In a ruling issued this week, the state Supreme Court has turned down an appeal for Kevin Foley, a former state trooper convicted in 2009 of the murder of Dr. John Yelenic, a Blairsville dentist who was brutally slashed to death in his home in 2006.
The posting on Tuesday offered no further comment. Foley filed the petition on March 27th.
State Superior Court upheld the original conviction in 2012, dismissing all of Foley’s arguments, including that Judge William Martin should not have allowed jurors to hear testimony about bloody footprints near the victim’s body. The court also affirmed DNA evidence found under Yelenic’s fingernails along with other evidence linking Foley to the crime.
Foley and the victim’s estranged wife were living together as the Yelenics were going through a bitter divorce, and the court noted that on three occasions Foley had tried unsuccessfully to have Yelenic investigated for child abuse.
Foley is serving life in prison with no possibility for parole.
