Kaitlyn Conley granted right to appeal

Kaitlyn Conley, convicted of manslaughter in 2017, and her attorneys are moving forward with a new appeal following a decision by the State Appellate Division in Rochester.

The State Appellate Division in Rochester granted permission to appeal the rejection of an attempt to overturn her manslaughter conviction on May 17, according to her attorney.

History

Conley, 31, formerly of Sauquoit, was tried twice in 2017 for second-degree murder for the July 2015 poisoning death of her employer, Whitesboro chiropractor Mary Yoder. The first trial ended in a hung jury; jurors in the second trial found her guilty of first-degree manslaughter.

Syracuse attorney Melissa Swartz said Conley filed an appeal with the Fourth Judicial Department after her conviction, as was her right and was denied. Conley then went to the Court of Appeals, the court above the Fourth Department, and was denied leave to appeal there as well.

“That put a direct end to Conley’s appeal process,” Swartz said. “I was retained around 2021 to file a Criminal Procedure Law 440 motion and filed that motion in August 2022.”

Swartz argued that Conley’s attorneys failed to properly represent her due to “...a cumulative number of missteps.”

The Motion

Swartz filed a motion to vacate the manslaughter conviction on Aug. 2, 2022, and sent it to Oneida County Court Judge Michael Dwyer, who oversaw the trials, and then Oneida County District Attorney Scott McNamara.

The motion alleges the attorney in the first case did not rightfully challenge the seizure and search of Conley's phone and a laptop belonging to Adam Yoder, Conley's ex-boyfriend and Mary Yoder's son, which had a backup of Conley's phone on it.

"[The attorney] candidly admitted in his own affirmation (Exhibit D) that he only skimmed the search warrants for 'key words' and that he heavily relied on the people's assurances that the search warrants were 'good,'" the motion said.

The motion also alleges the second attorney failed to contact two witnesses for the second trial whose testimony would have expanded the timeframe Mary Yoder could have been poisoned.

One was a toxicologist who could have testified the poison colchicine could be administered up to 16 hours before symptoms occur, rather than the two to six hours the prosecution's witness alleged, the motion states. The other was a patient of Yoder's who testified in the first trial she showed symptoms of poisoning before lunch, according to the motion.

Denial and appeal

In February 2024, Oneida County Judge Michael Dwyer denied Conley’s motion with the CPL 440. This decision, too, was appealed.

“When you get a denial for a 440 motion, you’re not entitled to an appeal,” Swartz said. “You have to ask for permission from the Appellate Division for an appeal. We filed that motion around the end of February, and on May 17, I received the decision that it had been granted.”

Following this, Swartz will have six months to file a brief, according to the attorney. After its been filed, oral arguments are expected to be held anywhere from three to four months later.

This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Kaitlyn Conley granted right to appeal by appellate court