A couple from Colorado who threatened the safety of and offered a cash bribe to a woman who filed charges against their 28-year-old son accusing him of rape was sentenced to 16 months in state prison in a Torrance Superior Court and ordered into state custody last Wednesday.

Rather than face a trial and prison time of possibly more than three years if found guilty, James Delaney, 68, who is a retired gynecologist, and his wife Gail, 65, pleaded guilty to the charges Oct. 25.

On Oct. 1, 2003, Hermosa Beach Police arrested and charged the couple from Denver with one count each of conspiracy to dissuade a witness, conspiracy to dissuade a witness by force, offering to bribe and criminal threats.

According to police, the couple arrived at the alleged rape victim’s house and handed her the first in a series of three letters last Sept. 23.

According to reports, a woman who was later identified as Gail Delaney showed up at the door of his son’s accuser and handed her the first letter.

Each letter became increasingly threatening and aggressive in tone toward the 33-year-old victim, her young son and family. The letter also offered a cash bribe of $5,000 to the woman that she could use to go on vacation if she dropped the case.

The woman called a neighbor for assistance. Gail Delaney left and climbed into a car being driven by a man later identified as James Delaney. The neighbor obtained the number of the Colorado license plate from the car as it fled the scene.

Officers arrested the couple at the Prado Recreation Area, a campsite in San Bernardino County, after warrants were issued last Sept. 26. The couple initially pleaded not guilty to the charges at an Oct. 2, 2003, arraignment.

They were each released on $750,000 bond and sat in a courtroom during their son’s nearly two-month trial, which ended in a deadlocked jury in October. Jurors said they failed to reach a unanimous verdict on any of the three charges facing the 28-year-old Aran Delaney who was charged with one count each of forcible rape, sodomy and penetration with a foreign object.

Following a jury deadlock resulting in a mistrial, Hermosa Beach resident Delaney decided not to retain the services of his well-known defense attorney Daniel Davis, and acquired the services of the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office for a new trial that began last week.

Delaney, a former fourth-grade Catholic schoolteacher at American Martyrs in Manhattan Beach, is accused of raping the woman in late June of 2003, on a walkstreet in the 2600 block of The Strand in Hermosa Beach.