6-Year-Old Son of Slain Nurse May Testify

The 6-year-old son of slain Westlake nurse Kellie O’Sullivan is a potential prosecution witness in the death-penalty trial of the woman’s killer, but should not be allowed to testify, a defense attorney said Tuesday.

Cliff O’Sullivan Jr. would possibly testify about the loss of his mother. If he takes the stand, he would become the youngest witness ever to give such testimony in a Ventura County court, lawyers said.

Mark Scott Thornton’s lawyer, Howard J. Asher, a deputy public defender, said the boy’s name is on a list of witnesses the prosecution has provided the defense.

Asher criticized prosecutors for even considering having the boy testify. The testimony, he said, could prove traumatic to the child and prejudicial to Thornton.

“In my view, perhaps the best person to talk about the loss of his mother is his father and perhaps his grandmother,” Asher said. “But to have the young boy testify about the loss of his mother is more for show.”

Prosecutors declined to confirm or deny the defense disclosure, which came after Ventura County Judge Charles R. McGrath delayed the start of Thornton’s death-penalty trial until Jan. 23.

Prosecutors, however, did say they have a right to call the family members of murder victims to the witness stand.

“The only thing I will say is that victim-impact evidence to some degree appears to be admissible in death-penalty cases,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Peter D. Kossoris, who used such testimony to send another defendant to the gas chamber in 1992.

The one-week delay, among other things, gives the judge time to consider the prosecution’s request to introduce such testimony from family members, lawyers said.

Last month, a Superior Court jury convicted Thornton of first-degree murder and a special circumstance that allows the death penalty to be considered as punishment in the case.

A penalty phase of the trial will start Jan. 23 and determine if the 20-year - old defendant should be executed or sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Thornton shot and killed O’Sullivan in the Santa Monica Mountains on Sept. 14, 1993, after kidnaping her in Thousand Oaks, according to testimony.

In addition to testimony from the boy, Asher said, prosecutors also will be asking the judge to allow them to show the jury videotapes and pictures taken of Sullivan throughout her life.

Since 1991, when victim-impact evidence became admissible in state courts, local prosecutors have relied on it twice.

One of the cases occurred in 1992, when a jury condemned Gregory Scott Smith to die in the gas chamber for kidnaping, raping and strangling 8-year-old Paul Bailly of Northridge and setting his body on fire near Simi Valley.

Mary Bailly, the victim’s mother, testified on the impact that her son’s death had on her. Kossoris also prosecuted that case.

In court papers filed before Mary Bailly’s testimony, Kossoris argued that under California law, juries have a right to know the impact a victim’s death has on surviving family members. He also said pictures of victims before their deaths should be used.