Murder scene photos allowed at Foley trial

An Indiana County judge ruled Thursday that a state prosecutor can use 19 color photographs to illustrate the struggle that killed Dr. John Yelenic, who bled to death after he was beaten and stabbed.

Deputy Attorney General Anthony J. Krastek won several legal battles in his case against suspended state trooper Kevin Foley, who will be tried next month for the dentist's slaying in his Blairsville home. Police allege Foley was angered over a pending divorce settlement between Yelenic and his estranged wife, Michele, who was Foley's live-in girlfriend.

President Judge William J. Martin dismissed a request from defense attorneys Richard Galloway and Jeffrey Monzo to suppress as trial evidence color photographs taken at the murder scene on April 14, 2006, the day Yelenic's body was discovered by a neighbor.

In addition, Martin ruled that Krastek can show jurors four autopsy photos.

The prosecutor can also use as evidence several still photographs taken from a security camera at a Sheetz convenience store in the early-morning hours of April 14, 2006. They purportedly show a vehicle similar to Foley's sport utility vehicle driving just a few blocks from the victim's home on South Spring Street shortly after the slaying.

"Clearly, (the photographs) are relevant as to the dynamics of the offense that was committed here ... , " Martin said. "Yes, there is blood, but this is a murder trial."

Galloway contended the photographs were too gruesome and would prejudice jurors against Foley, a 13-year state police veteran who had been working at the Indiana barracks.

"This was a very long event ... not a single bullet. You can recount what happened here, but you have to do it with photographs," Krastek said.

He said jurors were entitled to see injuries inflicted "first by a sharp instrument, like a knife, on the front of the victim and on his back ... and then his neck wound that contained two shards of glass.

"His head was forcibly put through a glass window, and then his neck run back over the jagged glass edge, and he was taken back out of the glass ... and he suffered another wound to his neck" from the knife, Krastek said.

"The photographs show jurors the intent and the premeditation," Krastek said. "This case is entirely circumstantial but built on a number of facts that jurors have to see. This case starts with photographs."

Krastek said the photographs show that the struggle began in the foyer, where Yelenic's head was pushed through the window. It continued into the living room and then into an adjoining hallway, where Yelenic's body was found.

Martin ruled jurors can hear testimony from Foley's co-workers about his habit of frequenlty displaying a knife.

The panel can also view convenience store photographs from a Route 22 Sheetz convenience store in New Alexandria and another from the Sheetz in Blairsville, although Galloway argued they do not conclusively show Foley's vehicle, an Eddie Bauer Ford Explorer.

Foley's trip to Yelenic's home supposedly began shortly after midnight, when he drove down Route 22 after playing hockey at an ice rink in Delmont, and passed the New Alexandria store. Another still photograph purportedly shows the vehicle passing the Blairsville Sheetz around 1:30 a.m. on April 14.

The Yelenics, separated for nearly four years, were going through a bitter divorce when the dentist was attacked.

The judge has not ruled on Galloway's argument that certain DNA testimony should be suppressed. The argument concerns several different analyses completed on DNA matter collected from underneath Yelenic's fingernails that allegedly links Foley to the slaying.