Ronald Graham lost a kidney and suffered a punctured colon when he was brutally stabbed on a Brooklyn street — yet his attacker is about go free, thanks to a historic show of mercy by the state.
Don Juan Britt, 37, who has been locked up since 1996 for the attempted murder during a fight on St. Johns Place in Crown Heights, is slated to arrive home any day now after serving 15 years of a 20-year sentence.
Britt — now $325,000 richer from a suit against the state — will be the first person freed under Albany’s newly expanded compassionate-release law after suffering a brain aneurysm that left him partially paralyzed.
The law, established in 1992, allows parole for inmates with terminal or permanent medical conditions that make them no longer a danger to society.
An expanded version of the law went into effect in November — to include sex offenders and other violent felons — giving Britt his chance at freedom.
Since the aneurysm, he has needed a walker or wheelchair to get around, said his mother, Godzallia Britt.
Britt was granted immediate parole Feb. 9, said a Department of Parole spokeswoman. A release date wasn’t announced.
Graham, his victim, could not be reached for comment.
But Patrick Lynch, president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, said, “Any compassion shown by the state should be for the victims of these horrendous crimes, and not for the perpetrators.
“This is a softening of penalties in the law that completely ignores the pain and suffering of the crime victims.”
Under the newly expanded law, only five other prisoners are now eligible, two of whom were deemed terminally ill and three who suffer from a significant and permanent condition, according to state prison officials.
Early release saves the taxpayers the growing cost of caring for a sick and dying inmate, officials said.
While at Sing Sing prison in Westchester County, Britt sued prison officials, accusing them of failing to protect him from brutal inmate attacks, which left him hospitalized with slash wounds to his head, neck and back. The suit netted him the $325,000 award, said state correction officials.
Additional reporting by Larry Celona
