Gilberto Valle, the so-called ‘cannibal cop’ of the NYPD, declined to testify in his own defense on Tuesday at the final day of testimony in New York City. Valle is accused of plotting to kidnap, cook and eat his own Irish American wife, Kathleen Mangan-Valle, and several other women.

The defense rested after Valle, in his first public statement since pleading not guilty in November, said, “I do not wish to testify.”

The presiding judge Paul Gardephe asked if Valle felt that was in his “best interests,” to which Valle said, “Yes, your honor.”

The New York Post reports that Valle grew very emotional during the final day of testimony, particularly when defense-team paralegal Alexandra Katz showed jurors the “Dark Fetish” website where Valle met the alleged co-conspirators with whom he engaged in depraved online chats and e-mail exchanges.

Public defender Robert Baum said, “It got him very emotional. It brought back the whole experience.”

Valle, who has been in solitary confinement since his arrest on October 24, reportedly broke down in tears at the defense’s table after the jury exited.

Baum said that “the trial is finally coming to a conclusion and his fate is in the jury’s hands. And that’s a heavy weight for someone to bear.”

Baum maintained that Valle testifying was not necessary as the defense had already made Valle’s position clear.

“There is just no evidence outside the chats, and the chats are all fantasy,” explained Baum.

Similarly, Sergey Merenkov, the Russian creator behind one of the sites Valle frequented entitled DarkFetishNet.com, said that the site was “about fantasies only,” adding that, “Fantasies should remain fantasies and not transfer to the criminal realm, so to speak.”

Merenkov, who has been cooperative with authorities, also said that since Valle deleted his account, on which he used the username “Girlmeat Hunter,” Valle’s data and history on the site would not be able to be recovered to be used as evidence.