Judge lets disabled man go home after fatal stabbing

Less than a month after he fatally stabbed his mother's boyfriend in the neck, a Holbrook man with severe physical and mental problems got out of jail Monday and went home with his mother.

That came after Rakien Hall, 31, pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter in the Oct. 31 death of Oscar Green, 47. The circumstances of the case were so unusual that both the Suffolk district attorney's office and state Supreme Court Justice William Condon agreed that Hall should go home and serve 5 years on probation.

"This is one of those times the system got it right," said Hall's attorney, Joseph Ferrante of Hauppauge. He thanked the district attorney's office for its compassion.

Hall had a hard life even before Green appeared in it. Ferrante said Hall has been sightless in one eye since childhood, when that eye was hit by an acorn and got infected. Then, at age 6, he got Burkitt's lymphoma, a rare cancer that is often fatal. In Hall's case, it led to a variety of medical issues, including heart problems that led to surgery.

In addition, Ferrante said Hall has "an extremely low IQ." As an adult, his development has been assessed as being the equivalent of a 9-year-old's.

Green, who had just got out of prison after serving 24 years for first-degree manslaughter, began dating Hall's mother, Gloria Wilkerson, in May, Assistant District Attorney Peter Timmons said. Green -- 6-foot-5 and 290 pounds -- picked on the much smaller Hall almost constantly at their home on Portion Road, Timmons said.

About 6 p.m. on Oct. 31, Hall was watching television with headphones on when Green demanded that Hall stand up, told him he knew karate and hit Hall on the side of the head, Timmons said. Hall grabbed a knife, stuck it in the side of Green's neck and then ran into the woods and hid for 12 hours, Timmons said.

When Hall was brought into the courtroom Monday, he seemed both cheerful and confused.

"What's going on?" he called out, as he walked over to Ferrante. "Where's my lawyer?"

Hall and Ferrante sat at the defense table, their arms on each other's shoulders. Hall cried as he began to recall the events of that night, and then kept his arm draped affectionately on his lawyer's shoulder throughout the court proceeding.

As other people were speaking, he muttered repeatedly to Ferrante, "I hope my mother has been OK."

Condon and Timmons gingerly questioned Hall about the events of that night and whether he understood his rights, to fulfill the legal basis of the guilty plea.

When it was done, Condon told Hall, "You're going to be going home, to live with your mother."

"Your honor, thank you," Hall replied, "Thank you."

Wilkerson declined to comment afterward.

Condon said the plea agreement "is serving the interests of justice."

Hall promised Condon that during probation, "I'll do everything they tell me to do."