MONDAY, FEBRUARY 25. 2013
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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Opening statements begin in 'Cannibal Cop' case
CRIME
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — Gilberto Valle's mind is full of sick thoughts — and he wants a injury to know it.
The baby-faced tabloid sensation known as the "Cannibal Cop" is even expected to take the stand to make the case that it was all fantasy, that his online chats were so offensive, so over-the-top that they couldn't possibly be taken seriously.
The New York City police officer accused of kidnapping conspiracy admits to thinking about abducting, cooking and devouring young women. His own lawyer has shown prospective jurors a kinky staged photo of a woman trussed up in a roasting pan to test their tolerance for the officer's "weir proclivities"
If jurors were to believe that the countless people who visit fetish chat rooms were real cannibals, then where's the horrific feeding frenzy?
ASSOCIATED PRESS
It's a gambit that will begin to
play out Monday with opening statements in one of the city's most bizarre federal court cases in recent memory.
In this courtroom drawing, federal defender Julia Gatto requests bail for her client, New York City police officer Gilberto Valle, right, at Manhattan Federal Court in New York. The New York City police officer accused of kidnapping conspiracy admits to thinking about abducting, cooking and devouring young women.
Valle, a 28-year-old college graduate and father, was just another NYPD
possible life sentence.
patrolman until late last year, when he was charged with conspiring to kidnap a woman and unauthorized use of a law enforcement database.
"I'm planning on getting me some girl meat," he allegedly wrote in one chat room. "It's this November, for Thanksgiving. ... She's not a volunteer. She has to be abducted."
Beyond the tabloid headlines that blared "Finnest Young Cannibal" and "Cook em Danno," the accusations were startling and serious: The FBI, following a tip from Valle's estranged wife, unearthed an alleged plot to cook and eat dozens of women, all graphically detailed in a trail of emails, computer files and instant messages. A conviction on the kidnapping count carries a
Another purported target was an 18-year-old high school student who Valle wrote was "the most desirable piece of meat I've ever met" and was small enough to fit in his oven.
A criminal complaint claimed that Valle had created a computer file cataloging at least 100 women with their names, addresses and photos. And it accused him of illegally culling some of the information from the restricted law enforcement database and doing surveillance on some of his potential victims.
"The government's case is nothing more than a hard drive full of disturbing, sexually deviant talk..."
A New Jersey man also was charged with scheming with Valle to kidnap, rape and murder a Manhattan woman and is awaiting trial. He, too, says he intended no harm.
JULIA GATTO defense attorney of Gilberto Valle
At a bail hearing,
prosecutors insisted
Valle was a would-be
killer who should
be jailed without
bail. A
judge agreed, calling the charges "profoundly disturbing" and "the most depraved, most dangerous conduct that can be imagined."
Rather than deny the deprivity, defense attorney Julia Gatto immediately began mounting a defense to highlight it, to drive home the argument that Valle's only appetite was for fantasies.
"The government's case is nothing more than a hard drive full of disturbing, sexually deviant talk between my client and other men who share his, albeit weird, pro-
clivities," she said.
The defense has been bolstered by pretrial rulings that will allow Valle's lawyers to call expert witnesses expected to give jurors a tutorial on online sexual deviance and fetishes often called "vore," short for carnivore.
A clinical sexologist will testify about sexually explicit websites that "resemble improvisational theater," court papers say. "The style is to maintain the repartee, regardless of how implausible, ridiculous or even impossible the conversations get."
A forensic psychiatrist and criminologist who examined Valle and contends most men "who have sexually sadistic fantasies ... engage in no harmful actions toward others," the papers say.
The witness found that Valle has no serious mental illness or personality disorders related to violence. Instead, he says, the defendant has recurring fantasies of sexual sadism — a condition known as paraphilia.
The jury also will be shown the videotaped testimony of a Moscow man who created darkfetchishnet.com. He's expected to testify that he modeled his website after Facebook so those with similar sexual fantasies could share their interests.
The site claims more than 38,000 members and cautions that it "is for all fantasies, not real death." A 38-year-old member from the United States says in his profile that he enjoys "the thought of torturing girls in the most horrific ways. I've been a freak since my early teens,
and I don't see this changing."
Duringjuryselection, the defense quizzed candidates on whether they have a bias against people who frequent websites depicting sadomasochistic behavior.
At trial's end, Valle's fate will rest with a jury of six men and six women, most of whom are college-educated and have lived in Manhattan or New York's suburbs most of their lives. One collects antiques. Two are amateur musicians.
A 50-year-old woman on the jury wrote of her film preferences: "Without my husband, horror movies; with my husband, everything else."
WEATHER
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Another major storm hits central plains
DODGE CITY — A second major winter storm was bearing down on the central plains Sunday, forcing cancellations and sending public works crews scrambling for salt and sand supplies less than a week after another system dumped more than a foot of snow on parts of the region.
The National Weather Service issued a blizzard watch from Sunday evening through late Monday for much of western Kansas ahead of the strong storm system packing high winds and sleet that has been tracking across western Texas toward Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri. The area was hit by a massive storm last week that dumped a foot of snow in some sections, closed airports and caused numerous accidents.
"It would have been nice if wed had a few days to recover, to do some equipment rehab," said Joe Pajar, deputy director of public works in Wichita, which saw
its second-highest snowfall even Thursday with 14.2 inches.
Other totals from the Thursday snowstorm included 18 inches in the southern Kansas town of Zenda; 17 inches in Hays; about 13 inches in northeast Missouri and 12 inches of snow in parts of Kansas City, Kan.
Steve Corfidi, meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., said the storm also will affect southern states and could spawn tornadoes Tuesday in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, the Florida panhandle and Georgia.
"It definitely will be one of the more significant events of the season, the winter season," Corfidi said. "Both in winter weather and severe weather potential and rain down in the southeast United States."
More than a foot of snow is possible from the Texas panhandle, across the Oklahomaoma handle and into Kansas and possibly Missouri as the storm moves eastward from the southwestern United States.
He also said streets won't be treated with the city's limited sand and salt supplies until the snow ends and plowing is under way.
While snowfall is expected to taper off by Monday afternoon, wind gusts of up to 35 mph will remain a hazard, said Sarah Johnson, a meteorologist in the National Weather Service's Amarillo, Texas, office.
The threat of the pending storm forced cancellations Sunday and
Monday in Kansas and Missouri, including the championship basketball tournament for the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Association, which rescheduled the tournament for Tuesday in Park City, Kan.
Pajor told The Wichita Eagle the new storm "looks worse than the last one" and that sand and salt supplies are low because of last week's record storm, as are the number of locations where snow can be transported off city streets. He said the plowing strategy for the new blizzard may have to involve plowing snow into the center of arterial streets, and cutting traffic to one lane each direction.
Matt Lehenbauer, emergency management director for Woodward County, Okla., said he expects rain or snow to begin there Sunday evening and forecasts up to a foot of snow and wind gusts up to 50 miles per hour.
"We're expecting white-out conditions," he said.
Lebenbauer said there is plenty of salt and sand on hand to help clear roads, but the conditions may cause delays.
"We may not get the roads cleared until midday Tuesday if we get the expected amount of snow and wind. As its falling, in the blizzard-like conditions, we just won't be able to keep up." Lehbnauer said.
This Friday, environmentalists can come together at Swampfest III, an event to raise awareness about and work toward preserving the Wakarusa Wetlands from The Lawrence Trafficway project. The event, co-organized by Enviros and EcJustice, includes a silent art auction and rock concert.
The soundscape will simply document the environmental and ecological impact of the trafficway project by making an audio recording of the area before and after construction. A start date for construction has not been set.
Students organize event to protest trafficway
Sarah Kraus, a junior from Allen, Texas, double-majoring in environmental science and Chinese, is president of Enviros and vice president of Ecolustice. Kraus thinks the soundscape is a project that will make something good come out
Benefits from Friday's Swampest will help fund a soundscape headed by the Wetlands Protection Organization at Haskell Indian Nations University, which has been protesting constructing in the wetlands for the past 20 years.
ENVIRONMENT
The South Lawrence Trafficway is a six-mile, four lane highway connecting K-10 and Highway 59. The Kansas Department of Transportation believes the $3.7 billion project would benefit travelers and Lawrence businesses. However, the proposal cuts directly through the Wakarusa Wetlands, held sacred by the Haskell community.
“it's a very objective project that we feel will help benefit our relationship and the wetlands,” Kraus said.
of the loss of the wetlands.
Students, faculty and community members have donated artwork to be auctioned. Five local and student bands
The Merc, the event's official sponsor,
will be donating appetizers and food for
attendees. Cover charge is $10.
— Tyler Gregory, She's A Keeper, Your)
Friend The Bonas Brothers and Real
Sugar — will play.
"In the past, we've raised over $2,000 at this event through artwork and admission," Kraus said.
The event will be at 7 p.m. Friday at
the Bottleneck, 7 New Hampshire St.
- Emily Donovan
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Students named to Fall 2012 honor roll
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The names of 4,450 undergraduate students who met requirements for honor roll distinction in fall 2012 were released on Wednesday.
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Students on the honor roll represent 97 Kansas counties,42 states and 41 countries. The students from the main Lawrence campus and the allied health schools in Kansas City, Kan., are included.
The honor roll consists of students in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences as well as professional schools. Each school determines their honor roll criteria differently, based on factors such as GPA and number of credit hours.
The full list can be found on the KU website.
Emma Legault
The record amount of snowfall in one day for Lawrence is 11 inches, set back in 1942.
POLICE REPORTS
Information based on the Douglas County Sheriff's Office booking recap.
- Emily Donovan
- A 21-year-old male was arrested yesterday on the 2900 block of Fenwick Road under suspicion of domestic battery. No bond was posted.
- A 20-year-old male was arrested Saturday on the 500 block of 23rd Street under suspicion of operating a vehicle under the influence. A $500 bond was paid.
- A 20-year-old female was arrested Saturday on the 100 block of Indian Avenue under suspicion of criminal trespassing. A $100 bond was paid.
- A 19-year-old male was arrested Saturday on the 600 block of Iowa Street under suspicion of operating a vehicle under the influence. A $500 bond was paid.
- A 20-year-old male was arrested yesterday on the 900 block of New Hampshire Street under suspicion of domestic battery and criminal restraint. No bond was posted.
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