Tillman Killed in Arrogance, Prosecutor Says

As the murder trial of 1984 Olympic heavyweight boxing gold medalist Henry Tillman began Friday, a prosecutor told jurors they would hear a story about “money, power and arrogance” centered on a fallen hero who “thinks he’s bigger than life and above the law.”

Tillman’s arrogance, Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Duarte told jurors in Santa Monica, allowed him “to commit a crime in front of a lot of people, thinking that nobody would say or do a thing.”

But Duarte said the evidence--some of it gleaned from frightened eyewitnesses and some of it from denizens of the murky underworld of drugs and gangs--will show that Tillman shot two men, one fatally, Jan. 9. 1996.

Defense attorney Al DeBlanc postponed his opening statement until after the prosecution’s case has been presented. The spectators’ section of Superior Court Judge Steven C. Suzukawa’s courtroom was empty except for Tillman’s father and brother, who huddled in the back row.

The prosecution charges that Tillman, 39, fired a .38-caliber revolver into a Lincoln Continental during a closing-time confrontation in the parking lot of the Townhouse nightclub near Los Angeles International Airport. It was comedy night and patrons were spilling from the packed club into the parking lot when the shooting occurred.

Duarte acknowledged to jurors that despite the presence of a crowd, he has had difficulty with the witnesses. Some refused to talk, while others changed their stories based on what he called “the fear factor, the intimidation factor.”

But, Duarte said, several witnesses have now agreed to come forward with what he called believable testimony. They will identify Tillman as the man who twice fired bursts of bullets into the Lincoln, occupied by Leon Milton and Kevin Anderson, the prosecutor said.

Chief among the witnesses is Lauri Meadows, who has been described by other witnesses as “the white girl with the ghetto twang.” Meadows, who grew up in South-Central Los Angeles, had two confrontations with Tillman the night of the shooting, Duarte said.

In the first incident, he said, Tillman growled at her threateningly when she accidentally stepped on his foot. “I kill bitches like you,” he said, according to the prosecutor.

Later, Duarte said, as Meadows leaned into the Lincoln and flirted with Milton and Anderson, Tillman ran up and pushed her to the ground.

Tillman, whom Meadows said she recognized by his deep, forceful voice, immediately began firing what looked like a .38-caliber revolver, the prosecutor said. At a preliminary hearing, Meadows said Tillman was not the man she saw. But she has since identified him, saying she declined to name him earlier because she feared for her life, Duarte said.

After the shots were fired, the prosecutor said, the Lincoln pulled out of the parking lot, followed by Tillman’s car. A second set of shots were fired, followed by a crash. Afterward, witnesses heard one of the men inside pleading, “Please don’t let me die.”

When paramedics arrived, Anderson was unresponsive and Milton was rapidly losing consciousness, the prosecutor said.

Anderson died three days later. Milton, who was gravely wounded but recovered, initially did not cooperate with authorities, Duarte said. However, FBI agents monitoring his suspected drug activities in Nebraska overheard him talking about the shooting on a wiretap.

“On the wiretap, he discusses that he knows it was Mr. Tillman,” Duarte said, adding that Milton “was going to take care of it himself.” The prosecutor said Milton “went looking” for Tillman at several nightclubs but couldn’t find him.

“You will hear from Leon Milton,” Duarte told jurors. “I’m telling you now, Leon Milton is not a perfect individual. He is not a good individual. You may hate Leon Milton.”

The night of the shooting, he said, Milton wore a gold chain worth $10,000, a $50,000 Rolex watch, a $500 sweater and $1,000 boots, the prosecutor said. He was carrying a wad of cash and buying rounds of drinks for patrons.

Duarte said Milton will testify about “a stare-down” he and Anderson had with Tillman in the club. The prosecutor also told jurors about a surprise witness, whom he refused to identify. The man, who has known Tillman for a decade, will testify that he saw the defendant carrying a .38-caliber revolver at a South-Central house the night of the shooting, Duarte said.

A few weeks later, he said, Tillman asked the witness to find him a gun, saying he’d melted down the .38 because he had “smoked two guys at the Townhouse.”