What Thornton Said. . .

In a lengthy, wide-ranging interview, Mark Scott Thornton spoke Wednesday about topics ranging from the murder of Westlake nurse Kellie O’Sullivan to his own troubles as a child.

* On his life:

“I’ve been trying to get through my life, make it better and it’s never happened. I think it’s because of my mental depression. I’ve always thought low of myself. Thought I was no good. Thought I couldn’t achieve things.

“My stepfather putting me down and not being able to achieve and do things in school. Not having many friends to tell me to keep going when I fell. To say you can do things.

* On friendships:

“I would try to be with the popular group in school. But I never fit in. It was like they were the rich and the famous and I was like the little boy on Skid Row. Like the little boy with a smudge on his face.

“It made me feel bad that I didn’t have a lot of friends. I clung to what I could get.”

* On Judge Charles McGrath:

“He’s given me some good breaks and some bad breaks. I think he did a fair job, except not listening to me when I wanted to fire my lawyers.”

* On trying to fire his attorneys:

“The judge practically laughed at me.”

* On jail guards:

“These deputies like to taunt me. ‘You’re a lady killer. Oh, you shot her in the back.’ I’m just sick of the harassment I get from deputies.”

* On being called a victim of society:

“I don’t buy that I am a victim. I don’t think I am a victim, and I don’t think that I am not a victim.”

* On reasons for talking:

“I’ve wanted to talk from the very beginning and my lawyers told me it wouldn’t be a good idea to talk to the press because they would twist and turn my words around.”

* On being called a predator:

“Society has this look of me as a sophisticated killer, and that’s not me. If society knew who I was, they’d be shocked. I’m not a cold-blooded person, and I don’t thrive off seeing people in pain. I love people. I’m 20 years old, and I just feel like the person they are talking about is that I’ve gone around all my life hurting and stealing and putting people in misery.”