Killing suspect ID’d by tavern’s workers on video

Ed Koch and Bill Gang

Friday, Jan. 21, 2000 | 10:19 a.m.

Although an attorney for accused killer Charles Randolph claims the actual triggerman was a second person, a surveillance videotape showed only one man robbing Doc Holliday's Tavern on May 18, 1998.

A Metro Police detective told the jury at Randolph's trial that when he showed the videotape to tavern employees, they identified the bandit as the establishment's former cook -- Randolph.

Metro Detective Jimmy Vaccaro testified Thursday in District Judge Michael Douglas' courtroom that he recovered the tape and the bar's security video system from the trunk of a car belonging to Tyrone Garner, 42, -- who already has been convicted of first-degree murder as the getaway driver and lookout for the robbery. He is serving a life prison term without parole for his role.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Randolph, 32, for allegedly handcuffing bartender Shelly Lokken and firing two bullets into her head after she was forced to kneel in the bar's walk-in cooler.

Randolph's lawyers do not dispute his involvement in the robbery but claim it was Garner who came in at the end and murdered Lokken to eliminate the only witness to the crime.

Vaccaro testified that according to the videotape, the only people in the bar around 1 a.m. on May 18, 1998, were Lokken and Randolph.

"We can't see any other patrons or employees in the bar," Vaccaro said as he described the videotape to the jury. He pointed to a dark object in the man's right hand and said it was a gun. The man is seen jumping over the bar and leading the woman in the direction of the cooler.

The black and white videotape was dark, grainy and jumpy.

The tape was recovered when two women who had been smoking crack cocaine with Randolph and Garner called police the day after the murder to say they believed they had been with the killers.

JoAnn McCarty testified last week that she had been with Randolph and Garner before and after the murder but was unaware of their involvement until Garner "got mean" when news reports of the incident were aired.

The television news story indicated that police were looking for a light-colored car like Garner's Cadillac, prompting the man to say he had to get his car painted, according to McCarty.

A security guard at an apartment complex near Doc Holliday's had told police of seeing that type vehicle leaving the bar with its lights off just minutes before the murder was discovered.

McCarty said she and a second woman, who has since died, "put two and two together and got scared."

McCarty told the jury that she had been sharing her cocaine with Randolph and Garner before the Doc Holliday's killing, but the cocaine ran out. She said the men had no money and couldn't get anyone to give them more drugs.

She recalled that the men eventually left in Garner's car late that night and returned a couple of hours later "excited and in a partying mood," with their pockets stuffed with money and a new supply of crack.

It was during that time that prosecutors contend the Doc Holliday's holdup and murder occurred.

McCarty said the party moved to a downtown motel and continued until just after the noon news show that upset Garner.

The woman admitted that she has already received about $5,500 in reward money for her testimony in the Garner case and could get more if Randolph is convicted. She said she didn't know of the potential reward before she called police.

Randolph had been fired three days before the incident from the Herman's Barbecue business inside the tavern at Westcliff and Durango drives.

In a statement to police, Garner of Palmdale, Calif., admitted that he had driven Randolph to the bar but didn't know a robbery was going to occur.

Although Garner said he was not in the bar, he still was charged with murder because under Nevada law, a participant in an incident that leads to murder is as culpable as the actual killer.