Throttling priest had internet murder fantasy

IT WAS FAIR that a jury heard how a Texas Church leader, who was found guilty of strangling an IBM woman to death, visited a internet sites about asphyxiation and murder, an appeal court has ruled.

Patrick Anthony Russo, 44, was a paying subscriber to Necrobabes.com, a Web site that offers "erotic horror for adults" which involved providing staged photos and video of usually nude women appearing to be strangled, suffocated, hanged and drowned.

According to news.com, it was partly because of his Necrobabes.com membership, Russo was found guilty of the November 15, 2001 strangulation of Diane Holik.

Russio appealed on the grounds that police exceeded their computer-search authorisation given and his Necrobabes.com excerpts should not have been admitted as evidence.

He also complained that his AOL search for "asphyx" searches should not have been used as evidence too.

The Texas Court of Appeals rejected those arguments and left his sentence intact. µ