Jury Votes Death for Sturm in Tustin Triple Slaying : Courts: After a 10-2 deadlock in June in favor of a life sentence, a second panel reaches the opposite verdict in the 1990 murder case.

After three hours of deliberation, an Orange County jury Monday recommended that Gregory Allan Sturm be sentenced to death for the execution-style killings of three former co-workers at a Tustin auto parts store.

It was the second time that Sturm’s fate was in the hands of a jury. The jury that convicted him of the 1990 murders deadlocked 10 to 2 in favor of a life sentence last June. Several weeks later, six of the 12 jurors took the unusual step of asking prosecutors not to again seek a death sentence, contending that it would be a waste of taxpayers’ money and would probably not result in a unanimous verdict.

But prosecutors defied the wishes of that first panel and reinforced their second penalty trial with new witnesses and evidence that they said had not been made available to them during the first round.

Even before the unanimous verdict by the 10-woman, two-man jury was announced by the court clerk Monday, Sturm, 21, wiped away tears that had welled up in his eyes.

And when the word death was spoken, Pat Chadwick, stepmother of one of the victims, 22-year-old Chad Chadwick of Orange, gasped loudly.

“They actually saw it the way we saw it,” Chadwick said later. “After what we went through with the last jury, this is great.”

Outside the courtroom, jurors and relatives of the victims cried together and hugged each other. Jurors said they took only one vote to decide that Sturm should die in the gas chamber for his crimes.

“I don’t think there’s any other way it could have gone,” said juror Toby Rubin of Garden Grove. The prosecution made “an extraordinary case. . . . The evidence was just overwhelming,” he said.

Deputy Public Defender William G. Kelley said outside of court that his client was “extremely sad and shocked” at the jury’s decision. Those familiar with the case said members of Sturm’s family were not present for the verdict.

Judge Donald A. McCartin scheduled sentencing for Feb. 19.

Kelley said he believes that jurors should have sentenced Sturm to life in prison without any possibility of parole because Sturm is not a hardened criminal.

His defense was built around the fact that Sturm had a difficult, abused childhood and was desperate for drugs when he robbed the auto parts store where he once had worked. Despite one victim’s pleas for mercy, Sturm shot the three men at close range to eliminate any witnesses.

“There is no doubt that his crime was bad, but there is a difference between one horrible aberration and a hardened criminal,” Kelley said, adding that there was not enough evidence to prove that Sturm intended to kill his victims.

“It’s difficult to say what is a deliberate act versus a desperate act of a strung-out kid on cocaine,” he said.

Kelley’s opinion was shared by Joe C. Tarantino of Anaheim, the jury foreman in the first case.

“I don’t think (the defense) got a fair shake the second time around,” said Tarantino, who attended a couple of court sessions during the second, monthlong penalty trial.

But Rosenblum said he was able to present a stronger case the second time because he had access to pretrial statements of defense witnesses that had been denied to the prosecution.

He also offered three new rebuttal witnesses: Sturm’s girlfriend, who testified that he behaved normally after the killings and showed no remorse, and two customers who said they saw Sturm in the store minutes before the killings and testified that he did not appear to be under the influence of drugs.

“He knew exactly what he was doing,” Rosenblum said. “He chose to take three young men’s lives who he knew just so that he could avoid prosecution for the case. . . . They were begging for their lives. They were crying out to him, and he made the decision that his life was more valuable than theirs.”

The prosecutor also said he would have continued seeking the death penalty if this jury also deadlocked because of the families involved.

“I just thought that they deserved the best we had to give them,” Rosenblum said.

Family members said they were pleased that the trial was finally over.

“I am just glad it’s over. It lets us put all this to rest,” said Lyndeth Esgar, mother of victim Darrell Esgar, 22, of Huntington Beach.

Chadwick’s aunt and godmother, Linda Chenier of Orange, said the verdict “will help us put a part of this to rest, but it will never get easier. I can’t say I’m happy, though. I’d be much happier if this never happened,” she said, wiping tears.

“I’m just overwhelmed by this all,” said Larry Chadwick of Tustin, the victim’s father. “It’s taken a big load off my shoulders. Now I can concentrate on all the good memories (my son) left me.”

Melinda Williams, mother of victim Russel B. Williams, 21, of Seal Beach, choked back tears to thank the prosecution team.

“There is justice after all,” she said.