Bad son

Gregory Dale Foley, 56, pleads not-guilty to the attempted murder of his 81-year-old mother and cruelty to his 86-year-old father, in a trial that began yesterday, July 29, 2014.

The prosecutor played a chilling 911 call from September of last year, in which Mrs. Beverly Foley is heard begging the dispatcher to send help; then there is a moment of silence before a man’s voice is heard in the background saying, “You’re dead, you’re fucking dead;” and then the line is disconnected.

Oceanside police responded after 6 p.m. to the home in the 4000 block of Milano Way, where Gregory Foley had been living with his parents, and found the adult son brandishing a knife, according to statements in court.

Beverly Foley suffered multiple facial fractures from a beating, and cuts to her hands and arms from a knife, the jury was told in opening statements.

Milford Foley, 86, was found locked in an upstairs bathroom and was not as severely injured as his wife, according to the prosecutor.

Police fired multiple rounds of rubber bullets at Gregory Foley, which failed to subdue him; then officers shot him in the shoulder, the prosecutor said.

Beverly Foley survived the incident and was the first person called to testify. Her husband Milford passed away late last year.

Defense attorney Lacey Martz suggested that Beverly Foley suffered from dementia and that it was her “threatening and violent behavior” that triggered the violence. The defender told a jury of seven women and five men that there are “a lot of sad and hard issues” in this case.

Gregory Foley was in the same courthouse five months prior to this incident, in April of 2013. In the prior case he immediately pleaded guilty to misdemeanor cruelty to an elder, his father. At that time the judge ordered Gregory Foley into substance-abuse and anger-management programs; he was released on three years’ “summary” or unsupervised probation.

Prosecutor Ryan Saunders has charged Gregory Foley with five felonies, including attempted murder, willful cruelty to elders, and felony resisting officers. Judge Richard Monroy presides in San Diego’s North County Superior Courthouse.