Prosecutors File Murder Charges in Nurse’s Death : Courts: District attorney has yet to decide whether to seek execution of the 19-year-old suspect.

Eight days after Westlake nurse Kellie O’Sullivan’s body was found amid brush in the Santa Monica Mountains, prosecutors Monday charged 19-year-old Mark Scott Sarrazin with murder and a special allegation that could send him to the gas chamber.

The special allegation charges that the Thousand Oaks teen-ager shot O’Sullivan during a kidnaping or robbery, which means he could receive the death penalty if convicted.

But the Ventura County district attorney’s office said it has not decided whether to seek the death penalty. Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Kevin J. McGee said that decision will not be made for at least another month.

It will depend on background checks on Sarrazin, among other factors, McGee said. “It’s more or less a standard practice for us to file (charges) as we have filed,” without determining whether to seek the death penalty, he said.

If convicted of first-degree murder and the special circumstance and prosecutors do not seek the death penalty, Sarrazin would face a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole.

Sarrazin, also known as Mark Scott Thornton, remains in Ventura County Jail without bail. He is scheduled to be arraigned today at 1:30 p.m. in Municipal Court.

He was charged Monday with four counts in connection with O’Sullivan’s killing, two more involving the abduction of his ex-girlfriend that same day, and eight others involving a series of thefts and check forgeries dating back to July 10.

Monday’s charges came after authorities completed ballistics tests on the bullets taken from O’Sullivan’s body and a gun found on Sarrazin, who was arrested at the Circus Circus Hotel and Casino in Reno, Nev., on Sept. 19.

McGee declined to comment on the ballistics tests.

Deputy Public Defender Susan R. Olson, who represents Sarrazin, did not return phone calls after the charges were filed. Earlier Monday, she said prosecutors had not shared with her the results of the ballistics tests.

Olson said she was in regular contact with Sarrazin, whom she described as “scared.”

Authorities have said the .38-caliber revolver found on Sarrazin when he was arrested had been stolen. Among the charges filed Monday was one that he received a stolen gun on the day of the O’Sullivan disappearance.

He is also charged with stealing a different gun from a car in the parking lot of a United Pacel Services office in Fillmore July 10, but it was not clear whether that gun is believed to have been used to commit any crimes.

In connection with O’Sullivan’s death, Sarrazin was charged with murder, robbery, grand theft auto and kidnaping for robbery.

Two civilian searchers found her body in a brush-choked gully in the Santa Monica Mountains Sept. 26.

The discovery capped off a massive 12-day search through rugged canyons around Thousand Oaks. The case captured widespread public attention, and more than 300 mourners attended O’Sullivan’s funeral Saturday, including police officers and civilians who did not know the 34-year-old woman but had joined in the search for her.

O’Sullivan’s boyfriend, Kevin White, was unavailable for comment Monday on the charges filed against Sarrazin, said Peter Greaney, a friend of White’s.

“He’s having a very rough time right now,” said Greaney, who also said the district attorney’s office has asked White not to comment on the matter because “it might jeopardize the case.”

Sarrazin also was charged Monday with kidnaping and assault with a firearm in connection with the abduction of Stephanie Campbell, his 16-year-old ex-girlfriend. Police say Sarrazin kidnaped Stephanie and shot at her mother after he killed O’Sullivan and stole her car.

Investigators say he then drove Stephanie to Reno, where she slipped away and summoned police.

In addition to the charges of stealing a gun and receiving a stolen gun, Sarrazin is charged with one other count of receiving stolen property, and charges of forgery, petty theft and writing a bad check. Details on those charges were not available.