Ruling for cops in slay case

Mellow yellow marchers

A COAXED confession about the location of a murdered Connecticut man’s corpse was legal because cops thought the victim was still alive, a Manhattan judge ruled in a decision unsealed Friday.

Detectives were justified in pushing Lawrence (Larry) Dilione to say where he allegedly dumped the body of Hofstra grad Joseph Comunale, 26, under the “emergency exception” rule, because they thought they could save him, Justice James Burke ruled.

Burke’s rationale was made public only after a push by the Daily News to unseal his 53-page ruling from a March suppression hearing.

The judge, who will oversee the separate trials of Dilione and his accused accomplice James Rackover, 26, described the chaotic rush to find Comunale and reasoned that now-retired Det. Raymond Reuther was justified in plying Dilione, 29, for information, even though he had an attorney who was on his way to the precinct stationhouse.

“The exclusive questioning about the whereabouts of Joey demonstrated that Det. Reuther’s primary purpose was to find Joey, not to create evidence against him,” Burke said.

Comunale’s battered and stabbed body was found Nov. 14., 2016, days after he was last seen alive at Rackover’s swank E. 59th St. pad.

Under the law, cops can take certain liberties in a genuine emergency.

Rackover is expected to go to trial in September. A third man, Max Gemma, 30, is charged with assisting in the cleanup effort and lying to investigators.