Fort Salonga woman admits stabbing husband to death

With her three children looking on in a Suffolk County courtroom, a Fort Salonga woman Thursday tearfully admitted to stabbing her husband to death last year in their home and entered a plea that absolves her of legal responsibility for his slaying.

By pleading not responsible by reason of mental disease or defect, Kathleen Prisco, 49, will not stand trial for the death of Ralph Prisco, 54, a tax and pension attorney.

The plea, which was accepted by Suffolk prosecutors and State Supreme Court Justice Robert W. Doyle, was entered two days shy of the anniversary of Ralph Prisco's death on Oct. 30, 2009.

"Please tell me what you did," Doyle asked Prisco, as more than a dozen of her supporters watched.

"I caused the death of my husband," Prisco said, crying.

"In what manner, ma'am?" Doyle asked.

"Stabbing," Prisco said.

Prisco, who is being held without bail, will have a court hearing next month to determine if she is dangerous and needs mental health treatment before she can be released.

Nationally, her attorneys said, about 2 percent of defendants who plead not responsible by reason of mental defect have their pleas accepted. The insanity defense is raised in only 1 percent of felony cases, according to studies cited by Prisco's attorneys.

Prosecutors say she stabbed her husband more than a dozen times. Ralph Prisco had returned hours earlier after attending a World Series game at Yankee Stadium with the couple's two sons and daughter.

An evaluation commissioned by the district attorney's office said Prisco "stabbed her husband while in a dissociatively altered, dreamlike state."

Prosecutors and Prisco's attorneys said Thursday they will agree at a Dec. 14 hearing that Prisco is dangerous. If a judge agrees, she will be evaluated for another six months at a state psychiatric hospital.

After that, if Prisco is still considered dangerous or ill, she faces continued evaluations until doctors determine that she can be released, said her attorney, Jennifer McCann of Garden City.

Thomas Liotti of Garden City, another of Prisco's attorneys, conceded in court that his client is dangerous.

Outside court, the Priscos' children said they believe their mother will eventually return home after treatment.

"It's going to take some time, but she's making progress," said her son, Matthew, 23.

The other two children, Christopher, 18, and Melissa, 20, said outside court that they had received support from friends, neighbors and family members.

"It's been the most difficult year of our life," said Melissa.