Trooper facing trial in dentist's killing has alibi
When suspended state police trooper Kevin Foley goes on trial next month for allegedly slaying a Blairsville dentist, he will argue that he was at least 18 miles away when Dr. John J. Yelenic was killed in April 2006.
And Foley's alibi witness will be the victim's widow.
In court documents filed in Indiana County, attorneys Richard Galloway and Jeffrey Monzo disclosed that Foley, 43, of White, intends to offer an alibi defense, with Michele Yelenic testifying on behalf of the trooper when he stands trial for criminal homicide. Jury selection will begin March 4 before President Judge William J. Martin.
"At the time of the alleged crime in this case, (Foley) was at The Center Ice Arena in Delmont ... and then traveled directly to his home at 10 Susan Drive, Indiana, Pennsylvania, where he remained," reads the brief two-page notice.
Yelenic's body was discovered at his Blairsville home on April 14, 2006.
The defense intends to call three alibi witnesses: the victim's estranged wife, who was living with Foley before his arrest, and two of her children from a previous marriage: Nicole Kamler, an adult who now resides in Ross, and Nathan Kamler, a senior at Indiana Area High School.
The Yelenics, separated for nearly four years, were going through a bitter divorce when the dentist was attacked at his home and bled to death. The Kamlers lived with their mother and Foley at the time of Yelenic's murder.
Michele Yelenic, who is embroiled in a civil lawsuit filed by Yelenic's heirs, maintains she has no knowledge about who killed him.
The planned defense contradicts DNA evidence that state prosecutors used to link Foley to the killing.
Senior Deputy Attorney General Anthony J. Krastek is expected to argue that matter collected from underneath Yelenic's fingernails, and analyzed by an FBI laboratory in Virgina, showed that Foley was present when the dentist was killed, according to a state grand jury indictment.
On the day after the slaying, Foley showed up to work with scratches on his face, fellow troopers at the Indiana barracks previously testified.
DNA experts from around the country will be called as defense witnesses to refute the accuracy of the DNA evidence, according to court filings from the defense team, which includes Indiana attorney Thomas Johnson.
Prosecutors allege that Foley, a 13-year state police veteran, went to Yelenic's home on the night of April 13 or early in the morning of April 14. Foley is accused of beating and stabbing Yelenic during an argument over the pending divorce settlement.
The indictment says Michele Yelenic and J.J., the 10-year-old boy she adopted with Yelenic, stood to inherit $1 million from Yelenic's estate and life insurance benefits. Yelenic's heirs failed in an attempt to finalize the couple's divorce after his death.
Forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht, who performed the autopsy, said Yelenic was slashed numerous times with a knife before his neck was cut when his head was forced through a windowpane in the foyer of his home on South Spring Street.
Foley left behind unique tennis shoe prints, the indictment says.
Foley denied any involvement in the killing. He was suspended without pay after his Sept. 26, 2007 arrest and is held in the Indiana County Jail.
Martin scheduled three pretrial hearings. The first is set to begin at 9 a.m. today, when the judge will hear arguments on routine legal matters, including what questions attorneys can pose to potential jurors.
Galloway declined comment. Krastek could not be reached yesterday.
