Oneida County DA moves to remove judge from Kaitlyn Conley case

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2 days ago

The Oneida County District Attorney's Office has filed a motion to recuse the judge presiding over the Kaitlyn Conley case.
Oneida County District Attorney Todd Carville filed the motion on June 25 against Supreme Court Justice Judge Bernadette Clark, citing 'the court's demeanor and responses,' a continued failure to remedy a ruling, and comments made at a June holiday party that indicated judicial bias.
All of this was revealed in court documents recently unsealed and made public.
The Kaitlyn Conley case
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. However, Conley then filed for the right to appeal and was granted.
Conley said in her appeal motion that 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 Fourth Department Appellate Division in Rochester's decision stated, 'We agree with defendant that she was denied effective assistance of counsel inasmuch as defense counsel failed to properly move to suppress the evidence obtained from her cell phone.'
The Fourth Department said during the Oneida County Sheriff's Office investigation into Yoder's death, the warrant authorizing to seize Conley's cellphone had a stipulation that after the seizure, it was to be delivered to the warrant issuing court '...without unnecessary delay."
Instead of returning the phone, it was delivered to a cybersecurity and forensics center.
The Fourth Department ruled in Conley's favor, saying, 'Indiscriminate searches pursuant to general warrants were the immediate evils that motivated the framing and adoption of the Fourth Amendment.'
Conley's conviction was vacated on Jan. 31, 2025.
Sealed evidence
After Conley's conviction was vacated, she appeared in court on Feb. 4 for a hearing to release her from custody, where a motion was made by the defense to seal her records.
When records are sealed in this way, they can't be used in future court cases. However, the Oneida County District Attorney's Office didn't object.
'Despite being aware, prior to appearing on Feb. 4, 2025, that Attorney Melissa Swartz was requesting sealing language pursuant to CPL 160.10, the People never offered any objection to the Court adding such language to its order, even when specifically asked about the proposed order," Judge Clark said in her decision on whether or not to unseal the motion.
On May 28, the Oneida County Sheriff's Office filed, on behalf of the Oneida County District Attorney's Office, an application to unseal the records from the case.
The reasoning stated was the records were needed to assist the sheriff's office in its '...extensive ongoing investigation into the death of Mary Yoder.'
On June 12, the decision to unseal Conley's records was denied due to there being no ongoing investigation and no investigator assigned to investigate Mary Yoder's death, according to Oneida County Supreme Court documents.
'Lt. Richard Paul's testimony that there is no current investigator of the OCSO assigned to investigator Mary Yoder's death confirms the absence of any new or ongoing investigatory developments in this case,' Judge Clark wrote in the decision. 'As Lt. Richard Paul has made clear, all he meant by an investigation ongoing is that the case is being presented to the grand jury.'
The DA's motion
On June 25, Oneida County District Attorney Todd Carville, filed a motion for Judge Clark to recuse herself. He cites the general disposition of Clark during opening arguments.
Carville's motion reads, in part:
"During the People's argument, the court interjected frequently and became loud in her responses. At times, the town appeared hostile towards the people.'
He also said the people had no opportunity to file an objection to the sealing of evidence, with '...the requisite five days notice as they were put on notice the day the order was executed.'
Carville goes on, stating the order to seal imposed by the court, was in direct conflict with itself as the people had been granted the ability to re-present to the grand jury.
'In doing so, this court cannot suggest that it was in the interest of justice to seal evidence in this case unless the court's inclination was to render the People's opportunity to re-present futile,' he wrote.
Additionally, Carville's motion to recuse Judge Clark cites comments made in Dec. 2025 by Clark that he says indicate a bias and violate judicial law.
Former Oneida County District Attorney Scott McNamara said in a deposition that while at a holiday party at the Oneida Indian Nation, Judge Clark expressed her opinions on the case in a way he felt was biased.
'I expressed my opinion of her guilt and Judge Clark expressed her opinion of her innocence,' McNamara writes. 'Judge Clark was making comments that lead me to believe that she felt Conley was wrongly convicted, as she stated that Mary Yoder's husband was the person responsible for Mary's death.'
McNamara added in his deposition that he doesn't know who started the conversation about Conley's innocence or guilt.
Carville's motion for Judge Clark's recusal is set to go before the court on Aug. 7 at 11 a.m. in Oneida County Supreme Court.
This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Oneida County DA moves to remove judge from Kaitlyn Conley case
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