LONDON, Feb 19: A man accused of stalking Oscar-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow has been found not guilty for a second time, with the jury deciding he did not mean to frighten her.
Dante Soiu was previously found not guilty of stalking Paltrow by reason of insanity in 2000 and sent to a mental institution for several years, reported Female First.
After his release he has been accused of sending the actress up to 66 letters between 2009 and 2015, which she found “disturbing”.
Paltrow, 43, testified in court that he had sent her letters and packages dating back to 1999, containing pornography, earrings and a statement that he wanted to “excise her sin with a scalpel”.
“I felt very upset by it. This has been a very long and very traumatic experience already,” she said.
He also said he wanted to marry her.
While his lawyer admitted Soiu had written to Gwyneth, he insisted that recent letters hadn’t included pornography.
In Los Angeles on February 17, the jury said it had doubts that Soiu intended to frighten the actress.
Jury foreman Ryan Austin said they did not feel it amounted to felony stalking.
Soiu testified that his most recently letters “a matter of seeking forgiveness” and his lawyer Lynda Westlund, said she believed the jury had made the right decision. (PTI)
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