MONESSEN MAN APPEALING 1973 SENTENCE

A Monessen man convicted of raping a young mother and killing her children in 1973 is appealing his sentence.  The Trib reports that the attorney for 69-year-old John Veltre, Jr. say he has done enough while behind bars over the last 50 years to warrant parole, but that Judge Michael Stewart II failed to take that into consideration in his resentencing to life in prison.  His original life sentence was vacated by state and federal court rulings that ruled juveniles could not be given mandatory life sentences.  He was just shy of 17 at the time of the incident.