Accused Gwyneth Paltrow stalker is acquitted in jury trial
Accused of stalking actress Gwyneth Paltrow in 66 letters he sent her between 2009 and 2015, a 66-year-old Ohio man was acquitted by a California jury Wednesday.
Dante Michael Soiu had been committed for mental treatment following a 2000 trial for stalking Paltrow, in which he was found not guilty by reason of insanity. He testified in a Los Angeles courtroom this time around that he had no ill will toward the actress, whom he had offered to marry in the correspondence. However, a tearful Paltrow said she was fearful for her own safety and the safety of her family because of the unwanted contact, according to the BBC News, the Los Angeles Daily News and the Mirror.
The jury in the felony stalking case began deliberating Tuesday, but soon agreed the prosecution hadn’t proved its case. Foreman Ryan Austin said the jury disapproved of Soiu’s conduct but doubted he intended to frighten Paltrow, the Associated Press reports.
“We’re dealing with a lonely guy who’s on supplemental security income, and sits in his apartment in Ohio at his computer and writes letters to Angelina Jolie, Sylvester Stallone, Julia Roberts, President Obama, Michelle Obama,” his attorney, Lynda Westlund, told Entertainment Tonight. “None of it has ever been perceived by anybody else, besides Gwyneth Paltrow, as threatening.”
However, Westlund said she intends to advise her client not to continue writing to Paltrow and other celebrities, the AP article notes.
