Marine Sentenced to Death in Slaying

Marine Sgt. Jessie A. Quintanilla was sentenced to death Thursday by a court-martial for killing one officer and wounding another.

Quintanilla, 29, an eight-year veteran, was convicted of the murder of Lt. Col. Daniel Kidd and the attempted murder of Lt. Col. Thomas Heffner in a March shooting rampage at Camp Pendleton. The conviction and death sentence were handed down by a jury of seven officers and five enlisted personnel.

Maj. Guy Glazier, the prosecutor, said the shootings struck at the very heart of the Marine Corps sense of esprit de corps and respect for authority. “This was the most heinous crime possible in the Marine Corps,” Glazier said.

Quintanilla probably will spend up to two years in the brig at Camp Pendleton as his case winds through the chain of command and the civilian and military appeals courts before he is transported to the military death row at Ft. Leavenworth, Kan.

Quintanilla did not testify during the trial but he addressed the jury during the penalty phase to express sorrow. The jury deliberated for two hours before passing sentence.

The jury was required to decide between the death penalty and life in prison at hard labor. To invoke the death penalty, a unanimous vote was required.

The military has not carried out an execution since 1961, when an Army private was hanged for the 1955 rape and attempted murder of an 11-year-old girl. President Kennedy declined a request to overturn a death warrant signed by his predecessor, President Eisenhower.

The last Marine execution was in 1817.

Military death penalty prisoners have several levels of appeal within the military and federal justice systems, including the U.S. Supreme Court and final appeal to the president, the commander in chief.

Quintanilla is the ninth serviceman--and fifth Marine--to be sentenced to death in recent years. Military rules call for execution by lethal injection.

During a four-day sentencing hearing, family members of Kidd and Heffner told jurors about the pain and anguish caused by Quintanilla. His wife, Julie, who lives in Riverside, begged for mercy.

Quintanilla is a native of Guam who attended high school in Long Beach. According to testimony at the trial, his career had gone badly in recent years as he began to suffer marital and financial problems, drink heavily and come to believe that he was the victim of bias by white officers.

When he shot Kidd and Heffner, he said that he was doing so “for the brown side” and that there would be others killed soon. His blood alcohol level at the time was five times the legal limit.n.

During the trial, testimony indicated that Quintanilla had been influenced by the mores of street-gang culture that require a deadly response to any perceived slight. Kidd had “counseled” Quintanilla for being a straggler during a training run.