A Westchester lawyer slated to become a Bronx judge was let off the hook yesterday when the Bronx district attorney declined to prosecute him for lying about his address. 

But District Attorney Robert Johnson, confirming a Daily News report last month, said that judicial nominee Gerald Esposito broke the law by using a friend's address in the Bronx while he actually lived in Westchester County. 

"Although Mr. Esposito, by registering and voting from the Bronx address, did not comport with Election Law, the Bronx district attorney will exercise discretion and decline to initiate criminal charges," Johnson said in a statement. 

Esposito used the Bronx address of Democratic activist Michael Prisco on official documents. The judge-to-be actually lives in a manor house in Pelham. 

Esposito said he had done nothing wrong -- and was pleased that Johnson backed off. "

When I last registered to vote in Bronx County, I did so with the belief that I was in compliance with the requirements of the election law,"' he said in a statement. 

Johnson said he chose not to prosecute Esposito because he is not using the false address to run for office and judges are allowed to live anywhere in New York State. 

Johnson will almost certainly have to. deal with Esposito, who has the Democratic, Republican, and Liberal nominations for a seat on the Bronx Supreme Court 

The district attorney also noted that the courts are inconsistent in residency cases. 

He called on the state Legislature to clarify the law so that candidates can run only in districts where they have "the most significant actual contact." 

Assemblyman Roberto Ramirez, the Bronx County Democratic leader whose party chose Esposito, said he would introduce such legislation in Albany -- and that the party would no longer tolerate out-of-towners in public office. 

I find it imperative that public officials … reside in the communities in which they are elected,' said Ramirez