PTSD on Trial:Iraq veteran to go to rehab instead of jail for manslaughter

Judge sentences Iraq veteran to rehab instead of jail for manslaughter
BY Oren Yaniv
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Thursday, June 24th 2010, 4:00 AM

A drunk ex-Marine who killed a beloved dad of five on the FDR is off to rehab instead of jail after a judge spared a "decent human being" and Iraq war veteran.

Brandon Connolly, 33, was facing two to six years behind bars after the Valley Stream, L.I., man earlier pleaded guilty to manslaughter and vehicular manslaughter. But the judge was moved by accounts of the personal trainer's service in Bosnia and two tours in Ramadi and Fallujah.

"We're dealing with a reckless act committed by a decent human being," Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Thomas Farber said, speaking haltingly. "I don't know what the just sentence is in this case."



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