A judge has ruled that a Rankin man he'd ordered to complete a 1991 drug sentence after nine years of liberty did not have to return to prison after all.

Allegheny County Judge Kevin G. Sasinoski found that Sheldon L. West, 50, formerly of Smithton, had completed his sentence while awaiting the outcome of a motion in which he'd argued that the court violated his due process rights by incarcerating him after officials discovered he'd been overlooked due to a bureaucratic mistake.

Mr. West was convicted of cocaine possession in a jury trial before the late Common Pleas Senior Judge Loran L. Lewis, who sentenced him to 27 to 54 months. The defendant appealed and was subsequently released on an appeal bond. He failed to return to custody when the Superior Court denied his appeal. He stated, upon re-incarceration, that his attorney never told him the outcome of the appeal.

An administrative judge caught the error in 2002, and issued a warrant for Mr. West's arrest. Police apprehended him during a traffic stop and re-incarcerated him. Judge Sasinoski denied his motion seeking release, but the Superior Court reversed that decision, and he was released. In December, the state Supreme Court said the Superior Court erred in granting relief and reinstated Judge Sasinoski's order. Mr. West and his lawyer appeared before Judge Sasinoski in March.

At that hearing, his parole officer confirmed for the judge that Mr. West was released on parole in 2004 and completed his maximum sentence on the drug conviction in October 2006.