Chester County judge voids prison time for Iraq War veteran

Chester County judge voids prison time for Iraq War veteran
Published: Saturday, September 18, 2010
By Michael P. Rellahan, Special to The Mercury

WEST CHESTER — A Chester County Court judge erased a proposed prison term for an Iraq War veteran who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder after the man's attorney argued that the combat horrors he survived in that country justified a reduced sentence.

"I figure this country owes him," attorney John Duffy of West Chester told Common Pleas Court Judge William P. Mahon, who was set to sentence Robert Allen Delaney to 20 days in Chester County Prison as part of Delaney's acceptance into the county's Recovery Court program for repeat offenders with substance abuse and psychological problems.

Mahon, in forgoing the jail term in favor of an increased amount of time Delaney will spend on electronic home monitoring, recalled the way that some veterans were treated when they returned from the Vietnam War. No one said, "Welcome, home," he remarked.
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Chester County judge voids prison time for Iraq War veteran