Kaitlyn Conley granted third chance at appeal

ROCHESTER, NEW YORK (WUTR/WFXV/WPNY) — Kaitlyn Conley — the Sauquoit woman convicted of poisoning her boss and former boyfriend’s mother — will have another day in court.

Oneida County Court Judge Michael Dwyer recently refused to overturn her conviction, one that made headlines across New York State and beyond.

However, on Monday, May 20, a state appellate court in Rochester informed Conley’s lawyer that they will allow them to appeal the judge’s rejection of a motion to vacate the conviction. According to Melissa Swartz, Conley’s appellate lawyer, it is rare for such appeals to be allowed.

Conley, 31, is currently serving 23 years in state prison for poisoning and killing Dr. Mary Yoder, her boss at Chiropractic Family Care in Whitesboro in November of 2017. Dr. Yoder was also the mother of Adam Yoder, Conley’s former boyfriend.

She was found guilty of using a medicine usually used to treat gout to poison Yoder during her lunch. Conley’s first trial ended in a mistrial due to a hung jury. Her mistrial then ended with her being acquitted of the murder charge but convicted of manslaughter.

An appeal in 2021 was denied because the court found that lower courts had acted properly in both trials and her punishment was not harsh or severe. Another appeal was made in 2022 to vacate the conviction due to ineffective counsel but was also denied in February of 2024 by Dwyer.

One of the arguments made during the appeal was that Dwyer was asked to recuse himself from the case by lawyers for both sides. During the appeals process, it was discovered his court clerk had previously worked for the Oneida County District Attorney’s office during Conley’s trials and had done legal research used in the prosecution’s opposition to the motion.

Dwyer refused to recuse himself from the case, despite warnings from both attorneys that it could affect his appearance of impartiality, according to court documents.

The motions of ineffective assistance from attorneys came from two different incidents. The first came during the first trial, when Conley’s first attorney, Christopher Pelli, failed to challenge the admission of evidence pulled from Conley’s cell phone.

Swartz claims that the phone was unlawfully searched when police obtained a search warrant to search Conley’s person for a cell phone. According to Swartz, the search warrant was then used to search the contents of the phone itself, and any attorney would be expected to challenge the warrant and suppress the evidence obtained.

Swartz claimed that that evidence — which she said was crucial to the prosecution’s case — should have not been seen by the jury. Dwyer subsequently ruled in his refusal that because the first trial did not end in a conviction, he could not review errors made during the case.

The appeals court that granted the appeal also rejected the claim that the evidence was obtained without probable cause.

The other incident allegedly happened with Frank Policelli, the second trial attorney. Swartz claimed that Policelli failed to call an expert that would have called into question the timeline of the poisoning.

According to Swartz, Policelli instead called a witness who said symptoms of poisoning would never appear more than eight hours after ingestion. This testimony narrowed the timeline of poisoning to when Conley and Yoder were working in Whitesboro.

However, in a hearing before Dwyer, an expert said that 12 percent of fatalities with the same medication appeared after eight hours and could take 16 hours to become apparent. During the appeal, Dwyer also ruled that the expert’s testimony would not have changed the outcome.

Swartz also claims that Policelli brought up unsubstantiated claims that Conley poisoned her former boyfriend with the same medicine she used to poison Yoder. According to Swartz, that opened the door for the prosecution to question witnesses about that allegation.

Policelli has said he felt it was necessary to show that Yoder’s son had access to the medicine, which would allow him to bring up the son as another possible suspect. Swartz has claimed that there was other evidence to support that theory.

The same court in Rochester also rejected the 2021 appeal by Conley and Swartz. No trial date for the appeal has been set.

This is an ongoing story. We will provide more information as it becomes available.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WWTI - InformNNY.com.