“The French guy” got an ankle-monitoring bracelet — so why not the hockey-mom madam?

Appellate Division judges in Manhattan yesterday voiced a spirited openness to potentially springing accused Upper East Side brothel boss Anna Gristina on lower bail, even dropping the names of such famous recent ankle-bracelet “models” as Martha Stewart and Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

“How come an ankle bracelet is OK for the French guy — and Martha Stewart, by the way — but not this defendant?” Appellate Division Justice Sallie Manzanet pointedly asked Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Charles Linehan.

To make matters worse for prosecutors, Justice James Catterson slammed Linehan for what he called an “appalling” misinterpretation of case law in the DA’s appellate brief. “I have great respect for your office,” Catterson told the prosecutor, “but I’m appalled by that citation you made.”

Gristina, mother of four and a self-described “hockey mom” who raises rescue pigs upstate, has been in Rikers Island on a low-level felony prostitution-promotion charge since February, unable to raise her sky-high bail — $1 million cash or $2 million bond.

The appellate division can rule on whether to lower bail at any time. “It’s a little like ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ ” defense attorney Norman Pattis said. “They decide when they decide.”

Prosecutors say Gristina is the linchpin in an ongoing probe into an alleged $15 million high-price escort operation and the alleged law-enforcement protection and moneyman collusion that helped it flourish for more than a decade.