Ex-prostitute testifies in Dotson’s murder trial

Erica D. Johnson

Thursday, April 3, 2003 | 9:47 a.m.

A former prostitute said she used crack cocaine with a man hours after he allegedly robbed and killed an elderly woman in her Las Vegas home.

Leanna Tamminen told jurors she and Anthony Dotson had sex and used drugs in a downtown motel room Dec. 12, the same day 79-year-old Doris Bair was killed in her home in the 1400 block of Bracken Avenue, in the historic Huntridge subdivision near 15th Street and Oakey Boulevard.

When Tamminen, 32, and Dotson, 44, ran out of drugs, Dotson, who was driving a car police later discovered belonged to Bair, suggested they go to his friend's house on Bracken Avenue, Tamminen testified.

He used a key to go inside, and later emerged with a television, stereo speakers and a silver tray set, she said. The couple pawned the tea set for $50, she said.

Tamminen, who said she sold her body on the streets of downtown Las Vegas to buy drugs, didn't mince words when describing her brief relationship with Dotson.

"He didn't even know my name," she said. "That's the routine. You get a date, get high, go get another date and get high again. It's a never-ending process."

She said she didn't know Dotson was wanted in connection with the killing until she saw the house on the news days later and called police.

"I didn't want to be involved, but I already was," she said. "I was in the lady's car that (police) had been searching for."

Tamminen's testimony came on the first day of Dotson's capital murder trial before District Judge Michael Cherry, the latest development in the case that has lingered in District Court for more than a year.

Dotson in June pleaded guilty to multiple felony counts, including murder and robbery, in the case, but a new trial was ordered after the three-judge panel that was to determine Dotson's sentence was declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.

During the retrial, Dotson faces only the murder charge. He is expected to be sentenced on the other charges at the end of the trial.

But defense attorneys claim more than one person participated in the robbery.

Deputy Special Public Defender Daren Richards suggested the additional people were Tamminen and her friend, Kenneth Chapman.

"There are others that were involved that walk the streets today," he said. "Does that matter? Yes."

Under cross-examination, Tamminen, who claims she is now clean and sober, adamantly denied implications that she participated in the killing.

"I was nowhere in that house," she said. "I prostituted my body, but I don't go out and kill people."

Prosecutors during opening statements chronicled Dotson's alleged brutal crime spree, which they say ended in Bair's death.

They claim Dotson also assaulted and carjacked 90-year-old Kathryn Waldman in the parking lot of University Medical Center five days later.

Chief Deputy District Attorney David Schwartz said Dotson entered Bair's home intending to rob her, but ended up killing her instead.

Bair's battered body was found on the kitchen floor. She was gagged and her hands were tied behind her back with her own shoelaces.

Police said Dotson's fingerprints and shoeprints were found at the scene and drops of Bair's blood were found on Dotson's sneakers.

Sharon Shupp, Bair's neighbor, who also testified, said Bair told her someone had tried to get into her house and cut her power off the night before her death.

Shupp called police after she peeked in Bair's window and realized the house had been ransacked.

Sharon Shupp's husband, James, testified that he'd seen Dotson doing handywork around Bair's home prior to the killing.

He said he didn't tell police because he didn't recognize Dotson until he saw him at the preliminary hearing months later.