Fri Jan 31 23:00:00 UTC 2025: **Rochester, NY — Convicted Manslaughterer Kaitlyn Conley to be Released, Conviction Overturned**
Rochester, NY (October 26, 2024) — Kaitlyn Conley, 31, will be released from prison following a Friday ruling by the New York State Appellate Division, Fourth Judicial Department. The court overturned Conley’s 2017 manslaughter conviction due to ineffective assistance of counsel.
Conley was convicted of manslaughter in the 2015 death of her boss, Mary L. Yoder, who was poisoned with colchicine. Conley’s conviction stemmed from a second trial; the first ended in a hung jury.
The Appellate Division’s decision hinges on the illegal search of Conley’s cellphone. The court ruled that investigators exceeded the scope of a warrant authorizing the phone’s seizure, conducting a forensic examination and memory extraction that yielded crucial evidence. This evidence, including references to “poison” and “colchicine” in the phone’s user dictionary and login information for an account used to purchase colchicine, was used at the second trial. The court found that the failure of Conley’s defense attorney to properly move to suppress this evidence constituted ineffective assistance of counsel.
While acknowledging that the same evidence was later obtained from another source, the Appellate Division highlighted that the prosecution’s focus remained on the illegally obtained cellphone data, undermining the defense strategy.
The court vacated the judgment of conviction and dismissed the indictment, leaving the door open for a potential retrial. Oneida County District Attorney Todd Carville has yet to comment on whether the prosecution will pursue this option. Conley’s release is imminent.
First Piper 