Psychiatric Exam Ordered for Thornton

Mark Scott Thornton, the Thousand Oaks man charged with murdering Westlake nurse Kellie O’Sullivan, must submit to an exam by a prosecution psychiatrist, a Ventura County judge ruled Tuesday.

Superior Court Judge Charles R. McGrath issued the ruling after prosecutors argued that they need the examination to be prepared if the defense makes an issue out of the 19-year-old defendant’s psychological state during the trial, set to begin Sept. 6.

Defense attorneys, however, noted that they have not claimed that Thornton was not in his right mind when he allegedly killed O’Sullivan, the mother of a young son.

Deputy Public Defender Susan Olson added that the prosecutors’ request should only be granted if the defendant first brings up the subject of his mental condition, such as by pleading not guilty by reason of insanity.

“I’m very surprised,” Olson said outside court. “I don’t think there is any precedent for granting such a motion at this stage in the proceeding.”

Olson said she did not expect McGrath to grant the motion, but refused to say whether she would order her client to refuse to cooperate with the doctor, who has not been selected.

“We have not put Mr. Thornton’s mental status in issue at this time,” she said. “So any order to have him tested by a prosecution psychiatric expert is premature.”

But prosecutors said the judge made the right call by granting their request.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Peter D. Kossoris said it is better to have Thornton undergo the psychiatric examination at this point in the case instead of later, at trial.

“It’s a certainty that the defense is going to have a psychiatric examination so they can use it, and we need one to respond,” the prosecutor said.

Thornton is charged with murder, kidnaping and a special circumstance that could send him to the gas chamber.

O’Sullivan, who disappeared Sept. 14, was shot three times by someone who dumped her body in the Santa Monica Mountains, where it was found 12 days later.

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Thornton was arrested Sept. 19 in Reno.

He was in possession of O’Sullivan’s Ford Explorer truck and a handgun, police said.

He has admitted taking the nurse’s truck, they said, but denied ever seeing O’Sullivan.

He told detectives he found the truck outside a Thousand Oaks pet shop and took it because the keys were inside, police said.

Defense lawyers normally have their clients tested by psychologists and psychiatrists in capital-punishment cases to mitigate any conviction they might receive during the guilt phase of the trial.

The doctors testify about their findings during the penalty phase--the hearing in which a jury decides whether the defendant either should be put to death or placed behind bars forever.

In the Thornton case, defense attorneys have already said their client is a special-education student who suffers from a learning disability and that he comes from a broken family.

Still, Olson said it is too early for public speculation on possible defenses that Thornton may employ.

And while she wouldn’t say if he would refuse to speak with the prosecution psychiatrist, she said he is aware of his constitutional right to do so.

“At this point, we haven’t even gone through the guilt phase, and obviously a person has a right against self-incrimination,” she said.