Killer of bartender gets death

Monday, Jan. 31, 2000 | 9:36 a.m.

A death sentence for convicted killer Charles Randolph gives little peace to Shelly Lokken's family.

For 10-year-old Brett, whose mother was gunned down execution-style in a tavern holdup, the workings of the justice system are difficult to comprehend, Shelly's mother, Joyce Lokken said.

"The hard part was for Brett, who asked me why the court gave him a hearing instead of just execute him, like he did her mother," Joyce Lokken said. "I told her it is because our court system is fair to everyone."

A nine-woman, three-man jury returned the verdict Friday that Randolph should be put to death by lethal injection for the slaying of Lokken, a 31-year-old bartender at Doc Holliday's Tavern, during a robbery on May 5, 1998.

Although Joyce Lokken said the verdict, following about eight hours of jury deliberations over three days, provides some closure for the family, their attorney said justice doesn't stop with the decision to give the death penalty.

Gary Lipsman believes fairness includes a favorable civil decision to go with the criminal conviction.

"This (death penalty) is not complete justice," said Lipsman, who filed the family's civil suit last year against the bar owners. "We still have to obtain as much justice as possible from the additional people at fault. We have to help make Brett's life a little easier."

Lipsman said Nevada's businesses that profit off lucrative gambling and alcohol revenues "need to be more responsible for the safety of their employees."

Shelly was a single mother. Brett is being raised by her grandparents, Joyce and Fred Lokken.

The jury found that there were three aggravating circumstances in the case -- the murder was committed during a burglary, the murder was committed during a robbery and the murder was committed to escape capture.

The jury found one mitigating circumstance, that Randolph, a crack cocaine user since he was 18, suffered from a mental or emotional disturbance at the time of the murder.

Randolph sat with no emotion as his fate was announced. Two members of his family walked out after the verdict was read.

Randolph asked through his attorney Chris Brown that the court waive the pre-sentence investigation by the Department of Parole and Probation and sentence him immediately. District Judge Michael Douglas said that would be a violation of the law and set sentencing for March 9.

At that time, not only will the death sentence be levied for first-degree murder, but also sentences will be doled out for kidnapping, robbery, burglary and conspiracy to commit robbery. Last Monday the jury found Randolph guilty of all of those crimes.

On her way out of the courtroom with several family members and Lipsman at her side, Joyce hugged Deputy District Attorneys William Kephart and David Wall.

Metro Police found Lokken's body in the bar's walk-in cooler. She had been handcuffed and made to kneel on the floor before she was shot twice in the head.

Randolph's attorneys, Willard Ewing and Brown, argued that life in prison was the appropriate sentence. Brown told jurors that life in prison would provide closure for the Lokken family, while a death penalty will prolong their suffering until it is carried out after an appeals process that generally takes several years.