United States v. Valle

United States v. Valle was a criminal case in the Southern District of New York concerning Gilberto Valle, a New York City Police Department officer who had discussed on online fetish chatrooms his fantasies about kidnapping, torturing, raping, killing, and cannibalizing various women he knew, and had used a police database to find the addresses of some. Dubbed the "Cannibal Cop" by the media, Valle was convicted by a jury of conspiracy to commit kidnapping and, for the use of the police database, violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). The presiding judge, however, acquitted Valle on the conspiracy charges notwithstanding the verdict, ruling that the prosecution had not proven that Valle's online communications went beyond "fantasy role-play". On appeal, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld the judge's judgment of acquittal and further ruled Valle's misuse of the police database did not constitute a violation of the CFAA, thus acquitting him of the lesser charge.

United States v. Valle
CourtUnited States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedDecember 3, 2015
Citation(s)807 F.3d 508, 40 Int'l Env't Rep. (BNA) 1735
Case history
Appealed fromSouthern District of New York
Court membership
Judges sittingChester J. Straub, Barrington D. Parker Jr., Susan L. Carney
Case opinions
MajorityParker, joined by Carney
DissentStraub

The case drew widespread attention for its unusual nature and for the question it posed of at what point exploration of dark fetishes becomes criminal conspiracy.[1] Valle spent 21 months in prison between his arrest and the conclusion of his trial, seven of them in solitary confinement.[2] The case was later the subject of the documentary Thought Crimes: The Case of the Cannibal Cop.

Background

Gilberto Valle
Gilberto Valle
Born
Gilberto Valle III

April 14, 1984, 39 years old
Queens, New York, U.S
NationalityAmerican
Occupations
  • Construction company employee[3]
  • Novelist[3]
  • Police officer (former)
SpouseKathleen Mangan
​
​
(m. 2010; div. 2013)​
Children1

Gilberto Valle III was born on April 14, 1984 [4] His parents separated when he was young. He was raised in Middle Village, Queens, New York, and attended Archbishop Molloy High School.[5][6] He attended the University of Maryland, graduating in 2006 with a degree in psychology.[7]

Valle joined the New York City Police Department in 2006, and was assigned to the 26th Precinct in Morningside Heights, Manhattan. He met a woman on the dating website OkCupid and married her in Spokane, Washington, in 2010. They had a daughter in early 2012.[8]

Dark Fetish Net

After Valle's daughter was born, he became active on Dark Fetish Net, a forum dedicated to sexual fetishes and fantasies involving torture, rape, murder and cannibalism.[9] He chatted with 24 other users about kidnapping, raping, torturing, killing, and cannibalizing more than 100 women, including his wife.[10] In 21 of the 24 conversations, Valle made clear that what he was saying was fantasy, writing in one email conversation, "No matter what I say, it's make believe ... I just have a world in my mind".[11][12] Valle's attitude in the other three conversations ranged from ambiguity about his intentions to claiming that he was sincere.[11]

Investigation and arrest

Valle's wife discovered his Dark Fetish Net posts and reported him to the police. On October 25, 2012, Valle was arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit kidnapping.[13] He was fired from the NYPD following his arrest.[14]

Trial and judgment of acquittal

Valle faced a maximum of life in prison for the conspiracy charge, and a maximum of five years for accessing the federal National Crime Information Center database without authorization. Valle's wife testified against him during the trial.[8] Throughout the trial, Valle claimed that the chat room communications were mere fantasy, and that he had no intention of acting on them.[8] He was found guilty of both charges in March 2013.[14]

Judge Paul G. Gardephe of Federal District Court overturned Valle's conviction on the conspiracy charge in June 2014, saying the evidence supported his contention that he was engaged in only "fantasy role-play". Valle had, at this point, served 21 months in prison.[15] The lesser conviction regarding the database remained standing, but Valle was sentenced to time served and released.[14] The government appealed the dismissal of the conspiracy charge to the Second Circuit.[16]

Appeal to the Second Circuit

The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled on December 3, 2015, regarding the two questions on appeal:

The Government appeals from the district court's judgment of acquittal on the conspiracy count, and Valle separately appeals from the judgment of conviction on the CFAA count. Because we agree that there was insufficient evidence as to the existence of a genuine agreement to kidnap and of Valle's specific intent to commit a kidnapping, we affirm the district court's judgment of acquittal on the conspiracy count. Because we find that the district court's construction of the CFAA violates the rule of lenity, we reverse the judgment of conviction on the CFAA count.[17]

Media

References
  1. Benjamin Weiser, Officer's Conviction in Cannibalism Case Overturned, The New York Times (July 1, 2014).
  2. Benjamin Mueller, No More Jail Time in New York Cannibal Case, The New York Times (November 13, 2014).
  3. Sommerfeldt, Chris (January 8, 2018). "Disgraced NYPD 'Cannibal Cop' releases 'extremely violent' horror novel, hopes to make a living off writing". Daily News. Archived from the original on October 26, 2021. Retrieved June 24, 2022.
  4. M. Alex Johnson, Two British men arrested in New York 'cannibal cop' case, NBC News (March 1, 2013).
  5. Erin Lee Carr, Thought Crimes: The Case of the Cannibal Cop, HBO Documentary Films at 5:32 (2015).
  6. Benjamin Weiser, At Trial, Officer's Friend Recalls Abduction Threat, The New York Times (February 26, 2013).
  7. Michael S. Rosenwald, Alleged cannibal cop is UMd grad, Washington Post (October 26, 2012).
  8. Robert Gearty & Dareh Gregorian, 'Cannibal Cop's' wife takes the stand as horrific details of former NYPD officer's twisted bondage fetish emerge in first day of trial, New York Daily News (February 25, 2013).
  9. Carr at 1:32.
  10. "NYC 'cannibal cop' case man Gilberto Valle sentenced on lesser charge., bbc.com (13 November 2014).
  11. Carr at 8:50.
  12. Deborah Feyerick, Graphic e-mails read at New York cannibalism plot trial, CNN (February 28, 2013).
  13. Joseph Goldstein, Officer Plotted to Abduct, Cook and Eat Women, Authorities Say, The New York Times (October 26, 2014).
  14. "NY policeman Gilberto Valle acquitted in cannibal plot" Archived October 2, 2018, at the Wayback Machine bbc.com. July 1, 2014.
  15. Benjamin Weiser, Gilberto Valle, Ex-New York Police Officer Talks About His Cannibalism Fantasies in Film, The New York Times (April 16, 2015).
  16. United States v. Gilberto Valle, Electronic Frontier Foundation (March 6, 2015).
  17. United States v. Gilberto Valle, No. 14‐2710‐cr and No. 14‐4396‐cr (2015). "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved December 27, 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  18. Gilberto Valle, Raw Deal: The Untold Story Of NYPD's "Cannibal Cop" (2016).
  19. Jason Newman, 'Cannibal Cop' Doc Questions Line Between Fantasy and Murder, Rolling Stone (May 5, 2015).
  20. Allison Leotta, SVU's 'Thought Criminal', Huffington Post (May 15, 2014).
  21. David Britton, Jena Friedman pulls no punches on 'Soft Focus', The Daily Dot (February 18, 2018).
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