Bill Cosby’s wife says his conviction was ‘mob justice’

Bill and Camille Cosby at a court appearance last month.

PHILADELPHIA— Bill Cosby’s wife called Thursday for a criminal investigation into the suburban Philadelphia prosecutor behind his sexual assault conviction, saying the case that could put the 80-year-old comedian in prison for the rest of his life was “mob justice, not real justice” and a “tragedy.”

Camille Cosby made her first comments on the verdict in a three-page statement sent to the media through a family spokesman.

She compared her husband of 54 years, convicted a week ago on three counts of aggravated indecent assault, to Emmett Till and other blacks mistreated by the justice system. Cosby’s lawyers have vowed to appeal.

Fitted with an ankle bracelet, Cosby will be a prisoner in his home until sentencing.

“Once again, an innocent person has been found guilty based on an unthinking, unquestioning, unconstitutional frenzy propagated by the media and allowed to play out in a supposed court of law,” she said. “This is mob justice, not real justice. This tragedy must be undone not just for Bill Cosby, but for the country.”

Camille Cosby said chief accuser Andrea Constand was a liar whose testimony about being drugged and molested at Cosby’s home in January 2004 was “riddled with innumerable, dishonest contradictions.”

She echoed Cosby’s lawyers, who contended that Constand framed him to score a big payday.