John Veltre Re-Sentenced To Life For 1973 Murder, Rape In PA

He isn’t leaving more than fifty years later.

Veltre, John

The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office said that a man who brutally attacked a woman and killed an infant and toddler in 1973 has been resentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

According to officials, the mother survived the horrific rape and beating, but the children were discovered dead in the house from blunt force injuries.

When John Veltre, now 69, committed the atrocities in Westmoreland County, he was only 16 years old.

Following the US Supreme Court’s decision to consider mandatory life sentences for juvenile offenders, he was granted the right to a resentencing hearing.

However, a judge concurred with the prosecution on June 27 and reinstated life in prison without the possibility of release, pointing to Veltre’s lack of regret and the heinousness of the crime.

Attorney General Dave Sunday stated that while he supports second chances when they are appropriate, some offenses are simply too horrible and detrimental to the community to merit relief.

Veltre has not fully accepted responsibility for his acts and continues to pose a threat to society, according to the Office of Attorney General’s argument against parole.

Juveniles condemned to mandatory life sentences must be reviewed and reconsidered, the country’s top court said, Sunday added.

“That review was done in this case, and we are thankful the re-sentencing court agreed with our assessment that John Veltre remains a threat to free society.”

Sunday continued, “I cannot imagine more violent and vicious acts than what happened here: a mother was raped and beaten, a baby and toddler were brutally murdered, and she only survived because of her own strength and determination, not because of any mercy shown by a callous killer who left her to die with her children.”