(Photo : Reuters)

Defense attorneys are set to begin pleading their side of the case in the New York trial of so-called "cannibal cop", Gilberto Valle. Valle recently pled not guilty to charges of conspiracy to kidnap. If found guilty, Valle faces 20 years to life in prison.

Prosecutors rested their case on Monday but not before showing the jury of six men and six women a gruesome video clip found on Valle's hard drive of a chained woman apparently being burned alive.

Over the last week, jurors have been shown pictures of gagged and tortured women and heard a heart-wrenching testimony from Valle's estranged wife, Kathleen Mangan-Valle.  Porsecutors also used Valle's search history as evidence having culled searches such as"Recipes human meat", "Eat her for dinner", "How to tie up a girl" and "Does she look good enough to eat" from Valle's PC.

 In addition, excerpts of online conversations where Valle talked with others about raping, murdering, cooking and eating women were read to the jurors. Valle was a regular visitor of darkfetishnet.com, a community of torture enthusiasts and the conversations were with other members of the site.

The defense will begin with a deposition from Sergey Merrenkov, the co-owner of darkfetishnet.com, who claims to have started the site because he "saw a niche."

Valle will not testify on his own behalf according to Stephanie Cirkovich, spokesperson for the District Court in Manhattan.

Defense Attorney Julie Gatto continues to assert that Valle's fantasies were "pure fiction" and moved for a dismissal on Monday due to lack of evidence.

The judge is reserving judgment on the motion, allowing the trial to proceed as planned.

According to Pix11 News, the defense helped themselves greatly during jury selection by making sure that "jurors had been exposed to this type of porn, fetish porn, and that they could judge Valle fairly."

What do you think? Is Valle guilty of his alleged crimes or simply into some bizarre stuff?

Sound off in the comments.

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