Talk about a major adjustment.
A New York appeals court has overturned the conviction of a woman accused of fatally poisoning her chiropractor boss — who was also the mother of her ex-boyfriend — nearly a decade ago.
On Friday, the Supreme Court of the New York State Appellate Division ruled that some evidence used against Kaitlyn Conley in court had been improperly obtained.
Conley, 31, was sentenced to 23 years in prison after she was convicted of manslaughter for the July 2015 poisoning death of Dr. Mary Louise Yoder.
Conley, who worked as a receptionist in Yoder’s office in the Village of Whitesboro, is accused of poisoning her then-boss with an anti-inflammatory drug called colchicine.
She went on trial twice for second-degree murder, but her first trial ended with a hung jury. At a retrial in 2019, she was acquitted of murder but found guilty of second-degree manslaughter.
In May 2024 a Rochester State Appellate Court granted Conley the chance to appeal.
On Friday, a five-judge panel of the appeals court found that a search warrant obtained by investigators didn’t allow them to search Conley’s cellphone.
The search, conducted by a cybersecurity firm, led to the words “poison” and “colchicine,” according to the court. It also showed an email account used to acquire the substance.
“A person’s cellphone now contains at least as much personal and private information as their home and, thus, indiscriminate searches of cellphones cannot be permitted,” the decision reads, in part.
Conley, who would have been eligible for parole in 2037, can now be set free — unless the Oneida County District Attorney’s Office decides to re-indict her.
As of Saturday afternoon, she was still listed as an inmate at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility.
Conley’s story was portrayed in the ABC News true crime docuseries “Little Miss Innocent: Passion. Poison. Prison.,” which began streaming on Hulu in September 2024.
With News Wire Services
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