One rarely used defense in Violent Crimes cases and other cases is the Fantasy Role Playing Defense. This defense first appeared predominately in the media in 2012 in the federal prosecution against Gilberto Valle, with conspiracy to commit kidnapping. He was arrested after his wife discovered emails about his desire to rape, kill, and eat women. Valle argued that he was merely engaging in fantasy-role play, with no intention of committing the actual crimes. He was a member of a social networking website called Dark Fetish where he discussed his sexual fantasies with other members. Prosecutors agreed that Valle was engaged in role play, but argued that the chats had moved beyond the realm of fantasy and had become actual preparation. After 12, days the jury found him guilty. In the case the court reviewed all of the defendant’s e-mails and made a determination as to which one’s could have represented actual conspiracy discussions and which ones were simply fantasy and therefore not admissible. Obviously the primary fact finder in deciding whether the admissible e-mails were fantasy or actual planning was the jury.
The purpose of this Violent Crimes defense of Fantasy Role Playing is that the defense can argue that the defendant never had any intent to commit the crimes that he was charged with (typically kidnapping or sexual assault or rape), and instead, was simply fantasying about committing crimes and additionally never acted on those fantasies. Or if the accused did have discussions with other folks, it is more likely that the discussions were fantasy as opposed to actual criminal planning or conspiracy if the other defendant’s lived in other countries or far away states. Make sure to consult with an experienced Chester County Criminal Lawyer or Violent Crime’s attorney if you believe that the Fantasy Role Playing Defense might apply to your case.