Judge is fan, but verdict isn’t music to singer

A MANHATTAN criminal court judge was told off by one of his favorite folk singers Friday after punishing 20 protesters of the NYPD’S “stop and frisk” policy.

Judge Robert Mandelbaum asked to meet singer Suzanne Vega, who is married to a defense lawyer in the case, after convicting the demonstrators of disorderly conduct.

But Vega, whose hits include “Tom’s Diner,” took the meeting as a chance to tell her fan, “I’m really disappointed by the verdict.”

“He told me that’s my prerogative,” Vega said outside the judge’s courtroom. “It was sort of awkward.”

The majority of the defendants — who marched on Harlem’s 28th Precinct stationhouse last November, locked arms and sang in protest of the controversial NYPD policy — were sentenced to time served.

Sade Andona, 26, an artist and radio host on WBAI, was sentenced to two days’ community service after the judge objected to her conduct on the witness stand.

“I think I have to pick up garbage,” she said. “It’s humiliating."

But she stood by her decision to protest the NYPD’S policy of stopping people they deem suspicious on the street, asking them ques- tions and patting them down for weapons or drugs.

“I knew what I was getting myself into,” she said. “I’m not ashamed of about my conviction.”

Defense lawyer Paul Mills, Vega’s husband, vowed to appeal the verdicts. “There are solid grounds for appeal,” Mills said.

The New York City Police Department did not immediately respond to calls for comment.