Kathleen Prisco
Kathleen Prisco pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder for the stabbing death of her husband after a grand jury indictment was unsealed at Suffolk County court in Riverhead on Tuesday morning. During the hearing, Prisco looked back at her children through tears, as her 19-year-old daughter Melissa smiled and gave a muted wave to her mother.
Judge Robert Doyle ordered the 48-year-old mother of three be transferred from Suffolk County jail to Pilgrim State Psychiatric Center in Brentwood, where she would be under 24-hour security by the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office, to complete a court-ordered mental evaluation.
“I’ve had some concern about keeping Kathleen in whatever mental state she was in on Oct. 30,” her defense attorney, Thomas Liotti, told the corut. “The longer we wait, the harder it will be to get an accurate assessment.”
Prisco was arrested on Oct. 30 after Suffolk police found 54-year-old Ralph Prisco with more than a dozen stab wounds in their Fort Salonga home.
She feared being “framed” by her tax-attorney husband, according to court papers. Neither prosecutors nor her defense attorney were able to interpret what that meant.
Prisco is due back in court Thursday for a bail hearing and a trial date has been set for Nov. 23.
