NEW YORK – A federal judge has overturned the conviction of an ex-NYPD police officer accused of kidnapping, killing and eating young women.
The New York Times (http://nyti.ms/1nYL1PA ) says the judge ruled late Monday there was insufficient evidence to support the conviction of Gilberto Valle (VAL'-ee). He acquitted Valle of kidnapping conspiracy charges. Valle could have faced life in prison.
Valle was convicted in March 2013 and had not yet been sentenced.
A jury concluded he wasn't just fantasizing when he conversed online with others he had never met about killing and cooking his wife and others in a cannibalism plot.
Prosecutors had argued Valle took steps to carry out his plot, including looking up potential targets on a restricted law enforcement database.
The judge planned a hearing Tuesday on the case's status.
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Information from: The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com
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