Former state trooper's appeal of murder conviction denied

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by a former state trooper serving a life sentence for killing an Indiana County dentist a decade ago.

In a one-sentence ruling Tuesday, the state appellate court declined an appeal by Kevin James Foley, 50, who was convicted of murder by a jury in Indiana County in 2009 for the April 13, 2006, death of Blairsville dentist John J. Yelenic.

At the time, Foley was living in White Township near Indiana with Yelenic's estranged wife, Michele, and her three children. Foley was convicted of fatally beating and stabbing Yelenic in the dentist's home.

Judge William J. Martin sentenced Foley to life in prison with no possibility of parole.

Foley asked the state's highest appellate court to dismiss his conviction based on ineffective counsel.

Among Foley's claims in the appeal was that his attorneys, Richard Galloway and Jeffrey Monzo, both of Greensburg, failed to pursue a defense at trial that a neighbor of Yelenic may have committed the murder.

Martin rejected the appeal in 2014, and state Superior Court unanimously denied it in October.

Foley is serving his life sentence at SCI Retreat in Luzerne County.