Facebook is fine for sharing and connecting with the people in your life — just keep it out of your courtroom.
A Staten Island judge has been quietly disciplined for using the site to “friend” lawyers who were scheduled to appear before him, The Post has learned.
Courts officials decided to move Staten Island Criminal Court Judge Matthew Sciarrino, 41, to Manhattan after some of the lawyers he linked up with on Facebook complained, sources familiar with the matter said.
“It’s just inappropriate,” said one insider familiar with the matter. “It puts the lawyer in a very uncomfortable position. If you say no, and then you have to appear before him and ask for bail. And if you say yes, that’s also awkward.”
Sciarrino is known to work with a laptop at the bench, but sources said that was for legitimate purposes such as computing sentences, looking up statutes and managing calendars.
Court insiders were left unsure whether Sciarrino ever updated his Facebook page or tweeted through his Twitter account from the bench.
Both the judge and courts spokesman David Bookstaver declined to comment on the matter.
Several people familiar with the case said court officials had decided to simply move Sciarrino rather than refer a formal complaint to the Commission on Judicial Conduct, which is the only body that can formally punish judges.
But the move itself is punishment enough, several insiders said, as it will turn the Staten Island resident’s once-easy commute into a real daily grind.