Defense in Thornton Death-Penalty Trial Rests : Court: Witness tells jury of being with the defendant when they found his mother unconscious after a suicide attempt.

Defense attorneys for convicted murderer Mark Scott Thornton rested in his death-penalty trial Thursday, concluding with dramatic testimony of how Thornton discovered his badly bleeding mother after her April, 1993, suicide attempt.

Markita Sarrazin had slashed both wrists and was unconscious when Thornton, then 18, and close family friend Larry Pickett found her sprawled on her blood-soaked bed in Thousand Oaks, Pickett recalled.

“I thought she was dead,” he testified.

The mother survived the self-inflicted assault, but the defense suggested that the incident left Thornton emotionally scarred. Five months later, he shot and killed Westlake nurse Kellie O’Sullivan during a carjacking, a crime the defense blames in part on his inadequate upbringing.

The testimony from Pickett and a handful of other witness was designed to dissuade a Ventura County Superior Court jury from sentencing Thornton to death for the nurse’s Sept. 14, 1993, murder.

O’Sullivan was shot three times at a remote location in the Santa Monica Mountains after being kidnaped in Thousand Oaks. The jury, which convicted the 20-year-old defendant of first-degree murder in December, has the option of sentencing him to life in prison without parole.

In its four-week case, the defense also presented evidence showing Thornton suffers from a learning disorder due to brain damage he sustained at birth.

Despite those problems, the prosecution has contended that Thornton knew it was wrong to commit murder.

Pickett said he and Pierre Sarrazin, Thornton’s stepfather, became fast buddies after meeting eight years ago at a racetrack for remote-control cars in Reseda.

A roofer, Pickett said he soon began using methamphetamine and marijuana with Sarrazin and his wife. He and Sarrazin became so close that when Sarrazin separated from Thornton’s mother in 1992, the two men rented a house together in Thousand Oaks.

Sarrazin and his wife later reconciled, and the entire family--including Thornton and younger sister Chantal--also moved into the rented house on Calle Tulipan.

At the house, Pickett and Markita and Pierre Sarrazin spent their weekends mostly snorting methamphetamine and smoking pot--usually out of sight of the children but not always, Pickett said.

“It was like a weekend warrior thing,” the witness testified.

Thornton often seemed depressed during those days, Pickett said, adding that Pierre Sarrazin would shout at the defendant and give him complicated chores such as taking apart cars in the driveway.

Pierre Sarrazin is a mechanic.

Thornton’s mother would never intervene when her son was being mistreated, Pickett testified. She seemed interested only in pleasing her husband, not her children, the witness said.

Markita Sarrazin has testified that she attempted suicide as a way to get more attention from her husband, who she said neglected her needs.

Once, Pickett said, Markita Sarrazin ordered Thornton, then 17, to move out of the house because his stepfather no longer wanted him around.

Thornton slammed his fist into a wall and cried before running from the home, Pickett said.

“She loved Pierre more than anything in the world,” Pickett testified, but added that “Pierre didn’t have any respect for her.”

Pierre Sarrazin often brought home girlfriends, ordering his wife to go to her bedroom until the other women left, Pickett said.

Deputy Public Defender Susan Olson asked how the mother treated her children as a result of her domestic problems.

“That would depend on how Pierre was feeling that day,” Pickett replied.

Elaborating, Pickett said the mother paid attention to her children only when her husband paid attention to her--which, he added, was rarely.