Kathleen Foley Gets Life In Prison

Angry Words For Killing Husband In Court, Joe's Family Talks Of Their Grief. They Call Her Only By Her Maiden Name, Zimmerman. Lehigh County

By Debbie Garlicki - The Morning Call

October 3, 2000

Expressing a gamut of emotions from grief to anger to guilt, family members of Joe Foley poured out their feelings Monday in a Lehigh County courtroom where convicted murderer Kathleen Foley, their brother's wife, remained silent as she was sentenced to life in prison.

Siblings of Joe Foley, who was one of nine children, described their deep sorrow at the loss of their brother, a `big man with a big heart` who loved children and whose charity knew no bounds.

They read statements of siblings who could not be in court to see Kathleen Foley get a mandatory sentence of life in prison for fatally shooting Joe Foley in July 1998 in their Fountain Hill home.

One of the victim's sisters, Jean Foley Gray, read a letter her daughter wrote to her dead uncle. "I hope heaven is wonderful," wrote the girl, one of Joe Foley's 22 nieces and nephews.

A jury last week convicted Kathleen Foley, 38, of first-degree murder in the death of Joe Foley, to whom she had been married nine years. Prosecutors didn't seek the death penalty.

The Foley family tried to convey how much Joe Foley meant to them and how much hatred they feel for the woman who killed him after she had been welcomed into their family.

Family members told the judge they would not call Kathleen Foley by her married name and would refer to her by her maiden name, Kathleen Zimmerman, because she wasn't worthy of carrying the Foley name.

Kathleen Foley, who maintained in the three-week trial that she didn't kill her husband, said nothing.

"Kathleen Foley, anything you wish to say at this time?" asked Judge Alan M. Black.

"No, sir," said Kathleen Foley, whose lawyer, Brian Collins, said nothing on her behalf.

After being told her appeal rights, Kathleen Foley was escorted from the courtroom by deputy sheriffs. She gave her mother and sister a faint smile.

Foley family members expressed their guilt at not being able to protect their brother from his wife, their helplessness at not being able to prevent his death and their confusion over what they should tell their children about their uncle and their aunt.

"How do I teach them the world is a beautiful place" where they can be safe? asked Joe Foley's sister, Joan, in a written statement.

"A piece of us has died with himand is irreplaceable," said another sister, Marikay Wrabel. "A link in our chain of life has been permanently destroyed. For the past 26 months, our lives have been a living hell."

The family had many questions for which there are no adequate answers: How could she do this? Why did she do it? How could God have let this happen?

A 15-month investigation by state police, trial testimony and a puzzle of circumstantial evidence provided some possible answers, enough to convince a jury that Kathleen Foley had the motive, opportunity and desire to kill her husband.

After the trial, First Assistant District Attorney Michael McIntyre said it was the hardest he had ever worked on a case in his 21 years in the district attorney's office. Although prosecutors had no murder weapon and looked at other possible suspects, in the end, all the circumstantial evidence pointed to Kathleen Foley, prosecutors said.

"If I'm upset about anything, it's that she had 15 months of freedom after killing her husband," said McIntyre, referring to the period from July 1998 when the murder occurred until October 1999 when Kathleen Foley was arrested.

Prosecutors theorized that Joe Foley was the odd man out in a love triangle after his wife started having an affair with a co-worker at Allentown State Hospital, where Kathleen Foley worked as a psychiatric aide and where Joe Foley worked as a recreational therapist.

Kathleen Foley wanted to be with her lover, George Fleming, who worked in housekeeping, and wanted out of her marriage, prosecutors said.

"Why," Wrabel asked to no one in particular, "didn't she just move out?"

Kathleen Foley continued the affair after her husband's death and tried to convince police that an unknown intruder had entered their Moravia Street home and had shot her husband while she was sleeping in another bedroom.

An already unfathomable crime was made harder to believe by the fact Joe Foley was shot with his own gun, a handgun he bought so his wife would have protection while he was visiting Ireland, at union meetings or involved in other activities.

Family members said Kathleen Foley didn't act like the grieving widow at the funeral and at the gravesite and was smug during the trial. She didn't shed a tear for Joe or show an ounce of compassion or remorse, they said.

When Kathleen Foley hears the cell doors at Muncy State Prison clang behind her, Wrabel said, that will be her saying to her sister-in-law, `Welcome home to a place you created by your own actions, selfishness and greed.`

Family members said they had their suspicions but wanted to believe that a stranger, not his own wife, killed their brother.

Timothy Foley, one of the victim's brothers, said in a statement that he was grateful that their parents were not alive to live through the ordeal and to see the photographs of their son's body in the trial.

The family, said Jean Foley Gray, gave their love to their brother's wife and had so much taken from them.

"And for this, I will never forgive her," Gray said.

Foley Guilty Of Killing Husband

Victim's Family And Friends Applaud And Cheer Verdict, Reached After 3 Hours Of Deliberations

By Debbie Garlicki - The Morning Call

September 29, 2000

Kathleen Foley was convicted Thursday night of first-degree murder for shooting her husband, Joe Foley, in their Fountain Hill home more than two years ago.

Before the verdict was read at 7:45 p.m., the four men and eight women on the Lehigh County jury walked past the defense table without looking at the 38-year-old woman accused of killing her husband of nine years.

Experience told longtime prosecutor Michael McIntyre that the jury's actions meant the court clerk would read one word, "Guilty."

There was an outburst of emotion from more than a dozen family members and friends of Joe Foley who clapped, cheered and cried tears of relief, happiness and sorrow at the verdict, reached after 3 hours of deliberation and a 13-day trial.

Her face expressionless, Foley showed no emotion as she looked at the jurors, who were polled individually about their verdict at defense lawyer Brian Collins' request. Joe Foley's family members hugged one another as each juror repeated, "Guilty."

Kathleen Foley's mother, sister, brother and cousin said nothing as they left the courtroom, where they probably will return Monday when she is formally sentenced to life in prison by Judge Alan M. Black.

The victim's family members thanked and hugged McIntyre, state Trooper Judith Schreiber and state police Cpl. Joseph Vazquez, who found little comfort in the verdict, having lost his friend Joe Foley, who was "like a brother" to him, and Kathleen Foley, whom he also considered a friend.

Joe Foley, 39, was one of nine children, many of whom attended every day or most of the trial, giving siblings in California daily reports. Some family members traveled from Maryland and Harrisburg.

"We're happy with the verdict, but it's not really justice for Joe because the only justice for Joe is if Kathleen can change places with Joeand he could be back here with us," said Marikay Wrabel, one of the victim's sisters.

During the trial, the courtroom was crowded with other supporters of the victim's family, people who knew Joe Foley from his activities in numerous social clubs, Irish organizations and Project Children, an organization that brings Protestant and Catholic children from Northern Ireland to the United States to promote social unity.

Foley shot her husband on July 30, 1998, with his own gun, which was not found. She claimed she was sleeping in another room when her husband was shot in their bed and that an intruder must have entered.

Investigators, who found out she was having an affair with a co-worker at Allentown State Hospital, conducted an exhaustive investigation that culminated in her arrest in October 1999.

McIntyre argued that substantial circumstantial evidence pointed to Foley and showed the killing was "an inside job" not committed by anyone else.Foley killed her husband, whom she disliked, to be with her married lover, George Fleming, according to the prosecution.

Weeks after Joe Foley's death, neighbors saw Fleming at the Foleys' Moravia Street home.

Defense lawyer Brian Collins questioned the wisdom of a person who would kill her spouse in her own home and then continue the affair after the murder.

"This is the dumbest crime ever conceivedbut not by Katie Foley," he said in his closing argument.

McIntyre said Foley outsmarted herself and thought she could lie her way out of it. "I think that this woman is one of the most brazen women I have ever seen," he said after the verdict.

McIntyre said Foley tripped herself up with her own statements and tried to cover up one lie with another. To believe her testimony, he said, jurors would have to disregard the testimony of at least 19 other people who Foley said were lying, mistaken or wrong about what she allegedly told them about her troubled marriage, her passionate affair and what happened in July 1998.

McIntyre conceded that the case wasn't perfect. "I am worried," he told jurors, adding that investigators took 15 months to put together a case and accumulate evidence that jurors would have to decide after three weeks in court.

Collins argued that prosecutors couldn't say for sure what time Joe Foley died to disprove Foley's story about when she last saw her husband alive. The coroner's office, he said, was "incompetent" for not taking a temperature of the body to get the most accurate estimate of time of death.

On July 31, 1998, Foley called 911 and said there was something wrong with her husband. Police found Joe Foley, covered with a comforter and pillow, lying on his stomach in their bed.

His shorts, his usual night attire, were on backwards and not pulled up all the way. McIntyre theorized that Foley killed her husband while he was clothed and cut his clothes off. But to support her story that he must have been shot in bed while she was sleeping elsewhere, she had to put his shorts on.

Because Joe Foley was a large man, his wife wasn't able to get them all the way up, and in her haste, she put them on backwards, McIntyre believes.

Before they reached a verdict, jurors asked to get another look at a photograph of Joe Foley's body with the shorts.

Foley was interviewed many times by different people. She said her husband was alive when she went into another bedroom to sleep at 12:30 a.m. because her husband was snoring.

She woke up about four hours later, showered and dressed for work and poked her husband to wake him up. She said she lifted part of the comforter and saw that his skin was discolored, so she called 911 for help.

While jurors were deliberating, they asked for a transcript of the 911 call.

Police learned that Foley had been having an affair with George Fleming. Investigators "suspected for the longest time that George Fleming had something to do with this," McIntyre said. But Fleming's alibis for the evening of July 30 and the morning of July 31 held up.

The prosecution argued that Foley killed her husband and then tried to make it look like a robbery by leaving the front door open, placing a money clip on the bedroom floor, putting obstacles in front of a cabinet where Joe Foley kept his gun and covering her husband up with bedding.

"That," McIntyre said of the attempt to fake a robbery, "was her undoing."

'I Loved Joe,' Foley Says At Murder Trial

Fountain Hill Woman Tells The Jury She Didn't Kill Her Husband Or Order Him Killed

Jurors' eyes were fixed on Kathleen Foley Tuesday as she testified for 6 hours that she didn't kill her husband and grieves for him still.

In the small Lehigh County courtroom, more than 50 spectators listened as the 38-year-old Fountain Hill woman answered questions about her relationship with her husband, Joe Foley, and her affair with George Fleming.

For 4 hours under questioning by her lawyer, Brian Collins, Kathleen Foley gave jurors an abbreviated version of her years with Joe Foley. She laughed and smiled when recalling parts of their nine-year union. She cried and wiped her eyes with a tissue when describing the kind of compassionate, caring person he was and when recalling the morning she claims she discovered his lifeless body.

Their marriage was not perfect and was tested at times, but they had resolved their problems by the time Joe Foley died of gunshot wounds to the head in July 1998, Kathleen Foley said.

Her affair with George Fleming, a co-worker at Allentown State Hospital, was not serious, she said, and happened because of spousal neglect by her busy husband. Fleming, who also is married, was fun, but not someone to build a life or future with, she said.

`Joe was my life,` Foley told the jury. `I loved Joe. I liked what we had together.It was what I always thought a marriage should be.`

But prosecutor Michael McIntyre claims that Foley downplayed her relationship with Fleming, which he called an `obsession,` and lied in court and to police about the quality of her marriage, which she told a friend was `unbearable.` McIntyre's cross-examination will resume today.

As the day wore on, more and more people filled the spectators' seats, some to hear what Foley had to say and others to watch veteran prosecutor McIntyre question the woman charged with firing four shots at her husband as he was lying in bed in their Fountain Hill home.

Prosecutors allege she used her husband's gun, then discarded the 9 mm semiautomatic weapon that has never been found. Foley said her husband had gotten rid of the gun.

Some who were turned away from the crowded courtroom stood outside in the hall and listened through the door, which was cracked open to allow some of the hot stale air inside to escape.

When questioned by Collins, Foley provided quick answers, especially to the question: `Kathleen,` Collins said, pausing, `did you kill Joe Foley?`

`Absolutely not,` she said without hesitation.

`Kathleen, were you involved in any way in the killing of Joe Foley?`

`No, I was not,` she replied.

`Kathleen, did you have someone kill Joe Foley?`

`No, I did not,` she said.

Shortly after, Collins said, `Your witness, Mr. McIntyre.`

The prosecutor, known for his sometimes rapid-fire questioning, asked questions slowly and deliberately without raising his voice.

`Would you agree with me that if you are innocent, you would have no reason to lie to the police? You would agree with me, wouldn't you?` McIntyre asked.

`Not totally, no,` Foley said.

McIntyre methodically excerpted investigators' testimony about what Foley told them -- and what she didn't tell them.

She admitted on the witness stand that she lied about her affair with Fleming, which started in the fall of 1997, continued up until Joe Foley's death, resumed 10 days later and kept going until her arrest in October 1999.

The affair provides much of the motive for the killing, according to prosecutors, who also believe Foley wanted out of her marriage and the grip of what she perceived as a controlling husband but didn't think she could make it on her own.

Kathleen Foley said their marriage had rough spots but was getting progressively better before Joe died. She was his helpmate in various social activities, and he was the rock in her life, she said.

Prosecutors are trying to show Joe Foley was an irritating stone in her shoe that became a boulder, an obstacle to her intense relationship with Fleming.

McIntyre asked Foley why, if the affair was merely a dalliance, she risked so much for Fleming. The prosecutor said Kathleen Foley risked: Joe Foley finding out, losing a close friendship with a woman who didn't approve of the affair, harming herself because Fleming's wife threatened her, a part-time job at JC Penney because of Fleming's frequent visits, and her job as a psychiatric aide at the State Hospital where she and Fleming had sex in rooms where patients slept.

Adding one more risk to the list, McIntyre asked, `Did you risk getting pregnant?`

`I didn't think I was,` Foley said.

McIntyre asked her whether she told Fleming that she was pregnant with his child before her husband's death. She then said that conversation took place after her husband was killed.

During the trial, the prosecution and defense explored the dynamics of the love quadrangle that had even more sides when Fleming admitted that he also was having an affair with another married woman.

Prosecutors have attempted to show that Foley would do anything to hold onto Fleming, whom she may have suspected of straying. They allege that while her husband was controlling the finances in the family, she was secretly cashing in savings bonds to lavish gifts, including $1,000 for a car, on Fleming.

Foley said co-workers were lying when they testified about how discontented she was with her marriage and how deeply in love she was with Fleming.

McIntyre asked Foley what she thought was a proper mourning and grieving period, citing testimony of neighbors that Fleming was at the Foleys' home shortly after Joe's death.

`I believe I still am` grieving, she replied.

`After Joe was out of the way, you did have a little love nest in your home?` McIntyre asked.

`Yeah,` she replied.

The prosecutor followed, ` 'Cause Joe was out of the way?`

`I don't think it's fair to say that,` Foley said.

McIntyre asked her whether she thought it was risky to bring her lover to her home so soon after her husband's death, knowing that police would suspect her.

`Again,` she said, `I didn't shoot my husband, so, no, I did not.`

Prosecutors allege that Foley shot her husband the evening of July 30, 1998, then made up a story about him possibly having a large sum of money so investigators would think robbery was a motive.

Foley told the jury she was sleeping in another bedroom because her husband was snoring. When she couldn't wake him in the morning, she said, she called 911.

Joe Foley was covered with a comforter and a pillow when police arrived. When they lifted the bedding, they saw his bloody head from which two bullets were recovered.

Kathleen Foley said she lifted part of the comforter, saw her husband's discolored skin and didn't know what was wrong with him, so she called 911.

Murder Case Against Foley Has Many Pieces

Prosecution Has Presented Evidence Fountain Hill Wife Had Motive And Opportunity To Kill

When her husband was in Ireland in May 1998, Kathleen Foley cashed in $1,177 in savings bonds and gave her lover, George Fleming, $1,000 for a downpayment on a $15,666 car.

Prosecutors in Foley's Lehigh County trial have tried to show that, before her husband's death in July 1998, she was becoming more enamored of Fleming and their passionate relationship, and more unhappy with Joe Foley and their marriage.

Kathleen Foley, 38, told friends and co-workers that she loved Fleming more than she had ever loved anyone, that he was the new love of her life, and that she never was in love with her husband of nine years, prosecutors say.

As the prosecution winds down its case in the second week of the trial, numerous witnesses have testified briefly, adding small pieces of the puzzle that is the circumstantial case the prosecution claims it has built against Kathleen Foley.

Foley, who is charged with fatally shooting her husband while he was in their bed, showered gifts of clothing and jewelry on Fleming, and allowed him to drive her husband's prized Ford Mustang.

"One day, that red Mustang will be mine," Fleming allegedly said.

Kathleen Foley complained to other people about her relationship with her husband and how different Fleming was from Joe Foley. She said she could be herself with Fleming and that her husband was becoming more and more controlling and possessive.

A witness said Joe Foley had been keeping a close eye on his wife's spending after learning earlier that she had been buying cocaine.

A friend said Kathleen Foley told her that she suspected Joe Foley might have been getting wise to the affair. Kathleen Foley had expressed mixed feelings about leaving her husband, according to testimony.

She told someone she was looking for an apartment and was thinking of leaving Joe Foley. She told other people that she feared she wouldn't make it on her own.

Kathleen Foley was named as the beneficiary on three life insurance policies for $212,000.

Fleming, who worked with the Foleys at Allentown State Hospital, said he had nothing to do with Joe Foley's murder and didn't know who committed it. He admitted being in the Foleys' home when Joe Foley wasn't around. Neighbors testified that they often saw him at the house before and after the murder.

Fleming said he has an alibi for July 30, 1998, when prosecutors allege Joe Foley was shot in the head in the couple's Fountain Hill house. However, in initial statements to police, Fleming wasn't forthright about his relationship with Kathleen Foley and everything that he did that night.

Fleming at first told police he had only a casual relationship with Kathleen Foley. Later, he admitted it was far more. He said they had sex wherever was convenient, including at the state hospital.

A co-worker said Kathleen Foley would disappear for hours at a time. "I told her she should not disgrace her husband at work," said Michelle Hannis, who urged Kathleen Foley to try to work out her marital problems.

The evening of July 30, 1998, Fleming was working a second job at a beverage company and punched out at 9:02 p.m. He went to the Allentown home of another married woman with whom he was having an affair and spent time with her at a park.

He then went home, and he and his wife went to a pizza shop. They stopped somewhere to buy marijuana, went home and stayed there, he said.

Prosecutors have telephone records that show Kathleen Foley paged Fleming three times that night. They also have bank records that show Fleming made a transaction at a bank machine at 10:59 p.m.

Prosecutors believe Joe Foley was killed sometime between 9 and 11 that night. The next morning, Kathleen Foley called 911 and said she couldn't wake her husband.

The defense has tried to show a burglary could have occurred and that other people could have had motives to kill Joe Foley.

First Assistant District Attorney Michael McIntyre claims Kathleen Foley was the person with the motive and the opportunity to kill her husband.

McIntyre called witnesses who described Joe Foley's activities with the Ancient Order of Hibernians, a local fraternal organization, and Project Children, an organization that brings children from the strife-torn areas of Northern Ireland to the United States.

People from those organizations said those groups do not have political agendas. McIntyre tried to discount the possibility of someone killing Joe Foley because of his activities.

Jurors Hear Foley's Taped Account Of Husband's Death

She Said She Went To Wake Him But Couldn't, So She Called 911

The morning of July 31, 1998, wasn't unusual, according to a taped statement Kathleen Foley gave a state police investigator.

In it, she said she got up for work, showered, dressed and went into the master bedroom to wake her husband, Joseph, at 6 a.m. They had slept in different bedrooms the previous night because of her husband's snoring.

She poked her husband, who was covered with a comforter, and called his name. He didn't respond. She moved the comforter and noticed that his skin was discolored.

She called 911 and said she couldn't wake her husband. At some point, she said, she noticed the front door was ajar.

When a Fountain Hill police officer arrived, she told him that her husband was upstairs and she couldn't wake him.

An ambulance arrived, and no one was letting her into the bedroom. She then learned Joseph, 39, was dead, she said.

But prosecutors in her trial claim she knew long before that her husband was dead -- when she fired four shots at him as he lay in their bed.

Two of the bullets from what police believe was Joseph Foley's gun entered his brain. Two other bullets were found in bedding.

On Friday, the jurors heard the hour-long tape of Foley's account of July 31, 1998, and the previous night. The interview was taped Sept. 28, 1998, by state police Cpl. Joseph Vazquez, in the office of her Allentown lawyers, Brian Collins and Wallace Worth.

Foley wasn't arrested until October 1999.

The defense claims someone entered the home and killed Foley and that his wife didn't hear the shots because she was sleeping in an adjacent bedroom with a radio and air conditioner on.

Prosecutors contend that Kathleen Foley, 38, shot her husband the previous night because she was having an affair with another man and didn't like her husband controlling her life.

Married in 1989, the Foleys were said to be loving toward each other for part of their relationship. But a co-worker of both at Allentown State Hospital and a sister of Joseph Foley noticed kinks in the once-smooth relationship.

A co-worker and friend testified that Kathleen Foley told her about problems she was having with her husband and about her love for co-worker George Fleming. Foley said her life with her husband had become "pretty much unbearable."

Joan Foley, the victim's sister, said she noticed problems in 1991 when Joseph Foley said he was keeping an eye on his wife's finances because he learned that she had been spending large sums of money on cocaine.

The night prosecutors believe the murder occurred, Kathleen Foley paged Fleming three times.

In one call, she allegedly told him, "Everything's gonna be all right now."

Vazquez asked Foley why she would have said that. She replied she didn't remember telling Fleming that.

Why, Vazquez asked, would Fleming say she had said that if she hadn't?

"I don't know," Foley said.

Vazquez, a longtime friend of Joseph Foley, questioned Kathleen Foley the morning the body was found.

"Did you kill Joe?" Vazquez asked.

"I love him," she replied. "I wouldn't do that."

The murder weapon has not been found. Police believe it was a 9 mm semiautomatic pistol, a Hungarian-made FEG model RK59, a gun Joseph Foley bought in 1993 and that Kathleen Foley said he sold.

Kathleen Foley's Lover Denies Role In Murder

He Confirms She Said, 'Everything's Gonna Be All Right Now' After Her Husband Died. He Isn't Clear On What She Meant

By Debbie Garlicki - The Morning Call

September 14, 2000

George Fleming, the man prosecutors say was a motive in the killing of Joe Foley, took the witness stand Wednesday to face a two-hour barrage of questions from the prosecution and defense.

The prosecution contends Fleming, of Allentown, was one of the reasons Foley's wife, Kathleen, fatally shot her husband in his bed in their Fountain Hill home in July 1998.

First Assistant District Attorney Michael McIntyre says Kathleen Foley was obsessed with her lover, Fleming, was afraid she might lose him, and was tired of her husband's control over her life.

But private defense lawyer Brian Collins, who claims other people had motives to kill Joe Foley, tried to cast suspicion on Fleming and his best friend.

"Mr. Fleming, you're getting it from both sides, aren't you?" McIntyre asked.

"I knew that was coming," Fleming said.

A reluctant witness subpoenaed by the prosecution, Fleming admitted having an affair with Kathleen Foley for about a year before her husband's death. He continued to see her after Joe Foley's body was found on July 31, 1998, and until Kathleen Foley was arrested last October. He visits her in prison three days a week.

"Did you kill Joe Foley?" McIntyre asked Fleming.

"No, I did not kill Joe Foley," Fleming said.

"Do you have knowledge about who killed him?" the prosecutor asked.

"No, I do not," Fleming replied.

On those points, Fleming was emphatic. But during questioning by both sides, he often answered with, "I don't recall."

McIntyre had to ask him leading questions about details.

Fleming sometimes conceded that the prosecutor might be right about what Fleming allegedly earlier said to troopers; he also testified that he remembered some things differently.

Fleming admitted that he initially lied about the affair, his whereabouts on part of the evening before Joe Foley's body was found and the fact Kathleen Foley paged him three times that night.

During their last conversation, Kathleen Foley told Fleming, `'Everything's gonna be all right now,"' McIntyre said.

Fleming said he took that to mean that everything was OK and that Kathleen Foley understood that he was tired after working two jobs and was going home.

"Didn't you tell police that it could have been taken another way?" McIntyre asked.

"Yes," Fleming said.

In court, he frequently answered only yes or no. Both lawyers' questions contained more details than Fleming's answers. Judge Alan M. Black twice reminded jurors that the lawyers' questions are not evidence, just the answers.

Fleming maintained that he was trying to cooperate with both sides. "I'm trying to help everybody," he said.

"Isn't it true that you were trying to help yourself?" Collins asked.

He noted that Fleming told investigators he asked Kathleen Foley about the killing and that he agreed to wear a body wire to record conversations.

The defense attempted to portray Fleming as a womanizer who was married with two grown children, was having an affair with Foley at the same time he was having an affair with another married woman, and has two children by two other women.

Fleming said that he and Kathleen Foley had sex whenever and wherever possible -- at the Foleys' Moravia Street house when Joe Foley was away, at Fleming's house when his wife was at work, in vehicles and at Allentown State Hospital where Fleming and the Foleys worked.

Fleming said Kathleen Foley complained about her husband and her lack of financial and social freedom. Kathleen Foley told him she was thinking of leaving her husband. McIntyre said Fleming told his best friend that Kathleen Foley feared that if she got a divorce, she would lose all marital property.

McIntyre asked Fleming whether he told troopers that Kathleen Foley said she was pregnant with his child before Joe Foley's death.

Fleming said Kathleen Foley told him she thought she might be pregnant after Joe Foley died.

Both sides maintained Kathleen Foley lavished gifts of clothing, exercise equipment and jewelry on Fleming, who bought a 1995 Chrysler Concorde with a $1,000 downpayment from Kathleen Foley, who co-signed for a loan.

Unaware of the affair, Joe Foley later started clamping down on his wife's expenses, according to the prosecution.

"It would have been convenient for you financially to have Joe out of the way, wouldn't it?" Collins asked Fleming.

"No," replied Fleming, giving the same answer when asked if he was afraid the "well would dry up."

Fleming, who is black, denied having a contest with his best friend, Martin Ortiz, about how many women they could have sex with and denied saying that he wanted rich white women who would give him money.

"You didn't tell Ortiz that you were sucking Katie dry?" Collins asked.

"No," Fleming said.

Jurors saw photographs projected on a large screen of the master bedroom where Kathleen Foley said she found her husband. She said she was sleeping in an adjacent bedroom and didn't hear shots.

The defense claims Joe Foley, who was shot in the head, was the victim of a burglary, although a trooper said there were no signs of forced entry or a break-in.

Today, jurors will visit the scene and walk through the house to see the two bedrooms.

Jurors saw one graphic color photograph of Joe Foley's head and the bloodstained bedding. There was a low groan from some spectators in the audience. Some shielded their eyes. Kathleen Foley didn't look at that photograph.

Foley Defense Says Others Had Motive

Prosecutor: Fountain Hill Wife Killed Husband For Co-worker's Love

By Joe McDermott - The Morning Call

September 13, 2010

Joe Foley was a large, blunt man with strong opinions who made solid friends and fierce enemies as a result of his numerous civic activities.

Many people besides his wife had the motive and opportunity to kill him, Kathleen Foley's defense attorney told a jury Tuesday at the start of her murder trial.

But, Brian Collins contended during a 45-minute opening statement, `This investigation began and ended with Kathleen Foley.`

He painted his client as a woman who loved her husband as a mentor and a parent despite her torrid affair with a co-worker.

Collins said the marriage had grown stale, in part because of the time-consuming nature of Joe Foley's activities -- highlighted by his work with Project Children, an international organization that brings Northern Irish youngsters to the United States to help them escape conflict in their homeland.

Joe Foley was also an officer in his labor union, a union that not too long before his death had been involved in a bitter strike with its own office staff.

"The point is, Joe Foley was out there. He made some friends and he made some enemies," Collins said.

He cautioned the jurors not to mistake speculation by investigators for circumstantial evidence as what could be a monthlong trial begins on charges Kathleen Foley shot her husband to death as he slept in their Fountain Hill home.

"A 'could have' is not circumstantial evidence, a 'maybe' is not circumstantial evidence," Collins said. "It is speculation."

Prosecutors say the love affair and Joe Foley's concern over his wife's spending habits and previous drug abuse provided the true motive for his murder in the bedroom of their Moravia Street bungalow.

"All of the circumstances surrounding the death of Joe Foley point to the fact that she did it," Assistant District Attorney Michael McIntyre said during a 75-minute statement. "We've got a marriage on the rocks and we've got passion for another man. That was the powder keg."

What is unknown is the spark that ignited it on July 30, 1998, McIntyre admitted.

Joe Foley died apparently unaware of his wife's affair with George Fleming, who worked with both Foleys at Allentown State Hospital.

Yet he knew his wife was spending large amounts of money and took steps in the last six weeks of his life to bring that spending under control, McIntyre said. Kathleen Foley was forced to deposit her paycheck in a joint account, then write a check to her husband for 90 percent of the amount, McIntyre said.

Kathleen Foley allegedly cashed $1,000 in family bonds in May 1998, while her husband was in Ireland, to help Fleming buy a car. She also co-signed a loan for Fleming, the prosecutor continued.

"She was head over heels for this George Fleming. She was obsessed with George Fleming," McIntyre said. "This was a life-changing affair."

Kathleen Foley's friends and co-workers will testify that she flaunted the affair publicly when her husband was not around, he told jurors. They had sex at her house when Foley was in Ireland, at Fleming's house when his wife was away, and at the state hospital while they were working.

"She was so indiscreet, this was her way of showing her hatred for Joe Foley," McIntyre added.

He said circumstantial evidence will prove she killed her husband with his own gun, then tried to cover up the crime with stories of a supposed burglary.

The gun, a Hungarian-made FEG 9mm, bought by Joe Foley in 1993, has never been found.

But the bullets found in Joe Foley's head and back were the same Chinese-made ammunition used in that gun, investigators say.

McIntyre told jurors his most important task will be convincing them Foley's gun was used in the crime.

"The cornerstone of our case is that Joe Foley was killed with his own gun, and we are going to prove it with circumstantial evidence," he said.

"There are a lot of things we are not going to prove. We don't have a murder weapon. We don't have a confession," McIntyre said, adding that jurors will also learn they don't have a perfect case or a perfect investigation. "There is no perfect case in an imperfect world."

Kathleen Foley had the motive, the opportunity -- she was home alone with her husband when he died -- the means and a faulty alibi, McIntyre said. She also lied about several aspects of what happened that night and her relationship with Fleming, which began eight months before the murder.

But investigators still do not know what finally provoked her into allegedly shooting her husband.

Collins said there was no spark that night.

The troubled couple spent several hours after work at the Grover Cleveland Democratic Club in Bethlehem on July 30. They got home at 8 p.m., checked mail and messages, and Joe Foley went upstairs to turn on the air conditioner in the master bedroom.

His wife made him a chicken sandwich, and after they ate they went to bed, made love and talked about the good times, he said.

Kathleen Foley met and married Joe Foley in 1989 when she moved from Orwigsburg to the Lehigh Valley to take a job at Allentown State Hospital.

"Joe Foley filled a lot of needs for Kathleen. Kathleen filled a lot of needs for Joe," Collins said. "Joe provided stability, companionship and guidance -- almost a father figure. Kathleen provided him with companionship."

He called Fleming a womanizer who used Kathleen Foley and other women. Fleming was married when he began his relationship with Foley and he had at least one other girlfriend, Collins said.

It was that competition that made her insecure about her relationship with her lover, he said.

Collins discounted prosecution arguments that she was provoked by Joe Foley's strict control of his wife's finances and spending limits. She was permitted to cash bonds owned jointly, the attorney said.

He also discounted expected testimony on physical evidence found in the home after the shooting.

Prosecutors say that gunfire residue was found on blankets and other objects in the bedroom, but the highest concentration was on Kathleen Foley's nightgown.

Collins said none was found on her hands, but investigators say she had showered and changed before they arrived at the home.

Collins also questioned the time-of-death estimates. Authorities say blood-alcohol content and digestive tests show Foley was killed before 10 p.m.

Collins said he was alive at 11:30 when he went to the bathroom and his wife moved to an adjoining room because of his snoring.

In addition, several neighbors outside that evening heard no noise that could be attributed to either an argument or gunshots in the house, Collins said.

"I think what the evidence will show is areas of reasonable doubt," he told the jury.

Prosecutor Lists Foley Slaying Motives

He Says Kathleen's Extramarital Affair, Husband's Control Led Her To Kill Joe

By Joe McDermott - The Morning Call

September 12, 2000

Kathleen Foley's lover told police investigators she was pregnant with his child, a Lehigh County judge was told Monday.

The details of George Fleming's statement will likely be revealed later this week when Kathleen Foley goes on trial for allegedly shooting her husband, Joe Foley, to death in their Fountain Hill home.

Fleming's comment was part of pretrial motions heard Monday by Judge Alan Black, who will preside over the homicide trial that starts today after jury selection is completed. The trial could last for a month, attorneys for both sides said.

Black rejected Assistant District Attorney Michael McIntyre's request to arrest and detain Fleming until he could testify. McIntyre portrayed Fleming as a hostile witness unlikely to appear if ordered.

The judge did agree to send a county detective to bring Fleming in for a pretrial hearing Monday afternoon, at which he agreed to testify Wednesday morning.

Investigators say Kathleen Foley's relationship with Fleming, who worked with both Foleys at Allentown State Hospital, and anger at her husband's controlling nature led her to kill him.

Prosecutors say that Joe Foley, known for his work with Irish children's causes, kept a strict eye on his wife's spending and social habits after she ran up the couple's charges with cash withdrawals in 1991 to finance a cocaine habit.

"That control made the defendant not only want to leave him, but it was the motive for murder," McIntyre said.

Foley was found dead in the bedroom of his Moravia Street home on July 31, 1998. Kathleen Foley was arrested in October 1999 and charged with the crime, but she has maintained her husband was the victim of a burglar.

Prosecutors say Foley was shot with his own gun.

That gun remains missing. Kathleen Foley has said her husband sold the weapon several years before the shooting. She also said she was asleep in an adjoining room with an air conditioner and radio on and she did not hear gunshots.

In 1997 Joe Foley found marijuana and Prozac, a prescription drug for depression, in his wife's purse, McIntyre said.

For the last six weeks of Joe Foley's life, Kathleen Foley deposited her paycheck in her own account but had to write a check to her husband for almost the full amount so that he could oversee her spending, the prosecutor said.

Defense attorney Brian Collins said there were no drugs found in the Foley home after the murder and no evidence of an argument between the couple that night.

Collins said allowing testimony and evidence of drug use could prejudice the jury against his client.

"There is a high possibility they could convict her because of her bad behavior, because she used drugs," Collins said.

Jurors will hear of the relationship, but McIntyre must demonstrate how Fleming knew of the pregnancy before he can mention it in his opening argument, Black ruled.

McIntyre would not elaborate afterward on Fleming's statement and Collins downplayed it as legal maneuvering.

"Number one, it's vague and unsubstantiated," Collins said after jury selection recessed for the day. "Number two, we should wait till he's on the stand to see what he says."

Black approved Collins' request to prohibit testimony from a friend of Fleming's who supposedly would have said Fleming made incriminating comments about the murder.

Collins said he did not learn of the pending testimony until late last week.

"You can't wait till a week before a homicide trial to turn over a witness, particularly when it raises a new issue," Black chastised McIntyre and the prosecution team.

McIntyre said that until Sept. 1 the man was part of the ongoing investigation. Authorities were trying to get the man to wear a wire to get further statements from Fleming on tape, McIntyre said.

Justice Sends Case Against Foley To Trial

Kathleen Foley Is Accused Of Murdering Her Husband, Joe

By Debbie Garlicki - The Morning Call

November 24, 1999

Lehigh County prosecutors claim Kathleen "Katy" Foley couldn't leave her marriage because her husband wouldn't divorce her.

And she was scared to tell Joe Foley about her love for a man with whom she was having an affair, for fear her lover would be harmed, witnesses said.

Living with Joe Foley had become "unbearable," according to one of Kathleen Foley's friends and co-workers at Allentown State Hospital.

"There is no way out," said First Assistant District Attorney Michael McIntyre.

Those emotions and circumstances provided the motive for Kathleen Foley to shoot and kill her husband with his own gun in their Fountain Hill home in July 1998, McIntyre said.

But defense lawyers claimed the case against Kathleen Foley, 38, is "a little suspicion, a little surmise, a little conjecture" and nothing more.

"This is one of the thinnest, weakest cases to come down in this county in a long time," said Brian Collins of Allentown, one of Kathleen Foley's lawyers.

Prosecutors have "motive, opportunity, means and lies" of Kathleen Foley, argued McIntyre at the end of a four-hour preliminary hearing Tuesday.

District Justice Anthony Rapp found that the totality of circumstantial evidence was enough to send a homicide charge against Kathleen Foley to court.

Foley, who is in the county jail without bail, frequently smiled at family and friends during the hearing before a standing-room-only crowd, talked with her lawyers and jotted notes. She was charged last month after a 15-month investigation into the death of Joe Foley, a child advocate who was found face down on a bed in his master bedroom July 31, 1998.

Prosecutors don't have a murder weapon but believe the victim was killed with a gun he purchased in 1993. Four bullets taken from his body are consistent with those from the model of gun Foley owned, a firearms expert said.

In a cabinet in the bedroom, investigators found a metal box containing a rag with gun powder residue. Based on evidence of dust and clear areas around the box, prosecutors believe it had been moved and had contained the gun.

Collins and defense lawyer Wallace Worth of Allentown questioned why state police didn't determine through tests on Kathleen Foley's hands whether gun powder residue was present that would have shown she had recently fired a gun.

State police investigator Judith Schreiber said Kathleen Foley told her she had taken a shower, so state police didn't get results of any tests.

Kathleen Foley told criminal investigator Joseph Vazquez that she and her husband had gone to a club the night before and had returned home and gone to bed about 9 p.m.

After 11:30 p.m., she went into another bedroom because of her husband's snoring, she said.

Coroner Scott Grim, who examined the body the next day, estimated that Joe Foley died between 9 and 11 p.m. the previous night.

McIntyre said Kathleen Foley was the only other person in the house at 1308 Moravia St. There were no signs of forced entry, investigators said.

When asked if her husband had a gun, Kathleen Foley said her husband had gotten rid of it in 1993 when they moved into the house.

McIntyre said state firearms records show the gun is still registered in Joe Foley's name. There was no record of its being sold.

Asked what kind of relationship she had been having with Joe Foley, the defendant replied that lately it had been pretty good, said Vazquez.

Vazquez, a longtime friend of Joe Foley who said he also was a friend of Foley's wife, testified that he loved both people but didn't ask to be taken off the case, "'cause it's my job."

When investigator Robert Egan questioned Kathleen Foley about her nine years with the victim, she said, "Overall, it was a good marriage."

But three prosecution witnesses painted a different picture of the defendant's marriage.

Kathleen Foley, a psychiatric aide, was in love with another man, George Fleming, a housekeeper at the state hospital, said friends and co-workers Michelle Hannis and JoAnn Sutton-Lynch.

Hannis said she often saw the defendant and Fleming kissing and hugging, adding, "It was public knowledge to everyone."

"She told me she was head over heels with George," Hannis said.

Kathleen Foley told her friend she had never loved Joe Foley the way she loved Fleming, according to the witness.

Kathleen Foley said her husband was becoming more controlling and distrustful of her.

"She said it had become unbearable," Sutton-Lynch said.

The friend said she suggested that the Foleys get counseling, but Kathleen Foley said her husband wouldn't do that.

The defendant told her friend she was afraid her husband would hurt Fleming if he found out about the affair, the witness said.

A former patient at the hospital testified that he heard Kathleen Foley talk about having a gun in the house about a month before the shooting. He said he also heard her say that she and her husband were sleeping in separate rooms.

Telephone records show that the evening of July 30, 1998, when prosecutors believe Joe Foley was shot, his wife paged Fleming three times.