USDJ Judge Paul G. Gardephe granted former New York Police Department officer Gilberto Valle’s motion for a judgment of acquittal by overturning a jury’s conviction of engaging in a Kidnapping Conspiracy (Count One), but denied Valle’s motion for a judgment of acquittal or a new trial for his conviction of conducting a computer search of a federal database that went beyond his authorized access (Count Two). The Court ruled that this case reflects “the Internet age in which we live” and held that the United States government’s reliance on numerous Internet chats, in which Valle allegedly planned to kidnap, torture, rape, murder and cannibalize women was nothing more than a “fantasy” and not an actual conspiracy to commit the crimes alleged. The primary issued raised in Valle’s motion was whether the evidence and the reasonable inferences may be drawn from that evidence (i.e. the Internet chats) were such that a rational jury could find that criminal intent had crystallized. Did Valle and his alleged co-conspirators actually enter into an agreement to kidnap and physically abuse the targeted women? Justice Gardephe’s decision confirms that Valle did not and that his lack of criminal intent was evidenced by his “veritable avalanche of false, fictitious, and fantastical information concerning himself and the steps he had allegedly taken to facilitate a kidnapping.”
See decision here: http://www.nysd.uscourts.gov/cases/show.php?db=special&id=410