A sharply divided ​federal ​appeals court Thursday​ ​upheld a lower court judge’s ​2013 ​decision to toss a jury’s guilty verdict against​ ​so-called “Cannibal Cop” Gilberto Valle, who was charged with plotting to kidnap, kill and cook women.

The former NYPD officer was found guilty of conspiracy to kidnap his targets and using ​police databases to conduct background checks on them.
But a trial judge deemed Valle’s plans as “fantasy role play” and ​tossed out the jury’s verdict.

In a 2​-​to​-​1 vote, the appeals court backed that ruling and affirmed Valle’s innocence.

“This is a case about the line between fantasy and criminal intent,” Judge Barrington Parker wrote in support of clearing Valle. “Fantasizing about committing a crime, even a crime of violence against a real person whom you know, is not a crime.”

But Judge Chester Straub argued in a dissenting opinion that the jury’s interpretation of Valle’s statements should stand.

“It was, and remains, for the jury to determine the factual question of whether Valle had criminal intent,” Straub wrote. “The jury considered and rejected Valle’s defense that he was simply pretending to commit a crime.”

Manhttan federal prosecutors lobbied the panel to uphold Valle’s conviction, arguing that Valle’s stated targets were not fictional characters, but real people.

His defense attorney, Edward Zas, dismissed his warped musings as ugly but ultimately harmless fantasy.

US Attorney Preet Bharara did not immediately comment on the ruling.