Thornton’s Execution Demanded : Courts: Killer should die because of the way nurse Kellie O’Sullivan was slain, jury is told. The side rests its case.

After only three hours of testimony, prosecutors on Tuesday rested their case for putting convicted murderer Mark Scott Thornton to death, calling as witnesses seven sheriff’s deputies and one of the defendant’s former girlfriends.

The deputies testified that razors have been found in Thornton’s jail cell three times since his September, 1993, arrest in connection with the death of Westlake nurse Kellie O’Sullivan.

The former girlfriend described two incidents in which Thornton allegedly sexually assaulted her 11 months before the nurse’s murder.

A Ventura County Superior Court jury is hearing the evidence to determine whether Thornton should live or die for killing O’Sullivan. Thornton was convicted last month of first-degree murder under a special circumstance that qualifies him for a death sentence. He shot the 33-year-old nurse at a desolate location in the Santa Monica Mountains after kidnaping her in Thousand Oaks, according to testimony.

Prosecutors had expected their case in the penalty hearing to last much longer than it did. But Superior Court Judge Charles R. McGrath, in a ruling before the hearing, decided to exclude their main witnesses--the family and close friends of the slain nurse, including her 6-year-old son.

The relatives had been expected to testify about the impact the murder has had on them.

Prosecutors cite the way O’Sullivan died as the primary reason they are seeking to have Thornton executed. Because her body was found inside a small grotto formed by low-hanging trees, prosecutors say the victim could not have been standing when she was killed. Instead, they contend that Thornton executed the nurse as she knelt.

To buttress their case, prosecutors called as witnesses the former girlfriend and a parade of deputies in an attempt to demonstrate that the defendant’s violent streak did not start or end with the nurse’s slaying.

The former girlfriend, now 19, said that Thornton sexually attacked her twice in October, 1992.

On one occasion, she said, Thornton was waiting for her as she arrived home from a church youth group meeting. She said Thornton accosted her as she was getting out of her car, drove to a parking lot where he sexually penetrated her with his finger.

On cross-examination, the witness said that she had been in love with Thornton before those incidents and thought that one day they would be married. Although she reported the kidnaping to authorities and obtained a temporary restraining order, she had withheld information about the assaults because she did not want her mother to know.

The deputies testified that blades from disposable razors and other contraband have been confiscated three times from Thornton’s cell at the Ventura County Jail. They also testified that last January Thornton had to be physically restrained after deputies found a razor blade in his cell.

Defense attorneys, who begin their case Monday, said outside court that the prosecutors’ case was brief because they lacked the evidence required to send Thornton to his death.

“He has no prior felonies. He has very minor prior violence,” said Deputy Public Defender Susan R. Olson. “As it has been demonstrated in court today, they just don’t have any aggravated evidence against this guy.”