Sales clerk’s killer may face life in jail

A Marina del Rey man found guilty of first-degree murder for the shooting of a Huntington Beach sales clerk in 2004 could face life in prison when he is scheduled to be sentenced in December.

John Steadman Nilsen, 49, was convicted Nov. 1 of shooting Shawna Wolfgram at close range at a 99 Cents Store after she struggled with him to point his gun away from customers, one of whom was holding a 1-month-old baby, Orange County prosecutors said.

The jury took nearly five hours to find Nilsen guilty, prosecutors said.

“I feel that justice was done,” Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. Sonia Balleste said. “This is a really bad guy with serious priors who shouldn’t have been out.”

Authorities connected Nilsen to the robbery after viewing video surveillance tapes and checking DNA evidence on the inside of a glove found 200 yards from the crime scene, Balleste said.

Witnesses identified Nilsen as the man who demanded access to the safe Jan. 29, 2004, prosecutors said.

An employee escorted Nilsen to the back of the store to speak with the manager, then Nilsen demanded access to the safe, prosecutors said. He pointed his gun at another employee and ordered everyone to the front of the store where the manager had told him the safe was kept, Balleste said.

After making his way to the front of the store, he pointed the gun toward 19-year-old Wolfgram, who pushed the gun away from herself and customers and yelled that she was being robbed, prosecutors said.

The two struggled as Nilsen attempted to grab the open cash drawer in front of Wolfgram. Wolfgram chased after the gunman as he fled. Nilsen turned on the clerk and shot her in the chest, Balleste said.

Nilsen was arrested two months after the robbery.

“I think that was really brave of [Wolfgram] to get him away from the register and get the gun away from the kids,” Balleste said.

Had the three-strikes system been in place in 1989, this crime never would have happened, Balleste said.

Nilsen had been released from prison in 2003 after serving about half of a 25-year term for a number of armed robberies in Newport Beach.

If Nilsen’s prior convictions are determined by the judge to be strikes, Nilsen would be a potential third-striker.

Nilsen’s sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 8 in Santa Ana.