United States v. Oscar Ortiz-Martinez

MEMORANDUM

The facts and procedural posture of this case are known to the parties, and wé do not repeat them here. Appellant Oscar Ortiz-Martinez appeals from a judgment of conviction on one count of conspiracy to import heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine and one count of bribery. We affirm the conviction.

Ortiz-Martinez makes two arguments why his conviction should be reversed, both of which have to do with the voir dire that preceded his trial. First, Ortiz-Martinez argues that the district court erred by failing to excuse two biased potential jurors for cause. Second, he argues that comments made by one of those potential jurors during the voir dire tainted the entire jury panel and that the district court should have either struck the venire or conducted further voir dire to ascertain the effect of the allegedly prejudicial comments.

Both of these arguments lack merit. Ortiz-Martinez’s first claim fails because neither of the potential jurors he claims were biased actually sat on his jury; he used peremptory challenges to strike both of them. The Supreme Court has held that, “if [a] defendant elects to cure” the erroneous denial of his cause challenge to a potential juror…