IN CALIFORNIA HE WOULD BE CLASSIFIED FOR EARLY RELEASE

This inmate made a gourmet meal out of his prison cellmate. If this had happened in California, rather than in France, he would be classified for early release from prison.
　
FRANCE’S HANNIBAL LECTER: CANNIBAL ATE HIS CELLMATE WHILE VICTIM WAS STILL ALIVE
By Ian Sparks
　
Mail Online
June 22, 2010
　
A cannibal prisoner dubbed 'Hannibal Lecter' dissected and ate his cellmate while his victim was still alive, a court heard today.
　
Nicolas Cocaign has admitted to eating one of his fellow inmate's lungs because he gave him 'a dirty look'.
　
The 38-year-old is facing life in jail for the murder and torture of Thierry Baudry, 41, in the cell they shared in the French city of Rouen.
　
He has been dubbed Hannibal Lecter by French newspapers, after the sadistic cannibal played by Anthony Hopkins in the film The Silence of the Lambs - based on the novel by Thomas Harris.
　
Expert witness Dr Patrick Laburthe-Tolra told the court in Rouen today: 'Baudry was still alive when the defendant cut him open and severed a piece of lung.
　
'The cut was clean and surgical, and tests have shown the victim's heart was still beating and he was still breathing when it happened.'
　
Cocaign, who admits the charges but claims diminished responsibility, said he initially attacked Baudry during a row over the way he kept blocking their shared cell toilet in January 2007.
　
He said that when he confronted Baudry, he was met with a 'dirty look which was very aggressive'.
　
During the brawl, he punched Baudry a dozen times in the face and stomach, before stabbing him with a pair of scissors.
　
The married father-of-two, who was on remand facing armed robbery charges, then suffocated Baudry with a bin bag before starting to eat him.
　
He first told the court he had wanted to eat his heart to 'take over his soul', but later admitted that he was 'curious to see what he tastes like'.
　
After eating part of the lung raw, he then fried the rest with onions, olive oil, salt and pepper on a portable camping stove which the prisoners were able to use.
　
The macabre incident was witnessed by a third cellmate, David Lagrue, 36. He was so traumatised by what happened that he committed suicide in another prison in November 2009.