Indiana County President Judge Thomas Bianco’s final ruling in Kevin Foley’s third petition for relief from his murder conviction has been posted. Foley was convicted in 2009 of the death three years earlier of Blairsville dentist Dr. John Yelenic, who was brutally stabbed multiple times. Yelenic at the time was in the midst of divorce proceedings with his wife, with whom Foley was living in White Township.
Bianco dismisses Foley’s petition, writing in his opinion that the former state trooper “admits to killing Dr. Yelenic, he was convicted of his criminal conduct and he has failed to bring forth a scintilla of evidence that the decision of the jury should be destroyed.” Foleys’ attorney argued that his trial strategy would have been different had evidence uncovered in 2023 been known in 2009. Bianco said he found that, “completely speculative and illogical.”
Foley is serving life in state prison without the chance of parole.
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