July 1, 2014 9:11 a.m. ET
A federal court judge overturned the kidnapping conspiracy conviction of a former NYPD officer accused in a cannibal plot and will hold a hearing Tuesday to discuss whether to release him on bail pending a new trial.
In a 118-page decision released Monday night, Manhattan federal judge Paul Gardephe ruled there was insufficient evidence to support the March 2013 conviction against the 28-year-old Gilberto Valle. The case that Mr. Valle planned to kidnap, rape, torture cook alive and even eat several women, including his wife, was built on emails and online postings he made on a fetish website.
Mr. Valle's lawyers argued at trial and in post-conviction motions to set aside the verdict that Mr. Valle was engaged in fantasy role playing—"dark improv theater"—and there was no evidence he ever intended to commit a crime.
"Despite the highly disturbing nature of Valle's deviant and depraved sexual interests, his chats and emails about these interests are not sufficient—standing alone—to make out the elements of conspiracy to commit kidnapping," the judge wrote.
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The judge also wrote that the evidence prosecutors presented at trial didn't demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that the former officer entered into a "genuine agreement to kidnap a woman, or that he specifically intended to commit a kidnapping."
The judge upheld Mr. Valle's conviction for illegally using a police database. Prosecutors argued that he allegedly used the database to collect information about potential victims.
He was fired from the NYPD. He has been held in jail since his arrest in October 2012.
Judge Gardephe will hold a hearing Tuesday to determine whether Mr. Valle will be released pending a new trial on the kidnapping charges.
"The Judge's well-reasoned decision validates what we have said since the beginning: there was no crime," Mr. Valle's attorney Julia Gatto said. "Gil Valle is innocent of any conspiracy. Gil is guilty of nothing more than having unconventional thoughts. But, we don't convict people, take away their liberty, and imprison them for their thoughts."
Write to Sean Gardiner at sean.gardiner@wsj.com
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