Bruce Joseph Nozolino sat through his bond hearing, dressed in an orange jumpsuit and slightly hunched forward at the defense table, listening on an amplifier so he can follow the proceedings.
He was flanked on either side by his public defenders Rose Roy and Carrie Thompson, the chief of the Colorado Springs public defender’s office. They in turn were flanked by two sheriff’s deputies.
At first, prosecutors wanted to rest on the transcript of the grand jury proceedings to make their case that there was enough evidence to warrant continuing to hold him without bond. However, Nozolino’s public defenders wanted to call witnesses arguing that some of the evidence presented to the grand jury was misleading or inaccurate.
Judge William Sylvester allowed them to call the detectives in the case as witnesses, but held off from requiring the alleged victims – Judge Gilbert Martinez and divorce lawyer John Ciccolella – to testify. Ultimately, the defense chose not to call them.
A dirty white truck
Colorado Springs Detective Luke Skifstad was the first witness. He’s the lead investigator in the murder of Richard Shreiner, the Stetson Hill man shot to death while shoveling snow outside his house on Nov. 30, 2008.
Skifstad said police were unable to find a weapon or any shell casings in the shooting. They did recover a bullet later during the autopsy.
A canvass of the neighbors found several people who reporting hearing what sounded like a single backfire or shot sometime between 7:20 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. Skifstad said. One neighbor also reported seeing a “dirty white pickup truck” in the area at that time.
Police found a pair of ear plugs about 40 yards from the crime scene. However they were unable to find any DNA on them linking them to Nozolino.
A shot to the head
Colorado Springs Detective Derek Graham testified next. He wrote the affidavit for the search warrant in the investigation.
After the shootings at the homes of the Ciccolella and Martinez homes, detectives tried to get a search warrant for Nozolino’s home. But a judge turned down their request, ruling they didn’t have enough evidence to link Nozolino to the shootings.
Detectives thought they had their first big clue in the case early in the morning after a sniper shot Ciccolella in the eye inside his office.
Around 2:40 a.m., a detective interviewed Nozolino. According to the grand jury testimony, Nozolino said he had heard on the news that Ciccolella had been shot in the eye. Graham said police considered this a break, since they had not release that detail to the news media.
However, Nozolino’s public defenders produced a transcript from that night’s broadcast on KOAA-TV. The transcript stated the lawyer had been shot in the head.
A contentious divorce
In her closing argument at the hearing, Chief Deputy District Attorney Diana K. May raced through a rapid-fire chronology of the four shootings matched against the time line of the divorce.
She talked about how rare sniper shootings are. According to the FBI, there were only 37 sniper shootings in the United States between 2000 to 2008.
She described Nozolino as being “obsessed” about his divorce. How he hired a private investigator. How he tried to get his wife fired and court-martialed for infidelity.
“This is a very contentious divorce.”
On June 8, 2001, she says Judge Martinez ordered Nozolino to pay $10,500 in child support to his wife. Five days later, the judge makes another ruling against Nozolino. On the evening of June 16, 2001, the shooting occurs at the Ciccolella house. One bullet slams into a charcoal grill outside the house.
Nozolino claims he was out of the country at the time, but later that alibi turns out not to be true, May contended.
More to come. Stay tuned.
Hi John, We’re having a conversation on the main story about this. Yesterday, did they ever specifically say why Bruce Nozolino lost his security clearance?
CDOW pictured one of his trophy elk kills, and be regularly boasted on his high school alumni website (tabb74.com) about guns, bows, his hunting exploits, and of course riding Harleys (witness the T Shirt & rifle facebook picture).
Although nothing shows BNoz01 had sniper training, he advertised, bought and sold big game rifles and parts, according to Facebook and Ebay. Sheriffs seized rifle parts from his apartment, indicating gunsmithing activity. That conclusive ballistics evidence was inconclusive could indicate modified shell reloads or bullet tips modified to fragment on impact. Ammunition heavy enough to take 500 pound elk at 300 yards should be lethal and intact at 40 yards or after passing through a window, embedding in an outdoor grill, etc. John Ciccolella survived, however, an otherwise lethal shot to the head, as if it were a small pistol or BB gun.
About the dirty white truck: Witnesses didn’t recall a gun rack in the back window, possibly due to limited visibility, falling snow. But there may be witnesses from his court-mandated anger management class (also imposed by judge Martinez) who recall he drove a pickup with a rifle in the gun rack to the meetings.
There was some dispute on this in the courtroom. Prosecutors cited the fact that the divorce lawyer and detective testified at the hearing. But the defense attorneys countered that the ruling had nothing to do with the divorce. It wasn’t clear to me though what they contend it specifically was about.
wagnerian, I have a father-in-law that is the same way. Has is ex-military, a gun collector and buys and sells lots of guns. I bet there are several other people in this area who are also into guns, it doesn’t mean they would harm anyone.
What’s the big deal with the gun rack? That doesn’t suggest guilt to me at all. People had them in their trucks when I went to HS (I know, a different time)- but it was never a suggestion of anything more than someone liking to hunt or shoot cans.
jensslin, I was interviewed for a security clearance once…not for me, but for a former employee, and it was INTENSE. Maybe someone will fill in the blanks about why he specifically lost his clearance- I found an article that lists some possible reasons:
a. Misuse or abuse of alcohol
b. Use of illegal drugs or misuse of prescription drugs
c. Disloyalty to the United States
d. Untrustworthiness
e. Unreliability
f. Disrespect or disregard for legal authority
g. Financial irresponsibility
h. Vulnerability to blackmail or coercion
http://www.ehow.com/how_5069067_keep-security-clearance.html
Ag2, I agree it’s not probative evidence and from here in the cheap seats we can only speculate about his mental state. Sure empty gun racks mean nothing, but I’m wondering if he was in the habit of keeping a rifle in it, and if so, why would he risk having it stolen during the class meetings? John, it would seem easy for the DA to locate other members of the anger management class for testimony re: the color of the pickup, and was the rack empty?
I find his association with Douglas Bruce more than coincidental, however. Aside from their common suspicion over the judiciary and lawyers, however, is Bruce’s many website references to gun rights. Nozolino mentioned on these boards that he was gaining experience from Bruce’s petition strategy to run a concealed-carry petition. At the state capitol, Bruce refused to submit to metal detectors or wand searches. In typical hyperbole he said something to the effect of “I’m not dropping my pants for anybody”. Why would anyone want to pack heat onto the House floor anyway???
… Besides intimidation? Remember the threatening facebook pose, comments about grilling dinner on a hot barrel, early press statements admitting he had a beef with Ciccolella, the Sherriff and Martinez (I think Gilbert filed a restraining order). I think the anger classmates might have also felt intimidated if they saw a rifle – but like the elephant in the room, who would confront him about it?
[...] DRAMATIC TESTIMONY IN CASE OF SPRINGS MAN ACCUSED OF SHOOTING LAWYER, TARGETING JUDGE: $10M bond set for accused killer Bruce Nozolino after alleged victims, their families described living in fear for almost a decade. “If he bonds, I’m a dead man,” said Springs lawyer John Ciccolella, shot in eye. Judge Gilbert Martinez, another target, testified: “We are not safe if he gets out on the street. That’s our future.” Public Defender Carrie Thompson countered prosecutors lack direct evidence. Here’s how Gazette reporter John Ensslin blogged Friday’s hearing. [...]
I have read everything on this and there are just too few pieces of evidence presented. It use to be that you had to worry about going to a foreign country where you were guilty until proven innocent. What happened to the US? Have we turned into Mexico? Losing a clearance can happen by a perceived wrong doing. Bruce only lost his had his clearance suspended for one year, not for life. I would think that a real hunter, who bragged about his skills would not miss, so how did he miss the Judge? Maybe it wasn’t him. In the hearing, the Defense showed how the key element of the detective’s interview witth Bruce was flawed. Funny, if I went to in a civil court and had flawed evidence, it would be thrown out and anything related to it would be tainted and thrown out. Why is it acceptable to let the supposed evidence stand? I saw where Bruce got into a fight and received further charges from it. I don’t know about anyone else, I sure would never want to show a weakness in a jail setting, as the guards job is not to protect you, but to detain you. Self defense apparently is a crime. This whole thing makes me sick. Circumstantial evidence, flawed investigations, and character assasination seems to be how decisions are made in court. We don’t have a justice system in this case.
Unbeliever, could it be your clouded clairvoyance is what’s making you, as you say, sick. Firstly, evidence was presented here not in court but in a bond hearing – it was sufficient to set the bond amount, not determine guilt or innocence. Next, what you “think”: “a real hunter… would not miss” is pure conjecture. If you are passing judgment from the cheap seat as Wagnerian says, please advise the jury solicitors when they ask you to perform jury duty.
idee week end romantico…
[...]Scenes from the Nozolino hearing – The Sidebar : Colorado Springs Gazette, CO[...]…