Insanity plea plan for Fort Salonga wife charged in murder

The lawyer for a Fort Salonga woman charged with the fatal stabbing of her husband last year plans to prepare a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, he said Monday.

Thomas Liotti of Garden City said the plea for his client, Kathleen Prisco, 49, is based on psychiatric evaluations.

One report submitted Monday in Suffolk County Court by a psychiatrist on behalf of the prosecutors, and an earlier evaluation by a doctor hired by her attorneys, reached similar conclusions about Prisco's mental health when she allegedly killed her husband, Ralph Prisco, 54, at home, said Liotti.

"Both those reports show she is not guilty by reason of insanity," Liotti said.

Neither Liotti nor prosecutors would provide to Newsday copies of the report submitted to the court Monday.

Assistant District Attorney James Chalifoux said outside court that prosecutors will decide next week whether to accept Prisco's plea. Chalifoux declined to discuss the contents of the 80-page report."We are in the process of reviewing it and digesting it," Chalifoux said.

Prisco has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder for the Oct. 30, 2009, death of her husband. She is being held without bail at Suffolk County jail.

Liotti said Prisco will plead not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect when she returns to court on Oct. 28.

If prosecutors and State Supreme Court Justice Robert W. Doyle accept that plea, Prisco would undergo a hearing to determine whether she is dangerous, Liotti said. Prisco would face periodic evaluations over the next several years to determine whether she should be institutionalized, he said.

Ralph Prisco, a tax and pension attorney, was found stabbed to death hours after he attended a World Series game at Yankee Stadium with his three children. Prosecutors said Kathleen Prisco stabbed her husband 15 times.

In court papers, Kathleen Prisco was quoted saying her husband "was gonna frame me." She did not elaborate.

During a brief appearance Monday in Suffolk County Court, Prisco smiled at two dozen friends and family members, including her sons Matthew, 23, and Christopher, 17.

Prisco's sons declined to comment outside court.