ALBANY -- Though Gov. David A. Paterson made "errors in judgment," there is no evidence he broke the law by reaching out to the victim of a domestic violence incident involving an ex-top aide, a state investigation has concluded.

A four-month probe by Independent Counsel Judith Kaye, former chief judge of the state, does not recommend prosecutors charge the governor in the case, which involves David Johnson, former adviser to the governor, who was bounced from the job after he allegedly attacked his former girlfriend last fall in the Bronx.

But the report does level scathing criticism against Paterson, top aides and state police for their role in handling the case -- including inappropriate contact with the victim that, nonetheless, did not rise to the level of illegal witness tampering or coercion.

"I can't comment on it because I haven't read it," was all Paterson would tell reporters in Manhattan after the report was released Wednesday afternoon.

However, Theodore Wells, the governor's lawyer, said the Kaye report "exonerated" Paterson.

Contacts between the governor and the victim, who was acquainted with Paterson through Johnson, occurred even after Paterson in February referred the case for investigation by Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo, who two months later appointed Kaye to head the probe.

Cuomo and Kaye declined to comment.

The report focused on whether Paterson or members of his administration sought to coerce Sherr-una Booker not to pursue a criminal case against Johnson. Booker dropped the case but a week ago took the legal steps to resume her case against Johnson.

In his sworn interview with investigators, Paterson insisted he did nothing wrong and did not know that Booker had a scheduled court appearance the morning after he first talked to her about the case in February.

While not illegal, the contacts by Paterson with Booker were inappropriate, Kaye concluded. The report said Paterson failed to ask anyone in his administration at the time of the incident to look into Johnson's behavior, did not ask Booker about an order of protection against Johnson during his discussions with her and relied solely on Johnson's account to issue denials in the media about the case.

"It is hard to reconcile this conduct with the governor's expressed commitment to the cause of domestic violence prevention," the 54-page Kaye report states.

Booker told police that Johnson last Halloween had become upset with her costume, which he tore off and then choked her and threw her against a dresser. The report said Johnson then made "several efforts" to prevent her from calling the police. The attack occurred in a Bronx apartment Johnson and Booker had shared.

The governor asked Cuomo to investigate the matter as the New York Times was about to print a story on it in February.

One of the governor's calls to Booker came the day before her scheduled court appearance against Johnson; Booker never showed up that day, and the case was dropped. In her testimony, Booker agreed with Paterson that the two did not talk about that court appearance during their first phone conversation in early February. Paterson told investigators that at the time of that talk with Booker he did not know the full extent of the alleged attack by Johnson and thought it was only an "unruly argument."

The ensuing controversy was among factors that eventually led Paterson to decide against running for governor this fall.

The Kaye report also was critical of several people close to Paterson.

It noted that Maj. Charles Day, the former head of Paterson's State Police security detail, who was the first person Johnson reached after the October incident, contacted the victim that night even before the New York City police arrived at the apartment to investigate. Day said the call was approved by then-Deputy Superintendent Pedro Perez, who said he wanted to determine if Booker could be a security threat to the governor.

Booker said Day tried to get her to drop the charges and let the State Police handle the case internally. Day told investigators he made no effort to pressure her against seeking help from the New York City Police Department, which took several hours to respond to her 911 call the night of the alleged attack. Day also said he advised Johnson to turn himself in to police.

The report also said Clemmie Harris, a special assistant to Paterson and a former State Police official, used "inappropriate" judgment by having another state employee -- Deneane Brown, who knows both Booker and Johnson -- reach out to Booker to get her to "not pursue the matter."

"In his testimony, Harris acknowledged that he asked Brown to steer Booker toward 'non-interventionist' ways of resolving her dispute with Johnson, so as to help avoid any potential media attention," the report said. "Harris further acknowledged that he may have told Brown to tell Booker not to go to court. However, there is no evidence to support a witness-tampering charge against Harris."

Moreover, the report said the governor's office "did not keep its public commitment" to cooperate fully with the investigation.

It noted that Peter Kiernan, the governor's government counsel, provided information about the investigation to the private lawyers Paterson hired to represent him in the case.

It did not address another issue: whether Paterson broke any gift ban laws by taking tickets to a Yankees World Series game last year. That case is still being reviewed by the Attorney General's Office and a state ethics agency.

Johnson did not cooperate with the Kaye investigation, the report said.

Booker said she had decided not to pursue the case because Johnson had left her alone since the episode.

But tensions clearly rose within the Paterson administration after the New York Times in February began closing in on the domestic violence case. Just 20 minutes after the paper e-mailed questions to the administration, Paterson frantically tried to reach Booker shortly after 5 p.m. Feb. 24.

Several hours later, he called her again, seeking her "help" to dispel the story's suggestion that he pressured her to drop the case against Johnson.

"There is no evidence that Gov. Paterson committed witness tampering or any related offense," the Kaye report concluded.

tprecious@buffnews.comnull