Bill Cosby Begging For Plea Deal To Beat Jail

Bill Cosby has his new legal team working overtime to strike a plea deal in his sexual assault case, sources say, because the pervy octogenarian is absolutely desperate to avoid a jail!

Worse still, the creep is nearly broke after hiring Michael Jackson’s high-priced attorney, Thomas A. Mesereau Jr. (left). “If he’s convicted, Bill faces ten years in prison, which at his age and with his poor health, is a life sentence,” The National ENQUIRER learned from a source. “He’d likely never see another day as a free man!”

The sicko comic faces a retrial in April after a criminal court jury deadlocked on charges he drugged and sexually assaulted former Temple University employee Andrea Constand. “But so much has changed since Bill’s first trial in July!” adds the insider.

“Producer Harvey Weinstein was brought down. Matt Lauer was fired from TV’s "Today" show and politicians are dropping like flies — all because of sexual improprieties. Bill’s scared that in this new atmosphere, a jury is going to hang him out to dry this time around.”

Prosecutors have stone-walled talks of reaching a plea deal that would require Cosby to only serve probation, but the disgraced comic is still “begging his lawyers to make that happen,” says the source.

Although Cosby’s rep insists the disgraced TV dad isn’t facing a financial crisis or looking to plea bargain, another insider adds: “Bill’s already lost almost everything. Legal bills are eating him up financially, and his reputation has been destroyed beyond repair.

“Bill just hopes he can live out his days quietly somehow," the insider confided. "His freedom is all he has left to salvage.”