Facebook bid costs Phila. court aide

A Philadelphia court officer who was described as an "exceptional man" by one judge was recently suspended for 10 days after he asked a juror to become his Facebook friend, according to a court official.

Nicholas Stampone Jr., 50, who works as a court officer at the Criminal Justice Center, was suspended for "inappropriate contact with a juror" after he went online and asked a woman who was sitting on a jury in the courtroom where he worked to be his Facebook friend, said David C. Lawrence, First Judicial District court administrator.

A request to be someone's friend on Facebook - if accepted - allows both parties to have access to each other's personal pages and allows for e-mail and instant-message communication.

"He asked to be her friend. She initially said no, and I believe she subsequently said yes," Law-rence said. "Whether she said yes or no, it's inappropriate for a court officer to be doing that.

"No court employee should have anything other than strictly business contact with a juror," he said. "Period!"

Lawrence said the woman reported the contact, and Stampone was subsequently suspended from April 6 through 17.

He also was put on a "last-chance agreement," which allowed him to go back to work with the understanding that if he attempted similar contact again, he would be fired, Lawrence said.

Upon his return, Stampone was reassigned to a courtroom where he doesn't have contact with jurors, though Lawrence declined to provide details about the new assignment.

Contacted yesterday, Stampone said he could not comment because of an agreement he signed with the First Judicial District when he took the 10-day suspension.

Before this incident, Stampone, who has worked at the courthouse for about 25 years, had no prior record of any similar incidents, Lawrence said. Stampone's salary this year is $45,605, according to city records.

Common Pleas Senior Judge John J. Poserina Jr., in whose courtroom Stampone previously worked, said he didn't know why Stampone was suspended and he didn't want to know.

"He was an exceptional man," Poserina said. "He organized everything and was able to schedule cases six to seven months out."

This is not the first time Facebook communications have created complications for the courts.

Last month, a juror in the trial of former state Sen. Vincent Fumo drew attention in federal court when he put posts on Facebook and Twitter stating that the jury would be announcing a verdict soon.

Fumo's attorneys requested a mistrial because of the posts, but a judge denied their requests.

"The technology between Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, it's raising some new challenges in court management," Lawrence said. *

Staff writer Julie Shaw contributed to this report.