US law is specific---one who contemplates and verbalizes committing a crime does do not have to "complete" the crime before L/E steps in.
His conviction also included "accessing the National Crime Information Centers database" from his NYPD patrol car computer.
IMO, that was the clincher--b/c he was fantasizing UNTIL he took concrete steps to find the women he wanted to cannibalize.
Thanks for educating me, it just sounds like a very fine line to me.
I agree that is the law, and it should be. It seems to me this guy was either a little over or under the "concrete steps" line. I guess its up to the appellate courts to give us the answer now that the jury has spoken.
There's some pretty sick stuff on the Internet.