Former TV station operator convicted in gun trial

Bill Gang

Friday, March 28, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

For years, Harry Tootle's UHF television station, Channel 17, devoted much of its time espousing fringe politics critical of government and standing up for aspects of the U.S. Constitution.

After his arrest following a weapons incident in the parking lot of a topless bar in November 1995, Tootle chose to exercise his right to a trial by jury on the three felony counts.

The jury stung him on Wednesday, after four hours of deliberating the contradictory testimony.

Tootle, 46, was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon and resisting a police officer, although he was acquitted of carrying a concealed weapon.

He faces the possibility of 10 years in prison when District Judge Donald Mosley sentences him on May 21. Probation is also a possibility for the man who has lost his television station and moved to Idaho.

In its split decision, the jury said it believed Tootle had pointed his .22 caliber Derringer at the Larry's Villa security guard but didn't believe the guard's story of Tootle illegally concealing the weapon in a pocket.

The resisting charge involved Tootle's reluctance to surrender from his hiding place behind a Dumpster when police ordered him do so.

During closing arguments Wednesday, prosecutors said the case boiled down to the credibility of Tootle against the believability of the victim, Robert Cardosi, the guard at the topless bar.

They said Cardosi's story is supported by a patron and Metro Police officers who responded to the call of a man with a gun in the parking lot of the bar at Bonanza Road and Rancho Drive.

Cardosi testified that when he confronted Tootle outside the bar, the defendant responded by pointing the pistol at his chest.

Tootle denied the allegations and told the jury that he had gone to the parking lot to meet a man who was supposed to have information about the Oklahoma City federal building bombing in April 1995.

Tootle admitted that in the altercation with Cardosi he picked up the pistol from his car seat and flashed it -- but didn't point it -- with the warning "I'm armed and I will defend myself."

After Cardosi fled to the bar and called police, Tootle said he continued to search for his elusive news source.

He said that as he walked around the parking lot, Cardosi and another man began pursuing him and he fled to a nearby apartment building where he tried to find help.

His voice cracking with emotion, Tootle said he thought he was going to be killed by his pursuers.

But Cardosi testified that he was merely trying to keep tabs on Tootle's whereabouts to tell police when they arrived moments later.

Both Tootle and Cardosi faltered on cross examination, having trouble keeping their stories straight.

Cardosi was chastised by Tootle's attorney, Lamond Mills, for misleading jurors by saying he had been a U.S. Marine before taking the job as bouncer at Larry's Villa. Cardosi admitted he had only been a "weekend worrier" in the Marine Reserves.

Under questioning by Deputy District Attorney Kimberly Maxson, Tootle admitted that a couple of hours before the Larry's Villa incident, he had been at another bar drinking tequila.

On the witness stand, he contradicted himself several times and then changed his story when confronted by Maxson, only to be questioned about the new contradiction.