Convicted murderer Scott Nordstrom received six death sentences yesterday for his role in a pair of bloody robberies that left Tucson reeling two years ago.
An emotionless Nordstrom didn't flinch as a Pima County judge ordered a half-dozen times within a minute that he be put to death. After the sentences, Nordstrom took one long swallow, but remained mute as he stared straight ahead.
A jury convicted Nordstrom, 30, in December of six first-degree murder counts in the 1996 robberies at the Moon Smoke Shop and Tucson Firefighters Association Union Hall. He became the first person in Pima County within the past 25 years to be found guilty of six or more slayings.
Judge Pro Tem Michael Cruikshank of Pima County Superior Court called the robberies "barbarous, arrogant and ruthless in the extreme."
The sentencing came after an emotional half-hour in which victims' family members had their first and only opportunities to address Cruikshank.
The families described with quaking voices the legacy of anguish Nordstrom has left behind. One victim's son made a personal vow to his mother's killer.
"I will do everything within my power to make sure that you never, ever set foot on the face of the Earth as a free man," said Carson Noel, son of Carol Lynn Noel. She was one of four victims in the June 13, 1996, union hall robbery.
Yesterday's sentence elicited hugs, tears and a few cheers among the victims' family members, but many said they recognized their time in court is far from over.
"This is round one," Noel said after the sentencing.
Robert Jones - the alleged second gunman in both robberies - is set to be tried June 17 on the same murder charges. He could face the death penalty if convicted of any of the first-degree murder counts.
Scott Nordstrom's mother, Cindy Wasserburger, and his stepfather, James Wasserburger, left the courtroom without comment yesterday.
Harley Kurlander, one of Nordstrom's attorneys, said his client had braced himself for the death sentences.
"Being realistic, he knew it was a very possible outcome," Kurlander said. "He remains very optimistic in regard to his appeal."
Kurlander maintained yesterday - as he did during the trial - that the jury convicted the wrong Nordstrom. Scott Nordstrom said at a hearing last week that his younger brother - the state's key witness - framed him for the murders.
David Nordstrom, 28, testified he was the getaway driver in the May 30, 1996, smoke shop robbery and that his brother and Jones separately confessed to him that they committed the union hall robbery.
Jurors found that Scott Nordstrom killed Tom Lewis Hardman, 28, in the smoke shop robbery and Carol Lynn Noel during the union hall robbery. They also found under the felony murder law that he was responsible for the other four deaths during the heists.
The felony murder law allows prosecutors to charge defendants with first-degree murder if someone dies during the commission of a crime.
The other gunman - who authorities say was Jones - killed Clarence "Chip" Odell III, 47, during the smoke shop robbery; and Arthur "Taco" Bell, 54; his wife, Judy Bell, 46; and Maribeth Munn, 53.
Nordstrom also was convicted of six other felony counts, including attempted first-degree murder in the shooting of another smoke shop employee.
Cruikshank found that death sentences were warranted because Scott Nordstrom had committed the murders for monetary gain and was convicted of multiple murders in separate robberies.
The defense argued for leniency, saying residual doubt exists that Scott Nordstrom - and not his brother - committed the robberies.
But Cruikshank said guilt had clearly been proved beyond a reasonable doubt.
"While David Nordstrom was central to the state's case, he did not comprise the state's entire case, and the core of his testimony was corroborated at least circumstantially by other witnesses and items of evidence," Cruikshank said.
Scott Nordstrom's attorneys also had argued that he had a difficult childhood and suffers from an anti-social personality disorder.
Cruikshank said he found that neither one of those factors played a role in the murders.
"While not idyllic, the defendant's early years were not marked by abuse, unhappiness or misfortune sufficient to constitute mitigation," the judge said.
Toni Schneider, Carol Lynn Noel's sister, told Cruikshank yesterday that Scott Nordstrom was the evil that chose to kill her sister. She was the first of five victims' family members who addressed the court.
"We are all responsible for the choices we make in our lives," Schneider said. ". . . My choice is that I will not allow my life to become about Scott Nordstrom and the people he represents. . . . I chose to remember the good things about my sister that evil cannot take away from me."
Leann Bell, who lost both her parents, ran out of the courtroom crying after addressing Scott Nordstrom.
"You will no longer have my life . . . you will go away," Bell yelled at Scott Nordstrom. "You will never come back. You will die."
Throughout the speeches, Scott Nordstrom never looked at the people talking or the misty-eyed courtroom spectators.
Theresa Anagnostos, one of Maribeth Munn's daughters, said, "He stole from her life from this Earth. . . . He knew right from wrong, and he chose wrong."
Odell's family did not address the court, but in a letter to Cruikshank, 11 family members asked that Scott Nordstrom receive the death penalty.
"Chip Odell was a hard-working man who dearly loved his family and has been taken out of our lives by this ruthless individual," the Odell family wrote. "The void this crime has left in our lives cannot be comprehended."
Clarence Odell Jr., Chip Odell's father, said yesterday that he was satisfied that Scott Nordstrom received the death penalty.
"I hope I live long enough to see the sentence carried out," he said.
Before handing down the sentence yesterday, Cruikshank offered a quiet prediction.
"Some people will leave here with some sense of relief," he said. "Some people will leave here with some disappointment. No one will leave here with cause for rejoicing."
