Second Witness Places Tillman at Slaying Scene

A second prosecution witness on Friday placed Olympic boxing gold medalist Henry Tillman at a Westchester nightclub less than an hour before shots were fired in the parking lot, injuring one patron and killing another.

Leon Lewis, the club manager, testified in Superior Court in Santa Monica that he saw Tillman, whom he has known for 17 years, at the Townhouse nightclub about half an hour before closing time Jan. 10, 1996.

Tillman, the 1984 heavyweight boxing gold medalist, is charged with murder and attempted murder in connection with the shootings of Kevin Anderson, who died of a head wound, and Leon “LB” Milton, who was shot in the chest and survived.

Lewis’ testimony gave Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Duarte a break from a string of witnesses who have offered changing and conflicting stories. His testimony late Friday was so straightforward that defense attorney Al DeBlanc had no questions for Lewis on cross-examination.

Attorneys spent much of the day questioning witness Lauri Meadows, 27, who on Thursday told jurors she was “positive” that Tillman was the man who pushed her aside, pointed a “black, largish” revolver into the victims’ dark Lincoln Continental and fired while they were seated inside.

Meadows testified Friday that she was even more certain Tillman was the gunman after seeing him walk across the courtroom on Thursday.

“I knew it was him,” she said, “just the way he walked, his structure, the way he struts. He’s got an odd way of walking.”

Within weeks of the shooting, Meadows had picked Tillman’s picture out of a photo lineup, called a six-pack, telling police the man pictured looked “similar” to the man who pushed her and shot her friends.

After balking about testifying publicly, Meadows recanted her identification at a preliminary hearing in May 1996. At the time, she said the man in court did not look at all like the man she’d seen at the nightclub.

Meadows testified Friday that after the preliminary hearing, she moved and did not tell investigators. “I ran,” she said. “I made myself as discreet as possible.”

She said she did not want to get involved in the murder investigation. “I just wanted to leave it behind me, let it go,” she said.

Asked by the prosecutor why she ran, Meadows said she was afraid for her life, even though no one had threatened her directly. She said she decided to testify because her friends were shot and her reluctance to identify their assailant has “eaten at” her conscience for four years.

But defense attorney DeBlanc--along with federal court records examined by The Times--raised other possible motivations for Meadows’ changed testimony.

Under DeBlanc’s cross-examination, Meadows conceded that she never approached investigators to tell them she could identify Tillman as the gunman. Instead, they came to her while she was in federal custody.

According to testimony, prosecutor Duarte visited her at the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles last August, about six months after she was indicted on charges of possessing 13 kilograms of cocaine with the intent to distribute it.

Meadows denied striking any deals for her testimony, but acknowledged under questioning that she had researched the federal sentencing guidelines in the lockup’s law library. Other details of Meadows’ federal case were gleaned from a Drug Enforcement Administration agent’s affidavit in her public court file in U.S. District Court.

According to the affidavit by Agent J. Gregory Garza, Meadows was arrested last Feb. 16 with a male acquaintance, Andre Dixon, as they were about to board a Chicago-bound train at Los Angeles’ Union Station. They allegedly were carrying 13 kilograms of cocaine with a street value of $500,000.

The two aroused the suspicions of a stakeout team of DEA agents and LAPD officers as they pushed a cart containing two pieces of luggage along the train platform. The officers stopped the couple, identified themselves, and asked permission to look inside the bags, according to the affidavit. Dixon consented, it said, but then bolted. He was caught after a brief chase.

Questioned later at police headquarters, Meadows said she was supposed to receive $1,000 to $2,000 for helping take the cocaine to Chicago, the document stated.

Attorneys involved in the federal case did not return phone calls seeking comment.