Defense denies defendant involved in tavern murder

Bill Gang

Thursday, May 20, 1999 | 10:48 a.m.

The execution-style slaying of a popular Doc Holliday's Tavern bartender during a holdup was "completely unnecessary," Deputy District Attorney David Wall told the jury that will decide whether Tyrone Garner was responsible for her death.

As the trial began Wednesday, Wall told jurors that Garner was the lookout and getaway driver who waited outside while 32-year-old Charles Randolph committed the robbery and fired two shots into Shelly Lokken's head.

Defense attorney David Schieck told the jury that evidence will show that Garner was unaware that a robbery -- much less a murder -- was in the offing on May 5, 1998.

Schieck said Garner was merely giving a ride to a friend who said he needed to collect money from his job at Doc Holliday's, where he had been fired a few days before.

Garner, according to the attorney, was cooperative when police contacted him and quickly explained that Garner was the only man who entered the tavern at Westcliff and Durango drives in the early morning hours.

Wall countered that evidence will show Garner, 42, received a portion of the robbery loot, and a security video system stolen from the tavern was found in the trunk of his car, along with a 9mm pistol.

The prosecutor added that Garner did not go to police after he and two women, who were smoking crack cocaine in a downtown motel room, saw news reports of the murder. One of the women alerted authorities after Garner became agitated at the news and commented that he was going to have to get his Cadillac painted.

A car like Garner's, with its lights out, was spotted leaving Doc Holliday's by a security guard on duty in a booth at a nearby apartment complex.

Guard John Shivell told the jury in District Judge Michael Douglas' courtroom that he became suspicious and called the pub to determine if there had been a problem.

He testified that there was no answer and he called police to report his concerns.

Inside, Metro officers found Lokken's body in the bar's cooler. She was still propped on her knees with her hands cuffed behind her back with two fatal bullet wounds to her head, Wall said.

The prosecutor said that the security videotape recovered from Garner's car is not of sufficient quality to identify the killer, but it shows "someone resembling Randolph" vaulting the bar and rifling through the cash register.

Lokken had been escorted to a place outside the range of the camera.

Schieck argued that the case against Garner is "circumstantial" and there is no evidence to indicate the defendant knew of the "evil in Randolph" when the alleged triggerman entered the tavern.

The attorney emphasized that Garner did not speed away from the murder scene and noted that a few blocks away the car ran out of gas and had to be pushed to a service station on Decatur Boulevard.

Randolph's trial is scheduled for later this year in Douglas' courtroom.