Court sets sights on alleged executioner in Doc Holliday holdup

Bill Gang

Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2000 | 11:15 a.m.

Bill Gang

With the getaway driver already convicted and serving a life prison term in the deadly Doc Holliday's Tavern holdup, the only question remaining is whether 32-year-old Charles Randolph is guilty of being the executioner.

Jury selection began Tuesday in Randolph's trial and if he is convicted of handcuffing the bartender and firing two bullets into her head execution-style, there is the possibility of the death penalty.

It was on May 5, 1998, that a lone gunman entered the tavern at Westcliff and Durango drives during the early morning hours and launched into a series of events that ended with the slaying of the popular bartender, Shelly Lokken.

Tyrone Garner was convicted last summer of first-degree murder although, as the lookout and getaway driver, he had not been inside the bar. Under Nevada law, however, all participants in a robbery that results in death are guilty of murder.

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

Garner had cooperated with police after his arrest and quickly explained that Randolph was the only man who entered the tavern. Garner, however, is not expected to testify at Randolph's trial.

Deputy District Attorney David Wall presented evidence at Garner's trial showing the 42-year-old man 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 breaking of the case was aided by two women, who were smoking crack cocaine in a downtown motel room with Garner when he saw news reports of the murder.

It was the women who 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 was spotted leaving Doc Holliday's with its lights out by a security guard on duty in a booth at a nearby apartment complex.

The guard, John Shivell, testified at Garner's trial that he became suspicious and called the pub to determine if there had been a problem.

He testified in District Judge Michael Douglas's courtroom that there was no answer, and he called police.

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, despite the two fatal bullet wounds to her head.

Prosecutors 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 was also seen on the video being escorted out of camera range.

After Garner drove away from the the murder scene, his car ran out of gas a few blocks away and had to be pushed to a service station on Decatur Boulevard.