Post by Anja on Aug 14, 2006 3:58:28 GMT -5
Death-row inmate returns to Pendleton for new sentencing
In Oceanside, a Marine convicted and sentenced to die for the 1996
shooting death of his executive officer is back at Camp Pendleton for a
new sentencing hearing.
Former Sgt. Jessie A. Quintanilla - who has been confined in the U.S.
Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., since his conviction -
was recently placed in the Camp Pendleton brig after the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Armed Forces ruled in March that a new sentencing hearing
should be held.
On March 5, 1996, Quintanilla shot and killed his executive officer, Lt.
Col. Daniel Kidd, and wounded his commander, Lt. Col. Thomas Heffner, with
a .45-caliber pistol after he barged through the offices of his helicopter
squadron at the Camp Pendleton air station. He shot at and missed another
Marine, a gunnery sergeant who tackled him and took his weapon.
A 12-member jury convicted Quintanilla of murder, sentencing him to death
and reduction to private and forfeiture of all pay and allowances.
A unanimous decision by the military's appellate court agreed with
Quintanilla's attorneys that errors by the military judge during the
general court-martial and misconduct by prosecutors in the case required a
new sentencing. The court overturned a decision last year by the
Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals that would have ordered a new
trial.
No date for the sentencing hearing has been scheduled.
Quintanilla could be re-sentenced to death or to life in prison with the
possibility of parole, said Maj. Jason Johnston, a 3rd Marine Aircraft
Wing spokesman at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego.
Quintanilla is being held in a solitary cell - what officials call
"special quarters" - and is shackled at the wrist and legs whenever he is
outside his cell.
"When the Marine leaves his cell, he is under escort and restrained as a
safety and security precaution," said 1st Lt. Amanda Freeman, a Camp
Pendleton spokeswoman.
(source: Marina Corps Times)
In Oceanside, a Marine convicted and sentenced to die for the 1996
shooting death of his executive officer is back at Camp Pendleton for a
new sentencing hearing.
Former Sgt. Jessie A. Quintanilla - who has been confined in the U.S.
Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., since his conviction -
was recently placed in the Camp Pendleton brig after the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Armed Forces ruled in March that a new sentencing hearing
should be held.
On March 5, 1996, Quintanilla shot and killed his executive officer, Lt.
Col. Daniel Kidd, and wounded his commander, Lt. Col. Thomas Heffner, with
a .45-caliber pistol after he barged through the offices of his helicopter
squadron at the Camp Pendleton air station. He shot at and missed another
Marine, a gunnery sergeant who tackled him and took his weapon.
A 12-member jury convicted Quintanilla of murder, sentencing him to death
and reduction to private and forfeiture of all pay and allowances.
A unanimous decision by the military's appellate court agreed with
Quintanilla's attorneys that errors by the military judge during the
general court-martial and misconduct by prosecutors in the case required a
new sentencing. The court overturned a decision last year by the
Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals that would have ordered a new
trial.
No date for the sentencing hearing has been scheduled.
Quintanilla could be re-sentenced to death or to life in prison with the
possibility of parole, said Maj. Jason Johnston, a 3rd Marine Aircraft
Wing spokesman at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego.
Quintanilla is being held in a solitary cell - what officials call
"special quarters" - and is shackled at the wrist and legs whenever he is
outside his cell.
"When the Marine leaves his cell, he is under escort and restrained as a
safety and security precaution," said 1st Lt. Amanda Freeman, a Camp
Pendleton spokeswoman.
(source: Marina Corps Times)