United States v. Quintanilla

I concur with the majority opinion, except as to the appropriate remedy for the military judge’s erroneous grant of the Government’s challenge for cause against Master Sergeant (MSgt) Buckham. I am not persuaded that the findings must be set aside. I would vote to set aside the sentence only, and order a rehearing on sentence.

The majority properly cites two United States Supreme Court decisions that found only the sentence is affected when a juror is improperly dismissed because of his or her views on capital punishment that do not rise to the level of “preventing or substantially impairing”…