count carries a possible life sentence.
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