OPRAH Winfrey was left high and dry yesterday when a guest she booked was forbidden to appear on TV by his lawyer at the last minute.

Nathaniel Abraham, 21, who was recently freed from jail for a murder he committed when he was just 11 years old, traveled to Chicago to apologize to the family of his victim. Winfrey brokered a meeting between Abraham and the family of Ronnie Greene Jr. in her office a few hours before the show was to be taped.

Afterwards, his lawyer, Daniel Bagdade, requested that the taping be cancelled, but said that Winfrey, “kind of mediated the apology.”

Winfrey went ahead and taped the show anyway – an episode with the theme, “The Year to Forgive” with other guests, but did not mention Abraham or the apology.

“It was riveting,” Bagdade told The Detroit News. “Nate’s story was not on camera today, We ended up doing the apology in Oprah’s office. It was incredible. It was absolutely incredible.”

Bagdade declined to say why he refused to allow Abraham to appear on the show and did not return calls yesterday.

Harpo, Winfrey’s production company, said that Bagdade revoked Abraham’s consent to appear on the show.

Abraham, who lives in Detroit, was 13 when he was convicted of second-degree murder for killing Greene with a rifle in 1997.

He killed Greene as the 18 year old stood in front of a party store in Pontiac, Mich.

Abraham was released from custody last week, a day before his 21st birthday, after spending the last six months of his sentence at a halfway house.

According to published reports, at the age of 8, Abraham underwent testing that revealed he was emotionally impaired, functioning three to four years below his age level.