Divorce case sparked attacks on lawyer, judge and others, jurors in murder trial are told
A bitter divorce in which Bruce J. Nozolino lost custody of his children led the former white-collar worker to kill a man with whom his wife had had a brief affair and try to kill his wife’s divorce lawyer, the Colorado judge who heard the case and others, jurors were told this week as a first-degree murder trial began.
Nozolino, 52, is charged with shooting to death Richard Schreiner and attempting to kill attorney John Ciccolella, who was blinded in one eye by a shot fired into his Colorado Springs law office in 2002. The defendant is also charged with attempted murder in a 2001 shooting that took place at the home of 4th Judicial District Chief Judge Gilbert Martinez, the Gazette reports.
Nozolino’s ex-wife testified Wednesday in the El Paso County case, setting the stage for the shootings, as another Gazette article details.
Then on Thursday, Ciccolella took the stand. Although he didn’t see who fired shots into his home in 2001 or into his law office months later, he suspected Nozolino because of a barrage of harassing behavior including court filings alleging misconduct, the attorney said. “It seemed to never end.” A third Gazette article discusses the lawyer’s testimony.
But the defense pointed to a lack of physical evidence, and attorney Jesse Glassman told the jury “No evidence means no murder.”
Pueblo District Judge Victor I. Reyes is presiding over the trial, to avoid a potential conflict with a local judge who knows Ciccolella or Martinez.
